PETER MEUSBURGER: Sachwissen und Orientierungswissen als Machtinstrument und Konfliktfeld. Zur Bedeutung von Worten, Bildern und Orten bei der Manipulation des Wissens

Knowledge and power are closely interrelated. To obtain power and to preserve it for significant periods of time in an uncertain and dynamic environment, a social system has to be successful and has to retain its ability to learn and adapt to a dynamic environment. In order to survive competition and conflicts, important decision makers need both the analytical competence of experts, advisors and scientists, and the support of the representatives of symbolic knowledge. The task of symbolic knowledge is to make moral judgements, to support the value system and cohesion of a social system, to set standards and goals, to convey values, create myths about historic events, and to decide which questions and terms are politically correct and which are not. The main part of the paper discusses the role of symbolic knowledge in conflicts. It discusses various methods applied by those in power to control or influence the sampling of information as well as the production and spatial diffusion of knowledge; and it deals with the role of icons and symbols in political propaganda. The possibility to define reality, to construct histories, memories and narratives is seen as a very effective tool of exercising power. However, symbolic knowledge may blur perception, distort facts and lead to wrong decisions. Therefore social systems have to seek a balance between symbolic knowledge and the ability to analyze ‘reality’.

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