ABSTRACT
Mechanisms for the mobilization of performance can be demonstrated far back into history and special performances were in many cases especially rewarded. The realization that the operation of the performance principle is endangered through the markets being transformed into arenas of power plays was brought back into focus again in connection with the process of concentration within the Federal Republic. From the very beginning of the Federal Republic the operation of the performance principle as a mechanism of distribution was, within the framework of the growing social legislation, pushed back in various places, in that distributing functions were assigned to various criteria that had been selected on the basis of social considerations. The production of individual and social performances is two inseparably interwoven aspects of the problem of performance, and their meaningful intertwining is an absolute necessity in every modern industrial society.
