The Knowledge Corrupters: Hidden Consequences of the Financial Takeover of Public Life

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Colin Crouch (London School of Economics)

The Knowledge Corrupters

Hidden Consequences of the Financial Takeover of Public Life

Colin Crouch (London School of Economics)

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English

Polity Press
16 October 2015

Sociology; Economic systems & structures

In principle the advanced, market-driven world in which we now live is fuelled by knowledge, information and transparency, but in practice the processes that produce this world systematically corrupt and denigrate knowledge: this is the powerful and provocative argument advanced by Colin Crouch in his latest exploration of societies on the road to post-democracy.

Crouch shows that executives in profit-maximizing corporations have incentives to ignore or distort knowledge, especially firms in the information business of the mass media themselves, as financial knowledge increasingly trumps the other kinds of knowledge that business needs. Firms also seek to take control of public knowledge and use it for their own ends, often at the cost of other stakeholders in society. Meanwhile the transfer of similar practices to professional public services undermines professional skills and ethics - especially when these services are out-sourced to the private sector. Attempts to extricate ourselves from these problems involve reshaping the complex and often conflicting relationships among citizens, professionals, managers and financiers.

This new book by one of the most incisive critics of contemporary Western societies will be of interest to a wide range of readers, from students to policy-makers and those who work in the public and private sectors.

By: Colin Crouch (London School of Economics)
Imprint: Polity Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 224mm, Width: 145mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 358g
ISBN: 9780745669854
ISBN 10: 0745669859
Pages: 200
Publication Date: 16 October 2015
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , A / AS level , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

COLIN CROUCH is Professor Emeritus of the University of Warwick, and the External Scientific member of the Max Planck Institute for Social Research at Cologne. His many books include Post-democracy, The Strange Non-Death of Neoliberalism, and Making Capitalism Fit for Society.

Reviews for The Knowledge Corrupters: Hidden Consequences of the Financial Takeover of Public Life

Accessible to all, here's a book to be read by all who rely on increasingly beleaguered 'public services'. We can see how reliant our politicians have become on what some have called 'policy - based evidence' rather than 'evidence-based policy'. Crouch shows with his customary incisive clarity why this hasn't worked and just what's wrong with relying so heavily on markets and neo-liberalism. Sir Tim Brighouse