The political economy of publication: marketing, commodification, and qualitative scholarly work.

The globalized economy, fueled by late capitalism, has pressed forward its necessity for accumulation and expanding growth into the information and knowledge economy. One result has been the privatization of essentially public knowledge, knowledge produced at public universities, often with public, federal dollars. Both the "mania for ranking academic institutions," where universities compete for students, tuition dollars, and external funding, and the incessant creep of the managerial "audit culture" contribute to this situation. Although there is little individual scholars can do to resist globalization and capitalist forces, understanding the context into which their research is circulated can suggest opportunities for sharing research results between the "center" and "periphery" that counter some of the privatization trends.