Dissertation
Hypercapitalism : an investigation into the relationship between language, new media, and social perceptions of value
Doctor of Philosophy, Queensland University of Technology
2001
Abstract
Overall, this thesis purports to make two significant contributions to knowledge. The first is a foundational critique of political economy in the context of an emergent global knowledge economy. The second is a method for analysing evaluations in language. The relationships that give coherence to those two contributions are as follows. The widely-heralded emergence of a knowledge economy indicates that more intimate aspects of human activity have become exposed to commodification on a massive scale, specifically, activities associated with thought and language. Correspondingly, more abstract forms of value have developed as the products of thought and language have become dominant commodity forms. Historical investigation shows that value has moved from an objective category in political economy, pertaining to such substances as precious metals and land, to become situated today predominantly in "expert" expressions of language, or more precisely, their institutional contexts of production. These are now propagated and circulated on a global scale. Legal, political, and technological developments are key in the development of new, more abstract forms of labour and value, although the relationships connecting these are neither simple nor direct. They are, however, inseparably related in the trajectories that this thesis describes. Consequently they are dealt with inseparably throughout.
Details
- Title
- Hypercapitalism : an investigation into the relationship between language, new media, and social perceptions of value
- Authors
- Philip Graham (Author) - Queensland University of Technology
- Awarding institution
- Queensland University of Technology
- Degree awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99451017902621
- Output Type
- Dissertation
Metrics
2 File views/ downloads
261 Record Views