Resumen

RIVERA RIOS, Miguel Ángel. Cambio histórico mundial, capitalismo informático y economía del conocimiento. Prob. Des [online]. 2005, vol.36, n.141, pp.27-58. ISSN 0301-7036.

The article involves a discussion on the historical change of capitalism and the role played in that process by the emergence of the so-called knowledge economy. It lays down a theoretical and historical framework and proposes a number of hipotheses which together enable us to characterize the specificity of the present stage of capitalism. The knowledge economy is established on the epistemological transformations in technology and in a dramatic reduction in the social costs of accessing useful knowledge. The technological rents that emanate from the diffusion of the new paradigm and the constitution of its industrial pattern necessitate the appearance of a new regime that makes it possible to reorganize informatics property relations. The interrelations between this and the knowledge economy define the specificity of the present stage and it is that measure which constitutes the axis of the new contradictions created by the appearance of superior productive forces.

Palabras llave : historical change; world capitalism; technological change; knowledge economy; informatics.