Policy Futures in Education

ISSN 1478-2103

Volume 1 Number 1 2003

CONTENTS [click on author's name for abstract and full text]

THEME: Education and the Knowledge Economy
Editors: MICHAEL A. PETERS & WALTER HUMES

Michael A. Peters & Walter Humes. Editorial. Education in the Knowledge Economy, pages 1‑19 VIEW FULL TEXT
Paul A. David & Dominique Foray. Economic Fundamentals of the Knowledge Society, pages 20‑49
Christopher Winch. Education and the Knowledge Economy: a response to David & Foray, pages 50‑70
Gerard Delanty. Ideologies of the Knowledge Society and the Cultural Contradictions of Higher Education, pages 71‑82
David Guile. From ‘Credentialism’ to the ‘Practice of Learning’: reconceptualising learning for the knowledge economy, pages 83‑105
Steve Fuller. Can Universities Solve the Problem of Knowledge in Society without Succumbing to the Knowledge Society?, pages 106‑124
Merle Jacob. Rethinking Science and Commodifying Knowledge, pages 125‑142
Alan Burton-Jones. Knowledge Capitalism: the new learning economy, pages 143‑159
Ruth Rikowski. Value – the Life Blood of Capitalism: knowledge is the current key, pages 160‑178
Henry A. Giroux. Selling Out Higher Education, pages 179‑200

Economic Fundamentals of the Knowledge Society

PAUL A. DAVID University of Oxford, United Kingdom and Stanford University, USA DOMINIQUE FORAY CNRS and Paris-Dauphine University, France

This article provides an introduction to fundamental issues in the development of new knowledge-based economies. After placing their emergence in historical perspective and proposing a theoretical framework that distinguishes knowledge from information, the authors characterise the specific nature of such economies. They go on to deal with some of the major issues concerning the new skills and abilities required for integration into the knowledge-based economy; the new geography that is taking shape (where physical distance ceases to be such an influential constraint); the conditions governing access to both information and knowledge, not least for developing countries; the uneven development of scientific, technological (including organisational) knowledge across different sectors of activity; problems concerning intellectual property rights and the privatisation of knowledge; and the issues of trust, memory and the fragmentation of knowledge.

Education and the Knowledge Economy: a response to David & Foray

CHRISTOPHER WINCH University College, Northampton, United Kingdom

Much has been written about the claim that contemporary developed economies are ‘knowledge economies’ in which education plays a key role in providing the human, knowledge-based resources necessary for success. David & Foray’s article (2003) provides a useful survey, both of the most general features of what have come to be called ‘knowledge economies’, but also of some important issues that affect their development. In this article the author concentrates on the concept of a knowledge economy and its relationship with that of education. Of particular concern is the distinction between different kinds of knowledge, with a particular focus on applied theoretical knowledge and the concept of social capital. The author examines the connection between the development and support of applied theoretical knowledge and the maintenance of social capital. The article concludes with some thoughts on the implications of this connection for the role of education within a ‘knowledge economy’.

Ideologies of the Knowledge Society and the Cultural Contradictions of Higher Education

GERARD DELANTY University of Liverpool, United Kingdom

Much discussed in recent times is the idea of the knowledge society. However, on closer inspection we find that this is a highly contested concept and, moreover, it is associated with new ideologies, of which three are discussed in the article: postmodernism, neo-liberalism and third wayism. It is argued that these new ideologies are impacting on higher education, which is consequently experiencing far-reaching cultural contradictions. The article examines six of these: the contradiction of teaching and research, the contradiction of efficiency and scholarship, the contradiction of massification and democratisation, the contradiction of management and leadership, the contradiction of opinion and knowledge, and the contradiction of science and technology.

From ‘Credentialism’ to the ‘Practice of Learning’: reconceptualising learning for the knowledge economy

DAVID GUILE Institute of Education, University of London, United Kingdom

This article argues that there is a paradox at the heart of United Kingdom and European Union polices for learning: the knowledge economy debate rests on a traditional interpretation of the concept of learning (i.e. the acquisition of existing knowledge and skill), yet the challenge of the knowledge economy is to produce new knowledge and skill. Overcoming current credentialist approaches involves rethinking what is meant by ‘learning’. Drawing on activity theory, the article introduces the concept of ‘reflexive learning’ to illustrate how to reformulate public education policies to prepare learners for working and living in a knowledge society/economy.

Can Universities Solve the Problem of Knowledge in Society without Succumbing to the Knowledge Society?

