Flow of Ideas: articles - New Ideas in Ruth Rikowski's Book - Part 2 |
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A Capital Friendly Culture for Further Education Academy Chains After the Hillcole Group Against What We Are Worth Ambassadors of Capital in Schools An Educational Mansion House for Business Apprenticeship and the Use-value Aspect of Labour Power Artistic Outlook Ayers Rocked In His Own Universe B Generation Bourdieu on Capital Bourdieu on Cultural Capital Bourdieu on Social Capital Brown PFI Monster Business Sponsorship of Schools Business Takeover of Further Education Cambridge University Occupation Caught in the Storm of Capital Co-payment in Hospitals and Schools Cold Hands and Quarter Moon Communitarianism for Schools Compulsory Consumption and Uni-Nanny Conforming Schools Conforming Kids Copy/South Dossier Creating Monsters Creeping Privatisation in Higher Education Critical Mass Critical Pedagogy and Capitalism Critical Space in Education Delivering E-Learning Digital Rights Management Distillation Dorothy L. Sayers Douglas Kennedy: best-selling novelist E-learning for Free at the BBC Edison Schools in the UK Education and Inspections Bill (2006) Education As Culture Machine Education Fireworks Education for Debt Education Incorporated Education Markets and Missing Products Education Repetition Education the HSBC Way Education White Paper Education, Globalisation and the Learning Society Employers and School Leavers Evaluating Different Teaching Methods Everything Louder Than Everything Else Finance and Fear Five Endings of Desires Foibles, Frolics and Phantasms Freedom Freewill French New Wave Cinema Full Report Ruth Rikowski's Book Launch for Globalisation, Information and Libraries Gender and Spokesperson in Group Work Issues Global Trading Globalisation and Education Revisited Habituation of the Nation Higher Education and Confused Employer Syndrome Hitchcock: classic auteur Human capital, the knowledge economy and business In Retro Glide In the Dentist's Chair Kids in the Land of No Dreams KM Critique Lazy Brit Kids Learning in the Earthworks of Capital Learning Investments Learning to the Max Librarianship and Human Rights Lifelong Learning and the Political Economy of Containment LSBU Strategy Marketisation of the Schools System in England Marx and Education Revisited Marx and the Future of the Human Marxism and Education Revisited Marxist Educational Theory Unplugged Maturity and Freedom McDonaldization and Education Michael Jackson Michele Roberts Miss Allison and Novel Writing Moneythought in Higher Education Mrs Thatcher and Holes in the Kitchen Floor Multiculturalism and Faith Schools My Tony Blair New Ideas in Ruth Rikowski's Book - Part 1 New Ideas in Ruth Rikowski's Book - Part 2 New Labour Policy for Schools Nietzsche's School Nihilism and Educational Values No Learner Left Unhassled Notes on the Confessions of John Denham On Education for Its Own Sake On Education Studies On the Capitalisation of Schools in England On Transhumanism and Education Open Access Outsourcing Public Services Peter Wilby on School Privatisation Planet of the Capitorg Plato Playgound Risks and Handcuffed Kids Poems by Gregory Rikowski Poems by Victor Rikowski Post-Fordism and Schools Post-Fordism in Primary Schools Postmodern Dereliction in the Face of Neoliberal Education Policy PowerPointlessness in Higher Education Private Schools as Charities Privatisation of Schools in England Privatisation of Student Debt Races in the Imperial War Readings for Teaching Course Recruitment and Labour Power Revealed Recruitment Criteria through the Use-value Aspect of Labour-power Robotic Ethics Ruth Rikowski Updates (Archives) Ruth Rikowski Updates (Archives) School Fees and the 1944 Education Act Schools: Building for Business Science Fiction Films and Horror Second Time as Farce Snowballs and Risk in Schools Social Contract Theory and Political Obligations Socialism is not Dead Speed of Life - Part One Speed of Life - Part Two Stroppy Individuals and Oppositional Cultures in Schools Sustainability Policy at London South Bank University Ten Points on Marx, Class and Education The Business of Becoming a Business for Academies The Capitalisation of Schools - Federations and Academies The CBI and the Business Takeover of Schools The Commodification of Education The Education White Paper and the Marketisation of Schools The Evolution of Federations of Schools The Last Parents Evening The New Japanisation of Schools The Profit Virus - The Business Takeover of Schools The Standards Language-game for Schools in England The Which Blair Project Three Types of Apprenticeship - Three Forms of Mastery Tony and Caroline Benn Tony Benn: Letters to Grandchildren Transport Turney's and PPU Uninspiring Towers Universe of Capital and My Space Universities in a Neoliberal World Utopia and Education What Can Nietzsche Teach Ya When Bullies Roam the School When the Bowers Break Why Employers Can't Ever Get What They Want Will Hutton and His E-Foss Wolf on Marx Without Sparks Women in World Wars
