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Trouble in E-topia: Knowledge as Intellectual Property

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  • Christopher May

    (Faculty of Economics and Social Science, University of the West of England, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol, BS161QY, UK, christopher.may@uwe.ac.uk)

Abstract

This article looks at the claims made about the city's new workplace, where information-related endeavour is leading to a new world of work. However, this can only be regarded as a positive step in labour relations if the central role of intellectual property in the information age is forgotten or obscured. After briefly laying out the claims made about the new age, the article identifies the continued importance for capitalists of controlling property rights, leading to an examination of the continuing property-based relations between information labour and capital(ists). Rather than representing an e-topia, the city's new mode of economic activity exhibits significant continuities with previous modes of capitalism. The claims for the empowerment of information and knowledge-workers in the new age are therefore optimistic at best and mistaken at worst.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher May, 2002. "Trouble in E-topia: Knowledge as Intellectual Property," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 39(5-6), pages 1037-1049, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:39:y:2002:i:5-6:p:1037-1049
    DOI: 10.1080/00420980220128444
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Smith, Woodruff D., 1984. "The Function of Commercial Centers in the Modernization of European Capitalism: Amsterdam as an Information Exchange in the Seventeenth Century," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(4), pages 985-1005, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Roya Ghafele & Benjamin Gibert, 2014. "IP Commercialization Tactics in Developing Country Contexts," Journal of Management and Strategy, Journal of Management and Strategy, Sciedu Press, vol. 5(2), pages 1-15, May.

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