Who Watches the Plagiarism Police?

Abstract

We take plagiarism norms for granted, even though they are often inefficient and unreasonable, and prevent students from learning. Even worse, plagiarism norms are often inconsistent with the authorial practices of other cultures. For example, western countries have forced India to adopt colonial plagiarism norms, even though they prohibit many traditional cultural practices. We should question the legitimacy of plagiarism norms, and reject norms that protect property interests in literary ownership, rather than the generation of cultural meaning.

Keywords: plagiarism, copyright, social norms, India