Knowledge : is knowledge power?

327 Pages·2017·1.6 MB·English

by  Adolf

KNOWLEDGE
As we move through our modern world, the phenomenon we call
knowledgeisalwaysinvolved.Whetherwetalkofknow-how,technology,
innovation, politics or education, it is the concept of knowledge that
ties them all together. However, despite its ubiquity as a modern trope,
weseldomencounterknowledgeinitself.Howisitproduced,where does
it reside, and who owns it? Is knowledge always beneficial, will we
knowallthereistoknowatsomepointinthefuture,anddoesknowledge
reallyequalpower?Thisbookpursuesanoriginalapproachtothisconcept
thatseemstodefinesomanyaspectsofmodernsocieties.Itexploresthe
topic from a distinctly sociological perspective, and traces the many
ways that knowledge is woven into the very fabric of modern society.
Marian Adolf is Professor of Media Culture at Zeppelin University in
Friedrichshafen, Germany. His research interests revolve around the
interfaceofmedia andsocialchange,communicationandculturaltheory.
He has held appointments as Visiting Professor at Quest University and
Alpen-Adria-University Klagenfurt, and currently serves as chair of the
German Communication Association’s section for Media Sociology.
NicoStehrisKarlMannheimProfessorofCulturalStudiesatZeppelin
University in Friedrichshafen, Germany. He formerlyheldprofessorships
attheUniversityofAlberta,Edmonton,theUniversityofBritishColumbia,
Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, and was Paul F. Lazarsfeld
Guest Professor at the University of Vienna. He has published widely
on the topic of knowledge and is one of the proponents of Knowledge
Society, a term that has acquired widespread currency not only in
academia.
KEY IDEAS
SERIES EDITOR: PETER HAMILTON
Designed to compliment the successful Key Sociologists, this series
covers themain concepts,issues, debates, and controversies insociology
and the social sciences. The series aims to provide authoritative essays
on central topics of social science, such as community, power, work,
sexuality, inequality, benefits and ideology, class, family, etc. Books
adopt a strong 'individual' line, as critical essays rather than literature
surveys, offering lively and original treatments of their subject matter.
The books will be useful to students and teachers of sociology, political
science, economics, psychology, philosophy, and geography.
Culture – second edition Experts
Chris Jenks Nico Stehr and Reiner Grundmann
Human Rights Happiness
Anthony Woodiwiss Bent Greve
Childhood – second edition Risk – second edition
Chris Jenks Deborah Lupton
Cosmopolitanism Social Identity – fourth
Robert Fine edition
Richard Jenkins
Nihilism
Bulent Diken Renewable Energies
Matthias Gross and Rüdiger Mautz
Transnationalism
Steven Vertovec Sustainability
Thomas Pfister, Martin Schweighofer
Sexuality – third edition and André Reichel
Jeffrey Weeks
Knowledge – second edition
Leisure Is knowledge power?
Tony Blackshaw Marian Adolf and Nico Stehr
KNOWLEDGE
Is knowledge power?
Second edition
Marian Adolf and Nico Stehr
RK L~O~NoD~O;NLJO~NnD~O~~Nup
ORKYO LONDOLNOLNODNODNON
Y
LONDONANDNEWYORK
Secondeditionpublished2017
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
andbyRoutledge
711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninforma
business
©2016MarianAdolfandNicoStehr
TherightofMarianAdolfandNicoStehrtobeidentifiedas
authorsofthisworkhasbeenassertedbytheminaccordancewith
sections77and78oftheCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedor
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includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinanyinformation
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Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksor
registeredtrademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationand
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BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritish
Library
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Names:Adolf,Marian,author.|Stehr,Nico,author.
Title:Knowledge:isknowledgepower?/byMarianAdolfand
NicoStehr.
Description:Abingdon,Oxon;NewYork,NY:Routledge,
2016.|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2016009864|ISBN9781138685673
(hardback)|ISBN9781138685680(pbk.)|ISBN
9781315543093(ebook)
Subjects:LCSH:Knowledge,Sociologyof.
Classification:LCCHM651.A262016|DDC306.4/2–dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2016009864
ISBN:978-1-138-68567-3(hbk)
ISBN:978-1-138-68568-0(pbk)
ISBN:978-1-315-54309-3(ebk)
TypesetinBembo
byTaylor&FrancisBooks
Dedicated to all we love.
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CONTENTS
List of tables x
Preface xi
Introduction 1
1 Classical sociological conceptions of knowledge 6
2 Knowledge about knowledge 10
2.1 Attributes of knowledge 11
2.2 Knowledge as a capacity to act 18
2.3 Knowledge and information 21
2.4 Practical knowledge 31
2.5 Additional knowledge 33
2.6 The uneven development of knowledge 38
2.7 The limits of the growth of knowledge 41
2.8 A sociological concept of knowledge and its context 42
viii Contents
3 The knowledge of the powerful 47
3.1 Knowledge is power and power is knowledge 48
3.2 The iron law of oligarchy 50
3.3 Knowledge/power 54
3.4 The global class 63
4 Non-knowledge 69
4.1 Sigmund Freud and Friedrich August von Hayek 70
4.2 Observing non-knowledge 72
4.3 Non-knowledge as a myth? 74
4.4 Lack of knowledge 79
4.5 Ignorance 82
4.6 The division of knowledge and information 88
4.7 Knowledge gaps 91
4.8 Non-knowledge about non-knowledge 93
5 Policing knowledge 100
5.1 The self-realization of knowledge 102
5.2 The self-protection of knowledge 106
5.3 Superfluous knowledge 111
6 Forms of knowledge 114
6.1 Everyday knowledge 115
6.2 The power of everyday knowledge 121
6.3 Indigenous or traditional knowledge 132
6.4 Tacit knowledge 136
7 Global knowledge 142
7.1 Basic reflections on global knowledge 143
7.2 Global knowledge worlds 146
7.3 Structures of global knowledge spaces 150
7.4 Forms of global knowledge worlds 152
7.5 Attributes of knowledge that promote globalization 156
Contents ix
7.6 Limits to the globalization of knowledge 157
7.7 The project of worldwide worlds of knowledge, and the
doubts about its likelihood 164
8 Digital worlds and knowledge/information 175
8.1 Information, communication and technology 176
8.2 Societal communication and shared knowledge 177
8.3 Analyzing the ubiquity of media: mediatization 178
8.4 Newmedia,oldmediaandthehybridmediasystem 180
8.5 ICTs, surveillance and knowledge 181
8.6 Communication, media and knowledge 185
9 Functions of knowledge 188
9.1 Knowledge as power and authority 190
9.2 The power of ideas 191
9.3 Knowledge and the economy 196
9.4 Knowledge as property and public good 199
10 The price of knowledge 207
10.1 Human capital 210
10.2 Symbolic and knowledge capital 214
10.3 Patents 219
10.4 Taxation 227
11 The benefits of knowledge 237
11.1 The distribution of knowledge 240
11.2 Knowledge, power and participation 245
11.3 Knowledge societies 247
Bibliography 257
Index 306