A Theory of Knowledge and Inequality: Gender, Caste and Global Inequality

Abstract

The paper identifies two features of knowledge economies that can make knowledge a factor in social inequality. These are: (1) the enclosure of some knowledge and the resultant distinction between enclosed or monopolized knowledge and knowledge in the commons; and (2) higher returns for those who create and/or own monopolized knowledge compared to those who use knowledge in the commons.

These elements of the knowledge system, working in conjunction with other socio-economic factors, are applied to different types of inequality - gender inequality among indigenous peoples, ritual inequality in the ancient Indian Hindu caste system, and contemporary global economic inequality. Some policy-relevant ways of tackling knowledge inequality are discussed, as also the possibility of extending this approach to areas of inequality in socioeconomic formations not analyzed here.