It has been asserted, especially, in the last three decades, both in academia and in other environments, that we live in a knowledge society. A society supported and driven by a new economy, based on an ever more intensive use of information and knowledge. But, is it acceptable that we really live in a knowledge society? That a new economy, driven by the acceleration of science, technology and innovation, supports this knowledge society? In this brief essay I intend to shed some light on these issues from the perspective of an inquiry into the bases on which the knowledge society could emerge. It is possible that today’s society is one in which information, knowledge, science, technology and innovation have its centrality. However, besides the centrality of these dimensions, the so-called knowledge society also rests on a dynamic increasingly favorable to the pursuit of economic gain and to preserve the privileges of the more affluent strata of the population on global scale. So it seems to be problematic consider that any individual can freely enter the brave new world of knowledge. Maybe because its supporters disregard that this world is crossed by multiple economic, technological, environmental, cultural, political and ideological implications.
Knowledge; Uneven development; Inequalities; New economy; Knowledge society