| NEW IDEAS IN RUTH RIKOWSKI'S BOOK - GLOBALISATION, INFORMATION AND LIBRARIES, PART 2CONTENTS 1. What constitutes a new idea? Why new ideas are so important 2. Evolutionary nature of social, economic and political systems needs to be established as a definite fact/theory and taught in schools, in same way as Darwin’s theory of the evolution of the species is accepted as a fact – only then can we seek to transcend capitalism 3.Social systems go through evolutionary phases in themselves, before they evolve into a different complete system and the full realisation of fact that the knowledge revolution is an evolutionary phase of capitalism and is the latest phase of capitalism 4.The extension of the commodification process 4.1 The commodity 4.2 Services, through the GATS, are being transformed into international tradable commodities 4.3 Intellectual property rights, through TRIPS, are being transformed into International tradable commodities 5. Value that is extracted from labour (and largely from intellectual labour) becomes embedded in these commodities that have been created by the GATS and TRIPS 6. Intellectual labour and manual labour divide in the knowledge revolution 7. Balance in copyright – three parts to the balance, and not just one, and the impossibility of achieving this balance 8. Glenn Rikowski’s ideas that Ruth Rikowski refers to and develops in her book 8.1Capitalism is sustained by value and not by morals 8.2 National Faces of the GATS 9. Practical, theoretical and personal perspectives – and the gender dimension 10 Conclusion 11 References (N.B. This document has been split up into 2 parts - Part 1 and Part 2. Sections 1-7 are in Part 1, on the Articles section of this website New Ideas in Ruth Rikowski's Book, 'Globalisation, Information and Libraries', Part 1 ) 8. Glenn Rikowski’s new ideas that I refer to and develop in my book In my book I was also influenced by the work of my partner, Glenn Rikowski. He has developed many new ideas in his published works, and I integrate two of his ideas, in particular, into my book. One of these is that capitalism is sustained by value and not by morals – I develop and extend his initial idea considerably in my book. The other is the concept of the National Faces of the GATS which he formulated, and in my book I provide examples of the mechanisms (the National Faces of the GATS) that are in place in UK public libraries that makes UK public libraries vulnerable to the GATS. 8.1 Capitalism is sustained by value and not by morals In one of our many discussions in the pub Glenn and I spoke about value and morals. Glenn said that whilst thinking about the concept of value, it became very clear to him not only that capitalism is sustained by value, but also that contrary to the view that many people would like to hold, it is not sustained by morals at all. When he first said this to me, even I did not like the sound of it, and did not really want to face up to the truth of what he was saying. We like to think that the social system that we live in can, and does, have some sort of moral base. It is comforting. To really take on the idea that we live in an alien world, with no moral foundation, is quite horrific on initial consideration. This can also be tied up with religious notions. Although, in many ways in the developed world we do not succumb to formal religious doctrine, never-the-less we like the idea of holding on to some religious notions and certainly like to hold on to the idea that we live within some sort of external moral framework. To think otherwise is too unpleasant. I expand on all this further in my book and I say that: Many do not want to acknowledge that capitalism has no moral base – it is too unpleasant. However, it is necessary that we do this, if we are to avoid going round in circles and getting nowhere. Capitalism is not based on moral principles and is certainly not sustained by them… Capitalism is sustained and nourished by value. (R.Rikowski, 2005, p. 319) However, although Glenn has given considerable thought to this, he does not, as yet, have much published material on this – that is something else for the future! In his paper Education and Social Justice within the Social Universe of Capital (2000), however, he did start to document some of his thoughts on the broad area of social justice and morals. In this article, Glenn Rikowski emphasises for example that: "The social substance of the social universe of capital is value" (G.Rikowski, 2000, p.1) With cruel irony he then points out that: "We are all equal. There is no problem of social justice. But this is only so on the basis of exchange-value. My labour will exchange in definite proportions to that of…other sharp City operators." (G. Rikowski, 2000 p.1) This is a