What is this Knowledge Society of which ye speak?

The rhetoric of this phrase is substantially vague. What exactly is the Knowledge Society and how does it differ from the current society?  There have been plenty of critiscms regarding the notion; I know some critics who dispute and disregard the whole concept, especially when it’s bundled up with the present-day manifestation of the economy.

And to that, I would have to concur with the critics.  In fact, in my mind, any theoretical discussion of such a concept would immediately minumize the importance of the current economic model due to the idea that this current conditions of the economic reality is actually contrary to the idealist model of the Knowledge Society.  That is, in the “ideal” knowledge society the economy would based on a system of rationalization towards people and ideas rather than towards the system itself (which is quite an absurd model of commerce)… But I digress.

I think that in large part… the rhetoric (politically motivated language) which speaks of an Information or Knowledge Society that places an emphasis on information as a commodity within the economic conditions that exisit in the corpro-politico-media context is not the Knowledge Society I strive towards.  That uses phrases like “Knowledge Workers” and “Digital Economy” to prop up its propaganda.  It concerns itelf with intellectual property and productivity; social conditions remain the same in this version of the Knowledge Society. 

Whereas the Knowledge Society I speak of is more of a concept than a static state of social organization. It is more an idealistic society to strive for, with the understanding that it is not and can never be attainable in it’s most ideal state.  Mostly because the day that it ceases to be a process and becomes a static state… it can no longer be a Knowledge Society.  Perhaps a better phrase would be  A Knowledge System rather than A Knowledge Society, but I’m just arguing semantics here. It is in the communication of the information that knowledges arises.  If one can reflexively: identify the source of the information, understand the process of transmisson, and be able to see the practical implications of the information being transferred; it can be used to benefit the reciever and his or her community – equitably.  This is why the Internet and ICTs are so important to the Knowledge Society.

In an effort to not have this post diverge into a philosophical meandering about the epistemology of concept of knowledge… I will now list some practical proposals of the Knowledge Society from a variety of rhetoric found on the Internet.

We shall start (as most people like us do these days) with Wiki…

A knowledge society is a formal association of people with similar interests, who try to make effective use of their combined knowledge about their area of interest, and in the process contribute to this knowledge. In this sense, knowledge is the psychological and useful result of perception, learning and reasoning.

It should be noted here that “This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject”

Another, perhaps more authoritative, view of knowledge societies is from the UNESCO World Report, “Towards Knowledge Societies” doesn’t give a simple one-liner definition, rather states:

The idea of the information society is based on technological breakthroughs. The concept of knowledge societies encompasses much broader social, ethical and political dimensions. There is a multitude of such dimensions which rules out the idea of any single, ready-made model, for such a model would not take sufficient account of cultural and linguistic diversity, vital if individuals are to feel at home in a changing world. Various forms of knowledge and culture always enter into the building of any society, including those strongly influenced by scientific progress and modern technology. It would be inadmissible to envisage the information and communication revolution leading – through a narrow, fatalistic technological determinism – to a single possible form of society.

It all sounds really good… from a theoretical perspective, and there are some important practical propositions for steps to take in getting to these Knowledge Societies such as “digital solidarity” among nations and enforcing the basic human rights like freedom of expression and education… However embedded in UNESCO’s somewhat idealistic conceptualization, there still exists assumptions of the current structures of power and organization.

Here is a conceptualization of the Knowledge Society which is close to the UN’s.  From KnowNet:

The transformation of existing societal structures— by knowledge as a core resource for economic growth, employment and as a factor of production, constitutes the basis for designating advanced modern society as a “knowledge society.” In a knowledge society the older measures of competitiveness such as labour costs, resource endowments and infrastructure get superceded by dimensions such as patents, research and development, availability of (or availability to afford) knowledge workers. 

The transformation of global economies to knowledge economies however does not guarantee economic growth with “equity” either within or between nations. This is because knowledge (inspite of its public good characteristics) becomes a much valued resource to be possessed and harnessed for its economic benefits. Further, the  value accrued to individual users through the availability of information is different and this has the potential to further widen the economic and knowledge gap– as people are often not conscious of the global value of what they know or the potential value of absorbing the available information.
 
You see the problem in this second paragraph… the caveat that although the Knowledge Society is a model to strive for… it is one that (under these auspices) can never be attained because of its disregard for human conditioning and behaviour; the idea that even if knowledge, or information, or whatever other label you might want to throw on it, did become the new commodity of the New Information Society… it would not eliminate the very thing (inequity) that it is supposed to overcome.  It would only create bigger chasms in society between the Information Rich and the Information Poor.

I think what all of these (and many other) models of the Knowledge Society is missing… is the advance of critical Knowledge and the emphasis on non-economic or tangible capital.  Seems kind of ridiculous to me that a critical education and community reciprocity are missing from the list of features (Actually, the UNESCO report does refer to elements of a social capital model but it is buried and overshadowed by the importance of economic capital).  My question is how can we get to the ideal Knowledge Society by recycling all this old knowledge; created by these old outdated paradigms.

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