ABSTRACT
Knowledge shapes society. There is an increasing recognition that the distribution of knowledge in society is associated with the distribution of power. The building of knowledge is, therefore, a research interest that attracts scholars from diverse theoretical backgrounds. Questions around knowledge-building have been asked from various disciplinary perspectives. In code theory, B. Bernstein describes knowledge produced and pedagogised in intellectual fields in terms of ‘knowledge structures’. He makes a primary distinction between everyday and academic knowledge as horizontal and vertical discourses and, within vertical discourse, makes a further distinction between different kinds of academic knowledge. K. Maton takes an important further step conceptualising knowledge, knower and associated social practices, developing a range of theoretical dimensions constituting the Legitimation Code Theory. In one of the theoretical parameters, Maton develops a topological account of ‘knowledge-knower structure’ to overcome the dichotomous types in Bernstein’s knowledge structures.
