Characterizing knowledge society and global capitalism through Intellectual Property discourses

According to some recent analysis (Boltanski and Chiapello, 1999), contemporary Management reflects the ideal type of current global economic discourse (the "New Spirit of Capitalism"). This paper aims to apply the same mechanism to Intellectual Property as one of the key social discourses arising within the Knowledge Society. Patents and copyrights depict emerging expressions of what knowledge is and how should be dealt with once economy and technology have been globalized. Focusing on such insights and on the attempts to enforce Intellectual Property rights and policies, we will go through a few current social theories. Intellectual Property unfolds a rich variety of social topics, values and ideological backgrounds we have collected and present in three sections: i) Ideas (Knowledge) as appropriable objects (Locke) and as "fictitious commodities" (Polanyi), ii) Innovation as the favourite and unquestioned social change (the triumph of Utilitarism), generated through individual efforts (the Schumpeter's entrepreneurial innovator) and iii) Network-based knowledge communities as a relevant social subject in areas where knowledge is at stake (software development and genomics, for instance).