Wissensdiskurse: Normativ, Faktisch, Hegemonial

Abstract

In the past thirty to forty years, the notion of 'knowledge', perceived as crucial driver for the economic development of nation-states and as key element for successful measures of international development cooperation, has been increasingly shaping global academic debates, national-level policy-making and development discourses worldwide (Stehr 1994,2001). This paper critically assesses two differing, but overlapping discourses of knowledge, captured under notions of 'knowledge society' and the poverty alleviation-oriented 'knowledge for development', as communicative and discursive constructions of reality and redraws normative, factual and hegemonic characteristics of both discourses. Conceptually the paper builds on approaches of communicative and discursive constructivism. In particular, the sociology of knowledge approach to discourse developed by Reiner Keller (2011 a, 2011 b, 2005,2003), Hubert Knoblauch's thoughts on communicative and instrumental action (1995,2001) as well as Jo Reichertz' concept of 'communication power' (2010) guide the analysis. Drawing upon + a social constructivist and knowledge sociological (and additional to a post structural) perspective, the assessment of two global discourses of knowledge with local institutional, organizational and social consequences confirms the necessity to evaluate discourses and the discourse-inspired and discourse strengthening, communicative action of collective, powerful and less powerful actors concerning the construction of knowledge and power relations.