Page - (000035) - in Knowledge and Networks

25© The Author(s) 2017 J. Glückler et al. (eds.), Knowledge and Networks, Knowledge and Space 11, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-45023-0_2 Chapter 2 Reversing the Instrumentality of the Social for the Economic: A Critical Agenda for Twenty-fi rst Century Knowledge Networks Nancy Ettlinger Divergent Trends in the New Millennium: Setting an Agenda Taking stock of changing realities, in this chapter I take note of an emergent produc- tion system around the turn of the twenty-fi rst century that pivots on new approaches to innovation and, relatedly, on open networks to access dispersed knowledges. At the same time, it is sensible to recognize pressing social problems associated with dramatically increasing socioeconomic polarization and precarious livelihoods worldwide, as well as persistent problems of segregation that inform the nature of exclusions. Although the new system of production is lucrative for fi rms, its contri- bution to social problems has been negative at best because new networking strate- gies remain exclusive, while being highly exploitative in new ways. At this critical juncture in the global economy, my aim in this chapter is to bring a sociopolitical agenda to new economic realities that would service economic agents and goals while developing a means to extend living-wage and stable work in knowledge net- works to diverse people, and in the process dissolve frictions of difference through collaborative work relations. Based on a critical synthesis of information drawn from case studies across wide-ranging literatures ( economic geography and sociol- ogy; social theory; and business, management, and information science), I concep- tualize a strategy for making use of new networking strategies that is inclusive and shaped by social goals . The ensuing argument begins with conceptualizing a reversal of the usual instru- mentality of the social for the economic. I contextualize the agenda in terms of the above-stated critical juncture in the global economy, namely new types of economic knowledge networks that reap enormous rewards for corporations without, how- ever, attention to dire and worsening social needs and problems. I conclude this N. Ettlinger (*) Department of Geography , Ohio State University , 1036 Derby Hall, 154 North Oval Mall , Columbus , OH 43210-1361 , USA e-mail: ettlinger.1@osu.edu