The Commodification of Knowledge

Laurelyn Whitt

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511760068.011

6 - The Commodification of Knowledge

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010

Laurelyn Whitt

Show author details

Laurelyn Whitt: Affiliation:
Brandon University, Manitoba, Canada

Book contents

Get access

Summary

In the context of bioprospecting, scientific knowledge is not simply capitalized; it is politicized in the very particular sense of being inscribed with specific kinds of accountabilities, social relations and potential property claims, and interests. We might say it is neoliberalized.

– Cori Hayden

The ideology of the market, and the omnipresence of market forces, has left an indelible mark on the western conception of knowledge. Aided and abetted by the western legal system, and most strikingly by the rise of intellectual property law, knowledge has undergone a steady process of commodification. This is particularly true of knowledge produced in the microworld “factories” of western biotechnoscience, which have become crucial outposts in the establishment of an international intellectual property rights regime. Never content merely to maintain the status quo, as capitalism moves from an industrial to a global information economy, it continues to regenerate itself. Wealth, as Christopher Lind observes, is created

not primarily from the manufacture of industrial goods, but from the generation of ideas and information. As existing pools of capital seek to capture the new sources of wealth, debates about intellectual property are moving to center stage.

Although the market and market forces of late capitalism differ substantially from those envisaged by Adam Smith, they continue – notably under the banner of intellectual property law – to transform the legal system in ways that impact directly the western conception of knowledge.

Type: Chapter
Information: Science, Colonialism, and Indigenous Peoples
The Cultural Politics of Law and Knowledge
, pp. 136 - 156

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511760068.011 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Hayden, Cori, When Nature Goes Public: The Making and Unmaking of Bioprospecting in Mexico (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2003): 9Google Scholar

Lind, Christopher, “The Idea of Capitalism or the Capitalism of Ideas? A Moral Critique of the Copyright Act,” Intellectual Property Journal, 7 (1991): 71Google Scholar

Polanyi, Karl, Primitive, Archaic and Modern Economies: Essays of Karl Polanyi. (New York, New York: Doubleday, 1968): 62Google Scholar

Kimbrell, Andrew, The Human Body Shop (San Francisco, California: Harper, 1983): 269–70Google Scholar

Hettinger, Edwin C., “Justifying Intellectual Property,” Philosophy and Public Affairs, 18 (1989): 31Google Scholar

Roberts, R. J., “Is Information Property?,” Intellectual Property Journal, 3:2 (1987)Google Scholar

Fuller, Steve, Social Epistemology (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1991)Google Scholar

Tauli-Corpuz, Victoria, “We Are Part of Biodiversity, Respect Our Rights,” Third World Resurgence, 36 (1993): 25Google Scholar

Silva, José de Souza, “Plant Intellectual Property Rights: The Rise of Nature as a Commodity,” in Peritore, N. Patrick and Galve-Peritore, Ana Karina (eds.), Biotechnology in Latin America (Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources, 1995): 57Google Scholar

Armstrong, Jeannette, “Global trade targets indigenous gene lines,” National Catholic Reporter (January 27, 1995): 11Google Scholar

Moore, John, “Native Americans, Scientists, and the HGDP,” Cultural Survival Quarterly, 20:2 (Summer 1996): 62Google Scholar

Appadurai, Arjun, The Social Life of Things (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University, 1986)CrossRef Google Scholar

Greaves, Tom (ed.), Intellectual Property Rights for Indigenous Peoples (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: Society for Applied Anthropology, 1994): 6

Stepan, Nancy, “Race and Gender: The Role of Analogy in Science,” in Harding, Sandra (ed.), The “Racial” Economy of Science (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1993): 372Google Scholar

Berg, Jeff, “Moral Rights: A Legal, Historical and Anthropological Reappraisal,” Intellectual Property Journal, 6 (1991): 363Google Scholar

Allen, Paula Gunn, The Sacred Hoop (Boston: Beacon, 1986): 73Google Scholar

Deloria, Jr. Vine “Out of Chaos,” in Dooling, D. and Jordan-Smith, P. (eds.), I Become Part of It (San Francisco, California: Harper, 1992): 262–3Google Scholar

Barreiro, José, “The Search For Lessons,” Akwe:kon, Vol. IX, No. 2 (1982): 21Google Scholar

Scott, Colin, “Science for the West, Myth for the Rest?: The Case of James Bay Cree Knowledge Construction,” in Nader, Laura (ed.), Naked Science: Anthropological Inquiry into Boundaries, Power, and Knowledge (New York, New York: Routledge, 1996): 74Google Scholar

Rivera, Julio Valladolid, “Andean Peasant Agriculture: Nurturing a Diversity of Life in the Chacra” in Apffel-Marglin, Frédérique and Rivera, Julio Valladolid, Regeneration in the Andes (St. Urbain, Montréal, Québec: Intercultural Institute of Montréal, 1995): 25Google Scholar

Weber, Max, On Law in Economy and Society (New York, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1954): 192Google Scholar

Hyde, Lewis, The Gift (New York, New York: Random House, 1979): 67Google Scholar

“Declaration of Indigenous Peoples of the Western Hemisphere Regarding the Human Genome Diversity Project” Indigenous Woman, Vol. II, No. II (1995): 32–3

Carroll, Amy, “Not Always the Best Medicine: Biotechnology and the Global Impact of U.S. Patent Law,” American University Law Review, 44 (1995) 2439Google Scholar

Rushing, Francis W. and Brown, Carole Ganz (eds.), Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Science, Technology, and Economic Performance (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1990)

Etzkowitz, Henry and Webster, Andrew, “Science as Intellectual Property,” in Jasanoff, Sheilaet al. (eds.), Handbook of Science and Technology Studies (Thousand Oaks, California: Sage, 1995): 481, 482, 484Google Scholar

Marks, Jonathan, “Commentary: The Human Genome Diversity Project,” Anthropological News (April 1995): 72Google Scholar

Moore, John, “Putting Anthropology Back Together Again,” American Anthropologist, 96 (1994): 925CrossRef Google Scholar

Fowler, Cary, “Biotechnology, Patents, and the Third World,” in Shiva, Vandana and Moser, Ingunn (eds.), Biopolitics (Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Zed Books, 1995)Google Scholar

Smart, Carol, Feminism and the Power of Law (New York, New York: Routledge, 1989)CrossRef Google Scholar

Hunt, Alan, “Foucault's Expulsion of Law: Toward a Retrieval, Law and Social Inquiry,” Law and Social Inquiry, 1 (1992)Google Scholar

Latour, Bruno and Woolgar, Steve, Laboratory Life (Beverly Hills, California: Sage Publications, 1979): 197Google Scholar

Soleri, Danielaet al., “Gifts from the Creator,” in Greaves, Tom (ed.), Intellectual Property Rights for Indigenous Peoples (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: Society for Applied Anthropology, 1994): 34Google Scholar

Marsden, Maori, “God, Man and the Universe: A Maori View,” in King, Michael (ed.), Te Ao Hurihuri (Auckland, New Zealand: Reed Publishing, 1992): 121Google Scholar

Patterson, John, Exploring Maori Values (Palmerston North, New Zealand: The Dunmore Press, 1992): 164Google Scholar

Agrawal, Arun, “Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge: Some Critical Comments,” Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor, 3:3 (1995): 2Google Scholar

“Editorial,” Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor, 4:1 (1996): 1

Boyle, James, Shamans, Software & Spleens: Law and the Construction of the Information Society (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1996): 129Google Scholar

Book contents

6 - The Commodification of Knowledge

Summary

Access options

References

Save book to Kindle

Save book to Dropbox

Save book to Google Drive