Abstract:
This paper probes the effects upon people of defining knowledge primarily in
economic terms. It asserts that the language of commerce increasingly appropriates
'knowledge' by defining it in such terms. Theoretically, the analysis draws on the work of
Jacques Derrida to explore the effects of metaphors in human resource management and
development environments. The paper explores the ways that metaphors can become
powerful signifiers of knowledge at work. As critical technologies of representation, the
metaphors that have emerged out of recent theorizations of knowledge at work have
contributed to a powerful discourse that defines people as 'knowledge workers'. It is argued
here that dominant views of 'what constitutes a knowledge worker' imply that subjects are
both 'knowledge workers' (cogito) and 'human resources' (economic) - thus the title
'cogito-economic subjects'. By defining people in this way, it is argued that there are
potential dangers of metaphors becoming reified with knowledge becoming describable
only in economic terms, and people describable only in cogito- economic terms.
