VALUE OF USE AND VALUE OF EXCHANGE IN THE UNIVERSITY ASSESSMENT SYSTEMS. ANALYSIS OF TWO INSTITUTIONS: UNIVERSIDAD DE MATANZAS, CUBA AND UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE CIUDAD JUÁREZ, MEXICO

Abstract

This article analyze the dynamics of evaluation of the academic and scientific production of the universities as an integral part of the social relations of production which are inherent in the capitalistic system. The role of researchers as knowledge workers is located, and scientific work, as an economic and political activity determined by social and historical interests. The objective of this article is the recognition of academic and scientific production as a source of value, and of the place that subjects occupy as producers of knowledge, within the capitalist scheme. For this, a methodology based on Marxist critical theory has been followed, in an exercise of transposition of the classic categories of use value and exchange value, applied to the university environment of knowledge production. The contributions of Ernest Mandel, Antonio Negri and Bolívar Echeverría are taken for a broaden understanding of the concept of Marxist value. As a result of this approach, two antagonistic models of knowledge assessment are identified; on one hand, a progressively restrictive and capitalizing logic of knowledge is observed, and on the other, a greater autonomy for subjects prevails against the lucrative imposition of capital.