Technological Determinism Concept - Essay Example

Technological Determinism Student’s Name Subject Professor University/Institution Location Date Technological Determinism Technical determinism refers to the view that technology influences, establishes and changes basic aspects in relation to human behavior and society such as people’s way of thinking, their actions, and values as well as how people carry out their interpersonal relationships. Technology comprises of things like codes and systems for interpersonal conduct and social institutions, basic tools, contemporary computer and web technologies. In other words, technological determinism attempts to demonstrate that, technical advancements, mass media or technology in total are the key movers in social change and history1. This essay will discuss in depth technological determinism theory and present an argument against the theory. There have been a number of interpretations of technical determinism with different perspectives. However, all the interpretations have two universal concepts in common. The first idea argues that, the advancement of technology follows a path which can be predicted and traced but which is largely past political or cultural influence. The other idea is that, technology has consequent impacts on the members of the society which are natural instead of socially adapted or generated. This is because; the society systematizes itself to back up as well as advance technology after it is introduced2. Strict supporters of the theory do not think that technology’s influence varies on the grounds of the extent to which technology is or may be utilized. Technological determinism views technology as a source for each human activity rather than as a bigger range of people’s activity. As a given technology is improved, its design is likely to dictate the conduct of the users of that technology, consequently lessening human agency. The most prominent kinds of technological determinism have been characterized as billiard ball strategies whereby technology is viewed as an outer force which is brought into a certain social circumstance, generating a sequence of ricochet impacts. Rather than accepting that, a given community or culture interrelates with and also influences the kind of technologies used, technological determinists maintain that, the various applications of technology are mainly established by the framework of individual technology. This means that, technology’s functions follow its form3. Technological determinism concentrates on cause and effect relations which are a focus normally linked to scientific clarification. Any study of communications technology ought to acknowledge the challenge of separating causes and effect. It encompasses reductionism which intends to lessen a compound whole to focus on the effects of a single aspect on another aspect. From this view, the cause is technological innovations while the effect is change of behavior, ways of thinking and interactions among members of the community. For instance, in analyzing why romance books are being read more than other types of books in the society, it may be argued that, it is due to the discovery of the ideal binding aspects that are instituted by publishers4. Technology determinism views are divided into two broad categories which are hard and soft determinism. Hard determinists see technology as advancing at a very high rate independent of social concerns. Under this view, it is alleged that, technology generates a collection of strong forces which act to control human social activities alongside their implications. In addition, the view maintains that, individuals organize themselves to respond to the requirements of technology and the result of that organization is past the individuals’ control or the individuals are not at liberty to choose in relation to the result5. On the other hand, soft determinism is a less active perspective on the manner in which technology interrelates with social as well as political circumstances. Soft determinists continue to acknowledge the actuality that, technology acts as a guiding force to evolution. However, they claim that, people have options to make decisions in relation to the likely result of a certain circumstance. This does not mean that, there is always free will but it is upon individuals to make a decision and wait for the probable outcome6. Despite different philosophers carrying out extensive research and presenting their findings on technological determinism so as to justify the theory, the theory has received several criticisms on different grounds. To start with, technological determinists are criticized for neglecting the social settings inside which technology is entrenched. Such social backgrounds are considered to present a favorable ambiance for the growth of technology. Therefore, social settings influence the advancement rate of technology and without them technology cannot develop. In addition, the critics argue that, the determinists have not been in a position to clearly and completely demonstrate the connection between social change and technological advancement. As a result, the theory is not based on concrete facts which can justify its viability. The determinists do not present specific cause-effect relationships but rather account for nearly every aspect that relates to technology7. In opposition to the prevalence of technologically determinist explanations of social change, important information science scholars have opposed the concepts that are related to the supposition that technological advancement may be equated with social progress. The scholars argue that, the theory lack consideration of broader social system which functions at the macro-level. Social choices concerning technological effects are generated in particular settings and are always structurally biased. Social construction of technology which is a part of the information science research alleges that, the direction of innovation as well as its social effects is to a big extent shaped by members of the society through the control of politics, culture, regulatory mechanisms and economic arrangements8. Another argument against technological determinism hypothesis relates to the idea that, the theory inevitably places technology in a situation of total control over the society. Such a belief is considered to have a possibility of making individuals feel powerless to alter any supposed course that technology may be driving the society. Consequently, technological determinism somehow turns out to be a self-sufficient prophecy. It is also argued that, a number of different issues on top of technology exist within the community and which may influence the direction of the society. Such issues include class interests, political control, education background, geographical access, economic pressures and common attitudes. Technological determinists are seen to take a reductionist approach in their efforts to split cause and effect despite reductionism being a very poor approach to the evaluation of social phenomena. Instead, just