Information Privilege as Capital: An Analysis of Scholarly Communication Practices through Autoethnography and the Bourdieusian Framework.

This article examines the concept of information privilege—defined as the ability to access information unavailable to others—and its impact on scholarly communication practices through an autoethnographic inquiry framed by Pierre Bourdieu's forms of capital (economic, cultural, social, and symbolic). Drawing on personal experiences as an academic and librarian in the Philippines, the research highlights how educational background (cultural capital), financial resources (economic capital), professional networks (social capital), and recognition (symbolic capital) influence access to information and decisions in research dissemination. The study underscores challenges posed by information privilege, such as disparities in access to databases, conference participation, and publishing opportunities, and calls for increased awareness of open access models and a reevaluation of scholarly communication policies to promote the democratization of knowledge. It suggests that addressing these inequities is essential for fostering equitable knowledge creation and distribution within academia.