strange form of equality, but it is very true never-the-less. The exchange-value of one humans labour is equal to that of another in definite proportions. He continues slightly later, saying: "Social justice in capitalist society is the struggle for social justice itself; the struggle to make it real, when only its virtual existence is possible within the social universe of capital. The opening up of social justice on the basis of exchange-value and the equalisation of labour-powers is nevertheless significant. The uncovering of the form that social justice takes in capitalist society is an indicator of a suppressed form of sustainable life: communism. The struggle for social justice is therefore simultaneously the struggle to liberate a form of social life - communism – where social justice can take on a real (as opposed to virtual) existence." (G.Rikowski, 2000, p.3) Thus, social justice is not really possible in capitalism, Glenn Rikowski points out. Instead, it can only ever be a virtual existence. The only form of social justice that exists is on the basis of exchange-value, which demonstrates that communism is a suppressed form of life within capitalism. In fact, it is part of an underlying evolving process within capitalism. However, if we just wait for evolutionary processes to merge into communism we will probably be waiting for a very long time, with no guarantee that it will ever happen – capitalism might evolve into a different system instead. So it would be much better if we were pro-active and sought to bring about communism itself. It is also far more likely to present a world that we would ideally like to live in. Evolution does the best that it can, but it is slow and limited. For example, our brains have evolved and developed, but in order to create a better social, economic and political system our brains should ideally have been developed in a slightly different way, in all probability, to help us to achieve this. To return to Glenn Rikowski’s point - when we attempt to introduce notions of social justice we put the social universe of capital, and global capitalism itself at risk, thereby opening up opportunities for communism. He concludes by saying that: "In attempts to transform social justice from something virtual into a real possibility, in trying to ground principles of social life on a rational basis in a mad word, we start to put the social universe of capital at risk." (G. Rikowski, 2000, p.4) In my book I develop this moral/value analysis further. In particular, I emphasis how a realisation that capitalism is sustained by value and not by morals prevents us from going round in circles and helps us to clarify our thinking – as indeed, effective Marxist analysis in general does. As I emphasise: "…if we consider moral issues in depth as part of our analysis of capitalism, such as moral issues in relation to intellectual property rights and moral and humane issues in relation to the balance in copyright, we will just find ourselves going round in circles. Also, at some point we will be unable to move forward from such a position productively. This is because capitalism is based on and is sustained by value, not morals. Once we are clear about this, we will be in a much more powerful position and will be able to analyse capitalism from a clearer perspective." (R.Rikowski, 2005, p. 323) If the library and information profession were to take my message on board, this would prevent them from wasting a lot of time, and trying to adopt worthwhile but impossible principles within capitalism, such as the balance in copyright. We need to recognise that the main principles embedded within the library and information profession largely lie outside of the capitalist web. 8.2. National Faces of the GATS – these are the mechanisms, facilitators or enablers that are being set in place that will enable the GATS to take effect. Different mechanisms will exist in different service sectors, and this will also differ across countries. So, there is a need for people working in different service sectors and in different countries, to consider what are the mechanisms/facilitators that are in existence that will enable the GATS to take place in their particular areas – i.e. bringing the GATS home. The mechanisms might well not be clear or obvious, but never-the-less they exist. The three National Faces of the GATS that I examined in regard to public libraries in my book are Best Value, Library Standards and the People’s Network. (R.Rikowski, 2002c and 2005) The National Faces of the GATS was a concept that Glenn Rikowski formulated after he wrote The Battle in Seattle and he first wrote about it in an article in the special issue of Information for Social Change that I edited on Globalisation and Information, in 2002. Glenn Rikowski said: "In each public service there are specific mechanisms, or enablers and developers of the GATS process… Ruth