holistic approaches are considered appropriate to explain such phenomena because they normally put into consideration all the necessary factors9. Furthermore, the technical determinism theory says a lot on several technologies as well as their close interplay with people and social senses. However, it does not talk about how the several technologies are built up. The theory seems to support the perspective that the society is powerless and may or ultimately may give in to the forces of technology. Therefore, the computer presents the assurance of technologically created situation of general understanding and harmony. The inadequacy of this supposition is that, the theory does not talk about the procedure of technological innovation, in spite of the same procedure being the one to give explanation on the way numerous technologies are developed through the compound procedure of interaction of several human, social and non-human units in the society. The procedure of technological advancement is continually in flux together with several communication and media technologies. Hence, the absence of innovation and the communal constructionist details presents a big limitation to the idea that; the society ought to give in to technological pressures10. Moreover, media can never be distinct units which spur on their own. Media technologies are discovered, developed and deployed by a person. Therefore, there exists a control aspect which determines their application as well as their likely impacts to a given extent. Even if people supposed that, the factors as well as the social forces in the procedure of social development of media technologies could be completely imbedded in and manifested via the technologies which they aid create, technology would not be the mastermind. In other words, as much as media technologies may manifest themselves in political control and socio-economic systems, they cannot create them. Media technologies simply intercede and /or strengthen the influence of social systems inside which the technologies are used and imbedded11. A big percentage of technological determinists maintain that, the medium that is used to convey a certain message is as well the message. Media are always autonomous from the content in the message to the level where the novel technologies have remarkable impact in influencing the community by introducing new ideas of understanding in time and spatially. It is therefore more suitable to articulate that, the medium is in addition a message. Such an articulation is made on the basis that, the medium’s nature is by itself edifying on the wider comprehension of new technologies as well as their position in the suitable social systems. Nevertheless, the message content later plays a vital role after the technology establishes itself to some extent in the community linked with the mode through which it is conveyed12. Although the communication channel may be reflected on without the message, it is a bit difficult to consider the message separately from the medium through which it is passed. The message passed by the technology which may take the form of print, television or internet validates its usability and sometimes the message stimulates new technological developments. Therefore, even if people where to believe the theory’s provision that, technology is an extension of people’s nervous and sensory systems, particularly pertinent to communications, such technology would be insignificant without the message and the information it generates13. An additional antagonism to technological determinism comes from philosophers who believe in postmodernism and social determinism. These social determinists argue that, it is only social situations which can choose the kind of technologies to take up with the outcome that no a single technology that may be considered as inevitable exclusively on the grounds of its merits. Culture and technology can never be neutral as long as knowledge is introduced into the equation. Instead, technology becomes integrated in the social procedures. The understanding of the ways to develop and improve technology as well as the ways of using the technology is a socially attached knowledge. In addition, the postmodernists have a different perspective. They suggest that, what is considered a right or wrong thing totally depends on a situation. They suppose that technological change can affect the past, current and the future. As much as they consider technological change to be shaped by transformations in aspects such as society, government policy and culture, they believe that, the idea of social change is a paradox because change is incessant14. Technological determinism can also be opposed from the view that, technology is impartial and that more concern should be on the manner in which people choose to utilize technology and not on the technology itself. Under this view, technology is seen as neither good nor destructive. The scholars who support this view think that, technology is impartial simply if it has never been made use of before. If technology was to be considered neutral, this would imply that, the social and cultural conditions that have been produced by technology to be non-existent. However, such kind of society does not exist15. From above, it can be concluded that, under technological determinism hypothesis considers social change and behavior to be shaped totally by technology. However, the provision seems to be invalid on the grounds of various censures. Firstly, the theory ignores the social structures that support technological advancement. Additionally, it considers technology to totally dominate the society. The theory does not include ways of developing the technologies used. Moreover, media cannot survive on their own without the efforts of a person. Another criticism is that, media can never work independently without the content that is transferred through it. Lastly, a society which assumes technology is neutral does not exist. Bibliography Croteau, David, and William Hoynes. Media Society: Industries, Images and Audiences. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press, 2003. Dadashzadeh, Mohammad, Al Saber, and Sherry Saber. Information technology education in the new millennium. Hershey (PA): IRM Press, cop., 2002. Flichy, Patrice. Understanding technological innovation : a socio-technical approach. Cheltenham : Elgar, 2007. Pacey, Arnold. The Culture of Technology. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1983. Park, Juyeon. Theorizing Technology Adoption and Implementation in Organizations: A Case of Virtual Sampling Technology in Global Footwear Production. ProQuest, 2008. Potts, John. "Who's afraid of technological determinism : another look at medium theory." Fibreculture Journal 1, no. 12 (2008): 1-12. Smith, Merritt R. Does technology drive history? : the dilemma of technological determinism. Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press , 1994. Surhone, Lambert M., Miriam T. Timpledon, and Susan F. Marseken. Technological Determinism. Michigan: VDM Verlag , 2010. Read More