The role of knowledge in capitalist production

Abstract

More than representing a technological paradigm of the capitalist industry, knowledge is treated as a central element in the dynamics of contemporary society. That is to say, the production and commercialization of knowledge have become strategic for capitalist economic relations. Aiming to decipher the role of knowledge in economic activity, we propose in this article to analyze it in its entirety. We will seek to highlight its essential characteristics: its origin, its form, its place. Only through this investigation will we be able to envisage its relationship with economic production. The results we have achieved show that despite not having use value or value, knowledge plays a strategic role in the dynamics of capitalist accumulation, whose effects cannot be ignored by economic science.