Rikowski (this issue) indicates what these enablers and facilitators of the GATS are for libraries in England." (G. Rikowski, 2002a, p. 10) Glenn Rikowski then goes on to say that: "…there is an urgent task for progressive and critical folk in each of the public services, and in each country, to locate the national faces of the GATS. We must uncover and critique the precise mechanisms that facilitate the GATS and smooth the way for the business takeover of public services." (G.Rikowski, 2002a, p. 10) In Glenn Rikowski’s paper Globalisation and Education, which formed part of the House of Lords Report on Globalisation, he outlines what the National Faces of the GATS are for schools. He identified these as being: Ofsted – the Office for Standards in Education (e.g. identifying ‘failing’schools and local education authorities for eventual transfer to the private sector), the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) (for building new schools and for their long-term maintenance), ICT capital entering schools on a large scale (through the National Grid for Learning and other initiatives) and schools then become significant generators of profit for the companies involved; Competitive tendering and outsourcing and new types of school, such as the City Academies. Glenn Rikowski also made the point that some of these enablers existed before the GATS, such as Ofsted, but that it has “…been reconfigured as a GATS facilitator”. (G. Rikowski, 2002b, p.8) He goes on to say that: "A more comprehensive analysis would require also an exploration of the national faces of the GATS for the further, adult and higher education sectors. It is to be hoped that those with a detailed knowledge of those sectors of education would produce such analyses. Secondly, a complete analysis would also involve a detailed examination of each of the GATS national faces for schools in terms of how exactly they enable and facilitate GATS imperatives and priorities." (G. Rikowski, 2002b, p. 8) It is important to create new concepts to build on Marx’s concepts and analysis if and when this is necessary, in order to be able to analyse and explain global capitalism more effectively. We should not be deifying Marx and Marxist concepts. Instead, we should be building on them, and making them applicable for the global capitalist world that we find ourselves in today. Similarly, if some of Marx’s concepts no longer seem applicable/useful, then they should be abandoned. The importance of Marxism is because it provides a more adequate explanation of capitalism than any other theory does, as far as I am concerned – we need to keep this clearly in our minds. Marxism is not a religion. The point is to that it enables us to understand capitalism, and why all these gross inequalities exist, so that once we have this tool, we then we will be able to start to transcend it. And so, the ‘National Faces of the GATS’ is a new and useful concept that Glenn Rikowski has created, which explains how the GATS can be more easily introduced in nation states. 9. Practical, theoretical and personal perspectives – and the gender dimension In my book I also aimed to bring the personal, practical and theoretical altogether and I did this quite deliberately. There is too much emphasis today on trying to split up the personal life from the working life, in my view. This is really very much a gender issue, in many ways. Females still play a much larger part than men in nurturing labour power and the next generation of labourers – i.e. the capacity to labour. In regard to labour power, Marx said, for example that: "Given the individual, the production of labour-power consists in his reproduction of himself or his maintenance. For his maintenance, he requires a given quantity of the means of subsistence…" (Marx, 1887, p. 168) People cannot labour if they do not have a good meal inside them, for example. Females still do much more of the domestic work then men. So, if this is ignored, then this dismisses a large part of the female workload, which often tends to go largely unrecognised anyway. Thus, I attempt to address this issue in some small way by looking at a number of personal factors, such as the death of a colleague in the London Borough of Newham. I also include a large number of people in the acknowledgements in my book. Furthermore, it is also personal dramas and crisis in ones life that can lead to major breakthroughs in thinking. I wrote my book after an aunt of mine died, for example – my Aunt Irene (not my Aunt Olive, who I dedicated my book to). Interestingly, Charles Hazlewood in the BBC 3 part Drama Documentary The Genius of Mozart: a personal exploration argues that Mozart’s genius grew and developed from the ‘loves and losses’ in his short life and says that: "I believe Mozart was the greatest compose of all time. The popular view was that he was born a genius straight from his mother’s