The New Production of Knowledge: The Dynamics of Science and Research in Contemporary Societies

This volume offers an exploration of major changes in the way knowledge is produced in science, technology, social science, & humanities, arguing that a new mode of knowledge production promises to replace or radically reform established institutions, disciplines, practices, & policies. A range of features – reflexivity, transdisciplinarity, heterogeneity – associated with the new mode of knowledge production are identified to illustrate the connections between them & the changing role of knowledge in social relations. Methodological difficulties inherent in attempts to describe a new mode of knowledge production are discussed, & implications of this mode for science policy & international economic competitiveness, collaboration, & globalization are treated. The book is particularly relevant for those concerned with educational systems, the changing nature of knowledge, the social study of science, & the connections between research & development, & social, economic, & technological development. The book is presented in 7 Chpts with a Preface & an Introduction. (1) Evolution of Knowledge Production. (2) The Marketability and Commercialisation of Knowledge. (3) Massification of Research and Education. (4) The Case of the Humanities. (5) Competitiveness, Collaboration and Globalisation. (6) Reconfiguring Institutions. (7) Towards Managing Socially Distributed Knowledge. References accompany each Chpt. 2 Tables. W. Howard