Derber, Schwartz, and Magrass use their article to present knowledge and its role in obtaining, controlling, and retaining class power. Using historical examples knowledge is characterized in forms ranging from magic performed by witch doctors, blessings by clergy, and industrial knowledge retained by management. Derber and his colleagues elaborate on the importance of these knowledge holders efforts in legitimizing their status as experts and their means of establishing and rationing the control over their knowledge as property.
The authors of the article describe the importance of establishing a worldview to support the importance of your expertise in society. So, just as the witch doctors of the Azande are described in the article as having set up a magical worldview their people cannot escape so we live in the age of high science and the existence of such threats that support the importance of that knowledge. Fifty years ago people were not worried about such things as super volcanoes and cataclysmic meteor strikes but now we have scientific experts who have discovered evidence to support the possibility of their occurrence and dream up techniques to counter these disasters.
Derber, Schwartz, and Magrass describe "enclosing the commons" or creating the exclusivity of knowledge. In our modern country we use the education systems to establish the rarity of knowledge. Any man, woman, or child can pick up a book and study physics but it is only through the achievement of various levels of degrees that this knowledge is made marketable. The authors use examples of this control of knowledge such as priests blessing fields. The peasants in the Middle Ages could have blessed their own fields in hope of a bountiful harvest but it was only the clergy who were legitimized and ordained through the church.
Finally, the article covers the topic of Logocracies and their past examples and future potential. This has particular relevance in an age of increasing technical development at all levels of society. Boardrooms, classrooms, and newsrooms are all perfect places to go looking for these high qualified experts related to the contemporary worldview and the problems it presents.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
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This article shows many examples of how knowledge is the most important thing one can obtain throughout thier life. As Derber, Schwartz, and Magrass put it, nonsocialized knowledge can give a person great power over people who have only obtained general or socialized knowledge. This basically means that people who get their masters at a good college will have better opertunities to be successful than those who did not go to college. However, the authors state that the "experts" can rarely prove the validity of their knowledge. Back in the day people used to believe the world was flat. The reason for this is probably due in part by people with high status preaching to those of lower status, who can only trust in the creadibility of those percieved to have more knowledge. All in all I believe this article shows how knowledge is power, the more you have the better off you'll be.
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