womb. But in my opinion his brilliance grew and developed from the loves and losses during his brief 35 years. Life was the driving force of his genius." (Hazlewood, BBC Drama Documentary, The Genius of Mozart, Part 1, 2004) Mozart composed Eine Kleine Nachtmusik after his father died in 1787, for example. Yet, some others have misunderstood my intention here. Ian Johnson in his review of my book said, for example: "Unfortunately, Ms Rikowski’s personal commitment to this cause flows into a gushing and rather off-putting personal style…" (Johnson, 2005, p. 42) Similarly, the practical and theoretical split is another serious problem, in my view. Many just focus on one or the other dimension. Many on the left focus on the practical dimension, and very effectively expose many of the gross injustices and suffering that exists in the world as a result of global capitalism (the horror of the Iraqi war is one obvious example here). Whereas many Marxist academics and others become absorbed in Marxist theory but do not really relate this theory to the reality of living in and through global capitalism. In my book, I aim to overcome this false divide and to bring theory and practice together. Thus, I explain what the WTO, TRIPS and GATS are. I then provide practical examples of how all this is affecting peoples’ everyday lives in a very practical way. Finally, I seek to explain all these developments, by placing them within an Open Marxist theoretical perspective. 10. Conclusion In conclusion, I have always been a person that gets very excited about and is keen to develop new ideas, and I have developed many new ideas during the process of my writing. In my book Globalisation, Information and Libraries, I develop a lot of new ideas most of which I have now summarised in this piece. During the writing of my book I wanted the new ideas to flow naturally through the book, in a similar way in which a new piece of music flows – works of creativity should surely aim to take you to new, wonderful, undiscovered heights. New ideas also make for a richer and a more exciting life – just as wonderful music does. However, after my book was published it became apparent to me that I needed to highlight my new ideas and explain them more clearly. My thoughts in regard to this emerged from a negative factor – i.e. some critical comments in reviews of my book. I slowly began to realise that people that were reading my book were not fully understanding and grasping my Open Marxist analysis and the new ideas that I have developed. So, in order to move Open Marxist theory forward, which is essential if we are ever to effectively understand, analyse and critique global capitalism and then seek to move beyond it to an alternative form of life, then highlighting and explaining my new ideas further became necessary. This piece then has now started the process of addressing this issue. Indeed, this piece has also introduced some further new ideas as well, that were not in my book. This includes the fact that each social system goes through different evolutionary phases within themselves and that the inequality in intellectualism between those that have established positions (such as Professors) and those that do not hold such positions, needs to be more starkly exposed. I look forward to having further debates around these new ideas and other topics that I raise in my book. As I said at my book launch, there is an urgent need for more debate. This was also something that the Vice-Chancellor recognised, as did Dr Lee Rose. I am also continually moving my own ideas and thinking forward, and indeed, I am building up a whole body of theory in regard to an Open Marxist theoretical analysis of globalisation and the knowledge revolution. Let me end by highlighting the famous quote from Marx and Engels. 150 years ago Marx and Engels saw that a particular capitalist form of globalisation was developing. Their foresight was amazing. They said that: "All that is solid melts into air…the need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the whole surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connections everywhere." (Marx and Engels, 1848, p.83) Let us then, try to take hold of this situation, and endeavour to change the tide – let us look towards a better future and a brighter world. 