Stuart Andrew Lawson: Open Access Policy in the UK: From
Neoliberalism to the Commons [Doctoral thesis, Birkbeck, University of
London]. Available at: http://stuartlawson.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/2018-09-03-Lawson-thesis.pdf
This thesis makes a contribution to the knowledge of open access
through a historically and theoretically informed account of
contemporary open access policy in the UK (2010–15). It critiques
existing policy by revealing the influence of neoliberal ideology on its
creation, and proposes a commons-based approach as an alternative. The
historical context in Chapters 2 and 3 shows that access to knowledge
has undergone numerous changes over the centuries and the current push
to increase access to research, and political controversies around this
idea, are part of a long tradition. The exploration of the origins and
meanings of ‘openness’ in Chapter 4 enriches the understanding of open
access as a concept and makes possible a more nuanced critique of
specific instantiations of open access in later chapters. The
theoretical heart of the thesis is Chapter 5, in which neoliberalism is
analysed with a particular focus on neoliberal conceptions of liberty
and openness. The subsequent examination of neoliberal higher education
in Chapter 6 is therefore informed by a thorough grounding in the
ideology that underlies policymaking in the neoliberal era. This
understanding then acts as invaluable context for the analysis of the
UK’s open access policy in Chapter 7. By highlighting the neoliberal
aspects of open access policy, the political tensions within open access
advocacy are shown to have real effects on the way that open access is
unfolding. Finally, Chapter 8 proposes the commons as a useful
theoretical model for conceptualising a future scholarly publishing
ecosystem that is free from neoliberal ideology. An argument is made
that a commons-based open access policy is possible, though must be
carefully constructed with close attention paid to the power relations
that exist between different scholarly communities.
via https://www.univie.ac.at/voeb/blog/?p=47016
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