THE COMMODIFICATION OF ACADEMIC RESEARCH AND THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY

The knowledge society is best defined as the society where production, distribution and use of knowledge play the central role in the social matrix. The possession of technological means of production has been replaced be the possession of useful knowledge, and most theorists embrace this change thi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: MARIA CERNAT
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nicolae Titulescu University Publishing House 2012-05-01
Series:Challenges of the Knowledge Society
Subjects:
Online Access:http://cks.univnt.ro/uploads/cks_2012_articles/index.php?dir=03_social_sciences%2F&download=cks_2012_social_sciences_art_022.pdf
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850058665302687744
author MARIA CERNAT
author_facet MARIA CERNAT
author_sort MARIA CERNAT
collection DOAJ
description The knowledge society is best defined as the society where production, distribution and use of knowledge play the central role in the social matrix. The possession of technological means of production has been replaced be the possession of useful knowledge, and most theorists embrace this change thinking it could offer us hope for a better future. But does it really contribute to the development of a better society? The main objective of my article is to offer a realistic answer to this question. The perpetuation of the capitalistic way of production in the academic world leads us to the situation where ideas and scientific articles are being commodified. In theory, the knowledge society is build on the idea of producing, disseminating and using information for the well being of the people. I claim that this is a very naïve perspective on how our current knowledge society is actually functioning. Since information is so easy to transfer one could expect that all the members of the society could benefit form it. As my article will show, this is not in fact the case. Not everybody is able to produce and use knowledge. Since what we are experiencing is the commodification of academic articles only few people are able to produce and use knowledge. This way the knowledge society becomes a closed society where only a privileged financial elite has access to the latest academic research.
format Article
id doaj-art-c69be4b60e9d4318b1449e2d4408240c
institution DOAJ
issn 2068-7796
language English
publishDate 2012-05-01
publisher Nicolae Titulescu University Publishing House
record_format Article
series Challenges of the Knowledge Society
spelling doaj-art-c69be4b60e9d4318b1449e2d4408240c2025-08-20T02:51:06ZengNicolae Titulescu University Publishing HouseChallenges of the Knowledge Society2068-77962012-05-012-18171822THE COMMODIFICATION OF ACADEMIC RESEARCH AND THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETYMARIA CERNATThe knowledge society is best defined as the society where production, distribution and use of knowledge play the central role in the social matrix. The possession of technological means of production has been replaced be the possession of useful knowledge, and most theorists embrace this change thinking it could offer us hope for a better future. But does it really contribute to the development of a better society? The main objective of my article is to offer a realistic answer to this question. The perpetuation of the capitalistic way of production in the academic world leads us to the situation where ideas and scientific articles are being commodified. In theory, the knowledge society is build on the idea of producing, disseminating and using information for the well being of the people. I claim that this is a very naïve perspective on how our current knowledge society is actually functioning. Since information is so easy to transfer one could expect that all the members of the society could benefit form it. As my article will show, this is not in fact the case. Not everybody is able to produce and use knowledge. Since what we are experiencing is the commodification of academic articles only few people are able to produce and use knowledge. This way the knowledge society becomes a closed society where only a privileged financial elite has access to the latest academic research.http://cks.univnt.ro/uploads/cks_2012_articles/index.php?dir=03_social_sciences%2F&download=cks_2012_social_sciences_art_022.pdfacademic researchacademic freedomcommodification of ideasknowledge societycommodification of academic articles
spellingShingle MARIA CERNAT
THE COMMODIFICATION OF ACADEMIC RESEARCH AND THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY
Challenges of the Knowledge Society
academic research
academic freedom
commodification of ideas
knowledge society
commodification of academic articles
title THE COMMODIFICATION OF ACADEMIC RESEARCH AND THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY
title_full THE COMMODIFICATION OF ACADEMIC RESEARCH AND THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY
title_fullStr THE COMMODIFICATION OF ACADEMIC RESEARCH AND THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY
title_full_unstemmed THE COMMODIFICATION OF ACADEMIC RESEARCH AND THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY
title_short THE COMMODIFICATION OF ACADEMIC RESEARCH AND THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY
title_sort commodification of academic research and the knowledge society
topic academic research
academic freedom
commodification of ideas
knowledge society
commodification of academic articles
url http://cks.univnt.ro/uploads/cks_2012_articles/index.php?dir=03_social_sciences%2F&download=cks_2012_social_sciences_art_022.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT mariacernat thecommodificationofacademicresearchandtheknowledgesociety
AT mariacernat commodificationofacademicresearchandtheknowledgesociety