What are the Knowledge Society Debates?
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In India, as in Europe, visions of the‘knowledge society’ have pushed
science, technology and innovation into
ever more prominent roles in shaping
politics, democracy and public life. In
Delhi and Brussels alike, notions of the‘knowledge society’ and ‘knowledge
economy’ have become buzzwords of
public policy. They are invoked equally
as India positions itself in global high
technology markets; and as European
governments attempt to tame sceptical
publics. In dominant visions of the‘knowledge society’, the acquisition of
knowledge is not questioned. Science
is uniformly portrayed as a compelling
public good – irrespective of the
purposes or priorities to which it is bent.
Politicians proclaim “pro-innovation
policies”, without addressing the value
of particular innovative pathways. Critics of specific new technologies
are branded as ‘anti-technology’ in
general, and dismissed as opponents of
progress. ‘Knowledge’ is never innocent...
it is never ‘just knowledge’. It is always brimming with unacknowledged
normative commitments which are often
enacted in the name of ‘science’.
Thus there is more to the talk of ‘knowledge society’ than R&D budgets alone. The directions taken by innovation
embody wider political choices and
carry more pervasive social implications. Different pathways for agricultural innovation, for example, may empower farmers, seed producers or food retailers
very differently.
Energy infrastructures may comprise centralised or distributed institutions, with divergent implications for
governance. Reproductive technologies
raise acutely contending moral, human
and religious sensibilities. Information
and communications networks may
enable transparency and accountability
or empower surveillance and control.
Each diverging pathway entails different
patterns of responsibility for citizens and accountability for government.
Uncertainties over the direction of change
are therefore more than mere expert
debates over ‘safety’ or ‘risk’. They are as
much ethical, cultural and political as
they are technical, economic or scientific.
Indeed, it is in shaping these alternative
visions that ‘knowledge’ becomes truly political. Scientific knowledge played a formative role in the rise of the nation State itself. Likewise, in these days of globalisation, the transnational order is
increasingly constituted by the production
and flow of different knowledges.
Visions of the ‘knowledge society’ thus present nothing less than templates for the fashioning of new institutions and practices, new power structures and new ways of life. But, despite their scope and ambition,
visions of the ‘knowledge society’ are
fluid, not set in stone. They play out in
contrasting ways in different places. An
enthusiasm for markets and uniform
solutions creates a particular version of
the ‘knowledge society’, for example.
Yet, in Europe and India, there are some
interesting counter-currents. In these
historically-tied settings, the more
multivalent way of thinking about
knowledge, stronger emphasis on the
role of diversity and possibly greater
tolerance for dissenting knowledges, may
have left an indelible mark in politics and
public life.
Though divided by colonial legacies – and further separated by media
emphasis on today’s techno-economic
rivalries – India and Europe present many
parallels in their engagements with
the knowledge society. They share an
awareness of culture and history (with all
their contingencies), a vibrantly critical
politics of technology, and an imperative
for inclusion and a plural understanding
of the public good. Following the work
of the ‘National Knowledge Commission’
in India and the ‘Taking the Knowledge
Society Seriously' (PDF) report in Europe, there
may be much that each can learn from
the other, in the global context.
Are there common points between European and Indian visions of theknowledge society? Can these form a
basis for an alternative, more complex vision of the global future than the vision of the borderless market emanating from the US and China? Or is the underlying picture one of greater conflict and uncertainty? These are the questions that the STEPS Centre at the University of Sussex in the UK (looking at ‘social technological and environmental
pathways to sustainability) hopes to address, together with partner academic institutions in India, in the Knowledge Society Debates being held in India in
January 2009.
The questions are many and urgent: What does the ‘knowledge society’ mean? Is it the society we are, or the society we ought to be? To what degree is knowledge-development already imbued with ambitions of control and manipulation? Whose knowledge – and
whose interventionist ambitions - count and why? What are the contending imaginaries, perspectives and drivers underpinning the intensive development and deployment of knowledge? How
should a ‘knowledge society’ address risk and uncertainty, and limits of predictive control? What are the roles for civic engagement and democratic accountability? Is diversity a source of creativity and rigour or of inertia and incoherence? What do the answers mean for research priorities, industrial strategies and social policies? What do they imply for broader processes of governance and underlying relations of power?
Contact
For media enquires or to participate in the events please
contact:
Email:knowledgedebates@ids.ac.uk
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