Knowledge in Production

In: Race & class: a journal on racism, empire and globalisation, Band 34, Heft 3, S. 1-14

Abstract

Technologies of the second industrial age can be characterized as knowledge-intensive, & knowledge now dominates machinery, raw material, & labor in production. In knowledge-intensive production, the human factor is recorded in the machinery & in the organization of production. However, though knowledge increases productivity, it does not increase employment or wages. Since knowledge costs almost nothing to duplicate, capitalists are concerned about locking in knowledge, & making it private property. In this sense, the workplace struggle is not about wage levels, but about property & social relations. M. Pflum