From the politics of knowledge to knowledge of politics

Struggles over knowledge – academia, experts, truths and fake news – are an integral part of the current political crisis. Yet the very attempt to separate theory from ideology in answer to this problem, the chapters in this volume show, constitutes theory-as-ideology. This paradox has its roots in the nature of modern politics itself whose analysis therefore requires a theory-as-ideology approach. Applying this approach to the contemporary crisis, this chapter identifies its roots in the pressures of the knowledge economy. Academics, experts, science, theories become targets of accusations, regulations, privatisations not because they fail to contribute to society but because they constitute one of the politically, economically and socially most valuable resources in a knowledge economy.