Abstract
The purpose of this article is to analyze the meaning and presumptions of competence in the concrete context of knowledge capitalism. First, the nature of competence as a ‘commodification of human ability’ that obtains a standardized monetary value to sell in the labor market, is elucidated by applying Karl Marx’s critical theory. Second, it is further investigated that, in the new context of the global learning economy, the production of the competence as a commodity itself becomes a key industry, representing itself a crucialsub- system of knowledge capitalism. Third, this paper explains how competence discourse has a great deal to do with the current drastic changes in the educational paradigm from ‘nation-state education’ to ‘global learning economy’. These changes are illustrated by how traditional school subject-based curricula are replaced by competency-based curricula, academic qualifications integrated into a unified form of qualification framework, and school achievement is evaluated according to the ‘demanded workplace competence’. It is also argued that human competencies by nature have ‘double-bind’ characteristics: while it is pushed to meet the demands as knowledge commodities, human beings themselves are beyond any notion of tradability, and the new capitalism based on human commodities, if any, should reveal new rules to play the game.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Apple, M. W. (1993).Official knowledge: Democratic education in a conservative age. New York and London: Routledge.
Brewer, A. (1984).A guide to Marx’s Capital. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Brien, K. M. (2006). Humanistic Marxism and the transformation of reason.Dialogue and Universalism (5-6), 39–58.
Burton-Jones, A. (1999).Knowledge capitalism: Business, work, and learning in the new economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Drucker, P. (1998). From Capitalism to knowledge society. In D. Neef (Ed.),The knowledge economy. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Field, J. (2002).Lifelong learning and the new educational order. Sterling: Trentham Books.
Foucault, M. (1977).Discipline and punishment: The birth of prison. New York: Random House.
Giroux, H. (1993).Border crossings: Cultural workers and the politics of education. New York and London: Routledge.
Goodson, I., & Dowbiggin, I. (1990). Docile bodies: Commonalities in the history of psychiatry and schooling. In S. J. Ball (Ed.),Foucault and Education: Discipline and Knowledge (pp. 105–129). London and New York: Routledge.
Hall, B. (1979). Knowledge as a commodity and participatory research.Prospects, 9(4), 393–408.
Han, S. (2008), forthcoming). The lifelong learning ecosystem in Korea:Evolution of learning capitalism?International Journal of Lifelong Education.
Jarvis, P. (2007).Globalization, lifelong learning and the learning society: sociological perspectives. New York: Routledge.
Liston, D. P. (1988).Capitalist Schools: Explanation and ethics in radical studies of schooling.
Marcuse, H. (1972). The foundation of historical materialism. InStudies in critical philosophy. New York: Beacon Press.
McClelland, D. C. (1973).Testing for competency rather than for intelligence.American Psychologist,28(1).
Nonaka, I., & Takeuchi, H. (1995).The knowledge-creating company. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
OECD. (2002).Understanding the brain: Towards a new learning science. Paris: OECD.
OECD. (2003).Networks of innovation: Towards new models for managing schools and systems. Paris: OECD.
OECD. (2004).International schooling for tomorrow forum: Background OECD papers, The schooling senarios.international schooling for tomorrow forum, June 6–8th 2004, Toronto, Canada.
Olssen, M. (2006). Understanding the mechanisms of neoliberal control: lifelong learning, flexibility and knowledge capitalism.International Journal of Lifelong Education, 25(3), 213–230.
Raven, J. (2001). The conceptualization of competence. In J. Raven (Ed.),Comperence in the learning society. New York: Peter Lang.
Rychen, D. S., & Salganik, L. H. (Eds.). (2003).Key competencies: for a successful life and a well-functioning society. Cambridge, MA: Hogrefe & Huber.
Schuetze, H. G. (2006). International concepts and agendas of lifelong learning.Compare, 36(3), 289–306.
Senge, P., Kleiner, A., Roberts, C, Ross, R., & Smith, B. (1994).The fifth discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and tools for building a learning organization. New York: Doubleday.
Sternberg, R., Forsythe, G., Hudlund, J., Horvath, J., Wagner, R., Williams, W., et al. (2000).Practical Intelligence in everyday life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Stevenson, M. A. (1999). Flexible education and the discipline of the market.Qualitative Studies in Education, 12(3), 311–323.
Swanson, R. A. (2001).Foundations of human resource development. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Young, M. F. D. (1998).The curriculum of the future: From the ‘New Sociology of Education’ to a critical theory of learning. London: Palmer Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Han, S. Competence: commodification of human ability. Asia Pacific Educ. Rev. 9, 31–39 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03025823
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03025823