The denial of history: Reification,intellectual property rights and the lessons of the past

Abstract

In this article, I examine the impact of the reification of intellectual property rights (IPRs) on the global political economy of information and knowledge. I begin by establishing the central functions that IPRs perform in the global political economy, and then review reification as an analytical tool for the examination of social phenomena. The interrogation of IPRs using the concept of reification raises the issue of the role of anxiety in the politics of knowledge. There are two dimensions of anxiety that need to be accorded some analytical weight in any general discussion of the political problem of IPRs: anxiety about personal welfare, and anxiety about control. Both of these can be readily identified in discussions and disputes about the scope, applicability and costs of IPRs in the global system. This is to say that the reification of intellectual property contributes to the continuing discourse of depoliticisation and technocratic policy-making in this area. Thus, I argue that the reification of intellectual property must be resisted if we are to establish a meaningful global politics of information and knowledge.