STEVE FULLER University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom

This article attempts to answer the knowledge management jibe that universities are ‘dumb organisations’ in need of restructuring or, worse, dissolution. In its place, the author proposes that the university is the original entrepreneurial organisation, one designed to engage in the ‘creative destruction of social capital’. Creation occurs as research gains one temporary advantage, while destruction occurs in teaching, which removes that advantage. However, this cycle is currently subject to severe disruption by such signature trends of our so-called knowledge society as credentials inflation and expanding intellectual property regimes. Contrary to the name ‘knowledge society’, knowledge functions more as a principle of social stratification or a source of capital development, but not a form of inquiry. Epistemology thus becomes what the author calls ‘phlogistemology’. This problem is diagnosed in terms of the emergence of ‘capitalism of the third order’. The author then shows how the welfare state temporarily reversed this tendency by institutionalising the university as a public good. However, with the decline of the welfare state, academic knowledge has now reverted to the status of a positional good. The author observes that the ultimate source of the university’s identity crisis is the theory of value shared by the welfare state and contemporary neo-liberalism, both of which regard the university as a glorified short-term, client-centred service provider. In response, the author explores the consequences of taking seriously the idea that the university was one of the original chartered corporations, funded mainly by the alumni’s lifelong financial commitment, not student fees or graduate taxes.

Rethinking Science and Commodifying Knowledge

MERLE JACOB Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

Several commentators have remarked that universities are now under constant pressure to promote the commodification of knowledge produced by faculty and students. Although academic opinion on the implications of the drive to commodification remains divided, there is a general consensus that at the very least it has the potential to change the conditions for conducting science. This article provides an analysis of the debate and practices associated with the commodification of knowledge produced in universities. The article concludes that the commodification of knowledge is part of a global process of commodifying everything and that academics are both promoters and victims of the commodification of knowledge.

Knowledge Capitalism: the new learning economy

ALAN BURTON-JONES Burton-Jones & Associates, Brisbane, Australia

The increasing economic importance of knowledge is redefining firm–market boundaries, work arrangements and the links between education, work and learning. This article describes a framework for identifying organisational knowledge assets and learning needs, optimising knowledge supply and planning knowledge growth. The framework enables firms to improve their selection and deployment of internal and external knowledge resources and individuals to improve their career planning. It also assists learning institutions to tailor their products and services to the needs of individual and corporate knowledge consumers.

Value – the Life Blood of Capitalism: knowledge is the current key

RUTH RIKOWSKI University of Greenwich, London, United Kingdom

This article considers the knowledge revolution, the knowledge economy, knowledge, knowledge management and value within global capitalism. It argues that the knowledge revolution is the latest phase of capitalism and that the success of the knowledge revolution depends on the creation of value that is extracted from knowledge, and that this includes the knowledge that is in people’s heads. It considers philosophical issues surrounding knowledge. It then considers the meaning of ‘value’, by first considering some of the current business and information literature, and second, returning to a Marxist analysis of value. It argues that we can only really begin to fully explain and understand the concept of value, as well as its significance within the knowledge revolution, by returning to a Marxist theoretical analysis. The article concludes by arguing that we need to become more conscious of the fact that ‘value’ is the essential ingredient upon which all forms of capitalism rest, and furthermore, that today value is being extracted from knowledge, particularly in the industrialised world. Once the human race becomes more conscious of this, it can then endeavour to create a better, kinder, fairer social and economic system that does not depend on the extraction of value from and exploitation of human labour.

Selling Out Higher Education

HENRY A. GIROUX Penn State University, Pennsylvania, USA

The expansion of neo-liberal capitalism globally suggests an especially dangerous turn at the current historical moment, one that threatens both the substance of democracy as fundamental to the most basic freedom and civil liberties, and the very meaning of higher education. As the power of nation states and civil society to impose or make corporate power accountable is reduced, politics as an expression of democratic struggle is deflated and ethical responsibility appears irrelevant. As neo-liberal capitalism substitutes market relations for the rule of justice and law, it becomes more difficult for educators, students, and citizens to address pressing social and moral issues in systemic and political terms. This article addresses the fundamental shift in society regarding how we think about the relationship between corporate culture, higher education, and democracy. Specifically, it argues that one of the most important indications of such a change can be seen in the ways in which we are currently being asked to rethink the role of higher education. Underlying this analysis is the assumption that the struggle to reclaim higher education must be seen as part of a broader battle over the defense of public goods, and that at the heart of such a struggle is the need to challenge the ever-growing discourse and influence of neo-liberalism, corporate power, and corporate politics. The article concludes by offering some suggestions as to what educators can do to reassert the primacy of higher education as an essential sphere for expanding and deepening the processes of democracy and civil society.

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