Description
Taylor & Francis The New Natural Resource Knowledge Development Society and Economics 2014 Edition by Hans Christian Garmann Johnsen
Increasingly in the public discourse there are references to the knowledge economy, knowledge society, knowledge workers and knowledge organisations. The argument is that knowledge is becoming the main economic resource, replacing the natural resources that drove the industrial revolution. The new knowledge economy is driven by knowledge development, innovation and highly skilled employees. Increasing investment in higher education and in universities is in line with this strategy and understanding. In an earlier book, Creating Collaborative Advantage edited with Richard Ennals, Professor Hans Christian Garmann Johnsen argued that it is knowledge that links social and economic processes. He believes that what is missing in the current discussion on innovation is a conceptualisation of exactly what knowledge is. In The New Natural Resource, he digs deeper into what it is and how it develops and subsequently leads to widespread change. The author argues that knowledge is inherently a social phenomenon. That is why social processes are closely linked to economic development, and why this relationship becomes even more apparent in the new knowledge economy. Knowledge is not an objective entity, established once and for all. Knowledge development is interrelated with values, norms, perceptions and interpretations. We need to know what the mechanisms are by which knowledge becomes legitimate, true and relevant. Table of contents :- Contents: Foreword; Knowledge and society: an introduction. Part I The Epistemological Foundation of Knowledge: Sociology of knowledge development; Subjective reflexivity and knowledge; Communicative rationality. Part II Knowledge in Social Structures: How science makes knowledge; Economic thought, market and knowledge; Knowledge organisations: developing knowledge in practice; Cultural knowledge and market development; Modernist criticisms and development of social knowledge. Part III Knowledge Development in a Liberal Society: Knowledge, market and social justice; Knowledge, social systems and legal order; Knowledge and democracy. Concluding reflections; References; Index.