11. References Bently, Lionel (2002) Between a rock and a hard place: the problems facing freelance creators in the UK media market-place: a briefing document on behalf of the Creators’ Rights Alliance, London: Institute of Employment Rights Blair, Tony (1999a) Speech to the CBI Conference in Brighton, 2 November. Available at: www.number-10-gov.uk/public/news/features/feature_display.asp?id-680 Blair, Tony (1999b) Information Society, 26th October. Available at: www.number-10.gov.uk/public/news/features/feature_display.asp?id-680 Byers, Stephen (1999) Speech to CBI London Region Annual Lunch, 26 February International Federation of Library Association and Institutions (IFLA) (2000) (revised 2001) IFLA position on copyright in the digital environment. Available at: http://www.ifla.org/V/press/copydig.htm (accessed on 20/07/04) Committee on Copyright and Other Legal Matters (CLM), IFLA (2002) Limitations and exceptions to copyright and neighbouring rights in the digital environment: an international library perspective. Available at: www.ifla.org/III/clm/p1/ilp/htm. (Accessed on 19/07/04) Einstein, Albert (1949) Why Socialism?, Monthly Review, May. Available at: http://www.monthlyreview.org/598.einst.htm The Genius of Mozart: a personal exploration by Charles Hazlewood. A 3-part BBC Drama Documentary on the life of Mozart. First broadcast between 19th March-2nd April 2004, on BBC2, Friday pm. Written and Directed by Andy King-Dabbs. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/classicaltv/mozart/theseries/eTV.shtml Johnson, Ian (2005) Review of ‘Globalisation, Information and Libraries’, in Focus: on International Library and Information Work, Vol. 36, No.1, pp. 41-43 Krajewski, Markus (2002) Public interests, private rights and the ‘constitution’ of GATS. Paper for the workshop ‘GATS: trading development?’, Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation, University of Warwick, 20/21 September Leadbeater, Charles (1999) Living on thin air, Viking, Penguin Group: London Marx, Karl (1887) [1954 – reproduced text of English edition of 1887], Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Vol. 1, London: Lawrence & Wishart Marx, Karl (1975) Early writings, Pelican: London Marx, Karl (1858) [1972] Grundisse, Penguin: Middlesex Marx, Karl (1844) [1959] Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Progess Publishers: Moscow Marx, Karl and Engels, Frederick (1848) The Communist Manifesto, Hardmonsworth: Penguin Books Marx, Karl and Engels, Frederick (1846) [1964] The German ideology, Progress Publishers: Moscow Marx, Karl (1875) [1972] Critique of the Gotha Programme, Foreign Language Press: Peking Milton, Nick (2000) The knowledge that you don’t know you know, Knowledge Management, May, pp. 16-18 Oppenheim, Charles (2005) Review of Ruth Rikowski’s book – Globalisation, Information and Libraries, Journal of Documentation, Vol. 61, Issue 5 Rikowski, Glenn (2000) Education and Social Justice within the Social Universe of Capital, Education On-Line. Available at: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00001618.htm See also –‘Events’ section of the ‘Flow of Ideas’ website, under ‘Education and Social Justice’ – http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=events&sub=Education%20and%20Social%20Justice Rikowski, Glenn (2001) The Battle in Seattle: its significance for education, London: Tufnell Press Rikowski, Glenn (2002a) Transfiguration: globalisation, the World Trade Organisation and the National Faces of the GATS, Information for Social Change, Winter 2001/2002, No. 14, http://libr.org/ISC Rikowski, Glenn (2002b) Globalisation and Education. A paper prepared for the House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs, Inquiry into the Global Economy, House of Lords Report on Globalisation. See: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00001941.htm See also the ‘Publications’ section of the ‘Flow of Ideas’ website, under ‘Globalisation’ for further information – http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Globalisation&searched=Globalisation%20and%20Education Rikowski, Glenn (2003) Alien Life: Marx and the future of the human, Historical Materialism, Vol. 11, Issue 2 Rikowski, Ruth (2000a) The knowledge economy is here – but where are the information professionals? (Part 1), Business Information Review, Vol. 17, No. 3, pp.157-167 Rikowski, Ruth (2000b) The knowledge economy is here – but where are the information professionals? (Part 2), Business Information Review, Vol. 17, No. 5, pp. 227-33 Rikowski, Ruth (2002) The corporate takeover of libraries, Information for Social Change, Winter 2001/02, No. 14 – http://libr.org/ISC Rikowski, Ruth (2005) Globalisation, Information and Libraries: the implications of the World Trade Organisation’s GATS and TRIPS Agreements, Chandos: Oxford Rikowski, Ruth (2005) (forthcoming) Re-thinking the ‘Balance in Copyright’: 3 parts to the balance, not just one!, Information for Social Change, Summer. Available at: http://libr.org.ISC Schumpeter, J.A. (1951) The theory of economic development, Cambridge: Harvard University Press Schumpeter, J.A. (1952) Capitalism, socialism and democracy, George Allen and Unwin Part 1 of this article is available on the 'Articles' section of this website. New Ideas in Ruth Rikowski's book - 'Globalisation, Information and Libraries', Part 1 Ruth Rikowski, June 2005, London, © Copyright, 2005 // Print Friendly - Print Friendly with links |
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