Pen to paper

UNESCO promotes the Knowledge Society as a model for sustainable development across global regions. UNESCO's model, at a surface level, acknowledges the debate over what constitutes knowledge itself, thus attempting to provide a universally applicable model.

Yet the Knowledge Society can be criticised to varying degrees from a number of viewpoints; sociological (Webster), political (Schiller), philosophical (Ellul, Marcuse, Heidegger, Winner), psychoanalytic (Zizek), from media theory (McLuhan), and cultural studies (Lyotard).

This study will draw from a range of perspectives to produce a cross-disciplinary analysis of the concept of the Knowledge Society, as defined and presented by UNESCO.

Research questions:

• What is the Knowledge Society? - implied values? social practices? questions of power and cultural integrity? role of technology?
• How does it differ from the Information Society?
• Can such as model be applied across different cultural environments?
• What is the impact on culture of the Knowledge Society?