Technological determinism
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"The windmill gives you society with the feudal lord: the steam-mill, society with the industrial capitalist." -Karl Marx (Poverty of Philosophy, 1847)
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[edit] Determinism
Determinism is a causal view of the way in which history is created. It can be explained as the belief that the occurence of any event is directly caused by a previous event. This forms a chain of events that can be traced back through history and a clear path will be seen. This cause and effect relationship will include human thought, social and political actions. Following this line of thinking will lead us to realize that every event that occurs must occur and that the future was decided long ago. (Furbank).
In considering determinism we should also touch upon the idea of indeterminism. This is the belief that not all events are caused and that there does not have to be clear pattern of events to trace. This is not to say that there is no causal relationship but that there does not have to be one. This idea also allows us to say that the future has not been decided.
[edit] Definition
Technological determinism is a reductionist doctrine that a society's technology determines its cultural values, social structure, or history. This is not to be confused with the inevitability thesis (Chandler).
[edit] Overview
Technological determinism has been summarized as 'The belief in technology as a key governing force in society ...' (Merritt Roe Smith), '... the belief that social progress is driven by technological innovation, which in turn follows an "inevitable" course.' (Michael L. Smith), 'The idea that technological development determines social change ...' (Bruce Bimber), '... the belief that technical forces determine social and cultural changes.' (Thomas P. Hughes); '... a three-word logical proposition: "Technology determines history"' (Rosalind Williams)
The term is believed to have been coined by Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929), an American sociologist.
Most interpretations of technological determinism share two general ideas:
- that the development of technology itself follows a predictable, traceable path largely beyond cultural or political influence, and
- that technology in turn has "effects" on societies that are inherent, rather than socially conditioned or that the society organizes itself in such a way to support and further develop a technology once it has been introduced.
Technological determinism stands in opposition to the theory of the social construction of technology, which holds that both the path of innovation and the consequences of technology for humans are strongly if not entirely shaped by society itself, through the influence of culture, politics, economic arrangements, and the like.
Technological determinism has been largely discredited within academia, especially by science and technology studies.[citation needed] However, it remains the dominant view within most news media and popular culture.[citation needed]
[edit] Two Groups of Determinists
In examining determinism we should also touch upon Compatibilism and incompatibilism and the idea of Hard determinism and Soft Determinism. A compatibilist says that it is possible for free will and determinism to exist in the world together while a incompatibilist would say that they can not and there must be one or the other. Those who support determinism can be further divided. Hard determinists would view technology as developing independent from social concerns. They would say that technology creates set of powerful forces acting to regulate our social activity and its meaning. According to this view of determinism we organize ourselves to meet the needs of technology and the outcome of this organization is beyond our control or we do not have the freedom to make a choice regarding the outcome.
A Soft Determinist', as the name suggests this is a more passive view of the way technology interacts with socio-political situations. This group would still subscribe to the fact that technology is the guiding force in our evolution but would maintain that we have a chance to make decisions regarding the outcomes of a situation. This is not to say that free will exists but it is the possible for us to roll the dice and see what the outcome is.
[edit] Conflicting Ideas
Modern thinkers no longer consider technological determinsim to be a very accurate view of the way in which we interact with technology. In his article "Subversive Rationalization: Technology, Power and Democracy with technology." Andrew Feenberg argues that technological determinism is not a very well founded concept by illustrating that two of the founding theses of determinism are easily questionable and in doing so calls for what he calls democratic rationalization (Feenberg 210-212).
Another conflicting idea is that of technological somnambulism a term coined by Langdon Winner in his essay "technology as forms of life". Winner wonders whether or not we are simply sleepwalking through our existence with little concern or knowledge as to how we truly interact with technology. In this view it is still possible for us to wake up and once again take control of the direction in which we are traveling (Winner 104).
[edit] See also
- Determinism
- Hegemony
- Compatibilism and incompatibilism
- Sociocultural evolution
- Techno-utopianism
- Social Constructivism
- Technological Fix
- Inevitability thesis
- Technological Somnambulism
- Democratic Rationalization
- Philosophy of Technology
[edit] Bibliography
- Cowan, Ruth Schwarz. More Work for Mother:.
- Ellul, Jacques (1964). The Technological Society. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
- Noble, David F. (1984). Forces of Production: A Social History of Industrial Automation. Oxford University Press: New York.
- Smith, Merritt Roe; and Leo Marx, eds. (1994). Does Technology Drive History? The Dilemma of Technological Determinism. Cambridge: MIT Press.
- Staudenmaier, S.J., John M. (1985). "The Debate over Technological Determinism", Technology's Storytellers: Reweaving the Human Fabric. Cambridge: The Society for the History of Technology and the MIT Press, 134-148.
- Winner, Langdon (1977). Autonomous Technology: Technics-Out-of-Control as a Theme in Political Thought. Cambridge: MIT Press.
- Winner, Langdon. "Technology as Forms of Life". Readings in the Philosophy of Technology. David M. Kaplan. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004. 103-113
- Furbank, P.N. “The Myth of Determinism.” Raritan. [City] Fall 2006: 79-87. EBSCOhost. Monroe Community College Library, Rochester, NY. 2 April 2007.
- Feenberg, Andrew. "Democratic Rationalization". Readings in the Philosophy of Technology. David M. Kaplan. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004. 209-225
- Chandler, Daniel. Technological or Media Determinism. 1995. 18 September 1995. <http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/tecdet/tecdet.html>
