The Culture and Power of Knowledge: Inquiries into Contemporary Societies

✍ Scribed by Nico Stehr (editor); Richard V. Ericson (editor)

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 416
• Category: Library

✦ Table of Contents

Part I. The Culture and Power of Knowledge in Modern Society
Introduction
I. Knowledge Societies
II. Theories of Modern Society
III. Toward a Sociological Concept of Knowledge
IV. Researchable Issues
Notes
References
Part II. Theoretical Perspectives
Introduction
A Critical View of Modernity
The Techno-structures of Society
I. Introduction
II. Technology as the Self-preservation of Society
III. The Technical Object and the Techno-structure
IV. Technical Socialization and Release
V. Society and Generation
VI. Concluding Remarks
Notes
References
Some Observations on “Post-modern” Society
The Idols of Technology
I. Bacon’s Idols
II. A Modern Idolatry
III. Bacon’s Wager
IV. The Century of Environmental Crisis
V. Appendix: Issues in the Perception of Environmental Risks
Notes
References
Part III. Knowledge, Experts and Expertise
Introduction
Life-world and Expertise: Social Production of Dependency
I. Existential Foundations of Expertise
II. Redeployment of Skills
III. Self-reproduction of Expertise
IV. Marketing the Expertise
V. The Tendencies and Limits of Expert-Designed Life World
Notes
References
Experts, Counsellors and Advisers
I. Knowledge and Expertise
II. The Knowledge Society
III. Intellectuals and Experts
IV. Institutions and Expertise
V. Conditions for the Growth of Experts
VI. The Functions of Expertise
VII. Conclusion
Notes
References
Knowledge as Product and Property
I. The Interchangeability of Knowledge and Power
II. Embodying Knowledge as Professional Power
III. From Knowledge Product to Intellectual Property
IV. Conferring Validity and Value on Intellectual Property
V. Is the Market for Knowledge Saturated or Depressed?
Notes
References
Part IV. Science and Technology as Social Risks
Introduction
Modern Society as a Risk Society
I. The Paradigm of the Risk-society
II. Risks of Modernization – Five Theses
III. First Thesis: Knowledge is Dependent on Modernization Risks
IV Second Thesis: Modernization Risks Exploding the Class-structure
V. Third Thesis: On the Market Form of Modernization Risks
VI. Fourth Thesis: Conciousness Determines Being, Knowledge of Risks and Levels of Effect of Risks
VII. Fifth Thesis: The Risk-society Engenders the Political Potential for a Dirigiste Politics of the State of Emergency
Note
Science as a Societal Risk Producer
I The General Intersystemic Dynamics of Scientific Risk Production
II Some Institutional Determinants of the Societal Risk Potential of Research Behavior
Notes
References
Social Conflicts about the Definition of Risks: The Role of Science
I. Traditional Risks
II. Industrial Risks
III. New Technological Risks
IV. New Risks and Societal Conflicts
V. Science and Public Conflicts About Risks
VI. Some Typical Strategies of Risk Definition
References
Part V. The Economic Structure of Knowledge Societies
Introduction
The Changed World Economy
Notes
References
Global Change and Economic Policy
I. The World of 1950
II. The Shift to the New Order
III. The World of 1990
IV. Economic Policy in Transition
V. Conclusion
Notes
References
Learning and the Economy
I. Introduction
II. The Economists’ View of Human Capital
III. Knowledge, Competence and General Skills
IV. The Learning Process and the Learning Cycle
V. Learning and Innovation
VI. Learning and Economics
VII. Learning and the Economy
References
Part VI. Empirical Analysis of Knowledge Production and its Social Consequences
Introduction
Scientific Evidence and the Regulation of Technical Risks: Twenty Years of Demythologizing the Experts
I. Professional Analysis vs. Political Bargaining
II. “We Do Not Know Enough!”
III. “You Never Know Enough”
IV. The Professional Appropriation of Risk Controversies
V. The Limits and Relevance of Professional Mandate in the Regulation of Risk
References
Expertise as a Network: A Case Study of the Controversies over the Environmental Release of Genetically Engineered Organisms
I. Introduction
II. Analyzing “Expertise”
III. The Debate over Genetically Engineered Microorganisms (GEMS)
IV. Concluding remarks
Notes
References
Expert Advice and Pragmatic Rationality
I. The Ozone Layer Debate
II. Standards for Dioxin in the Netherlands
III. Conclusion
Notes
References
On the Authors
Name Index
Subject Index