A Theory of the Knowledge Industry

TL;DR

This paper explores the social and economic factors that transformed the production of knowledge in the exact sciences into a major industry, providing a detailed theoretical framework of its components and dynamics.

Contribution

It offers a novel socio-economic historical explanation for the rise of the knowledge industry in the exact sciences and outlines its key components and mechanisms.

Findings

Knowledge production has become a major industry in the last century.

The paper provides a detailed blueprint of the knowledge industry's components.

It explains the socio-economic factors driving the growth of the knowledge industry.

Abstract

This paper deals with the social production of knowledge in the exact sciences. After defining the term, exact science, it delineates the broad dynamic of its history. It, then, offers a socio-economic historical explanation of why the production of knowledge has become a major industry, if not the largest industry, in the last hundred years. The paper concludes by drawing a detailed blueprint of the components, mechanisms and specificities of the knowledge industry.