From the Encyclopedia to Wikipedia: how the Social Structure of Knowledge is Transforming in the Postmodernity

Abstract

Since the time of Diderot, the encyclopedia as a genre and social phenomenon has incarnated the triumph of science in the modernity. The emergence and development of Wikipedia marked a serious transformation in the social structure of knowledge about the world and the principles of its structuring. In the postmodernity, changes affected the author of referential publications, erudition as a quality of personality, verification of published materials. These changes are caused by a growing size of information, diversification and specialization of scientific knowledge, the inevitability of the class approach (in the broad sense of the term) to assess various phenomena, and limitations of science as the only true and useful way of understanding reality.The paper considers how the social role of the encyclopedia has changed in the modern world. In particular, it is shown that at some point in time it turned from a storehouse of wisdom into a product of passive demand and a gift object. It is concluded that in modern conditions it is impossible to replace Wikipedia with a traditional encyclopedia, even if enormous resources are allocated for such a project.