technological determinism

technological determinism

the assumption that technology is both autonomous and has determinate effects on society. Technology is seen as political and as an INDEPENDENT VARIABLE in social change. This assumption is criticized for ignoring the social processes and choices which guide the use of technology and the variety of possible social arrangements which coexist with different types of technology. Marx s famous phrase – ‘the handmill gives you society with the feudal lord; the steam-mill, society with the industrial capitalist’ – is sometimes used (mistakenly) as an example of technological determinism. MARX, however, saw technology as intimately related to the social relations of production (compare HISTORICAL MATERIALISM). Technological determinism is associated with neoevolutionary theories which give technology primacy in the analysis of social change (see NEOEVOLUTIONISM, POSTINDUSTRIAL SOCIETY, CONVERGENCE), and empirical studies in the SOCIOLOGY OF WORK which describe the ‘effects’ of technology. see also CULTURAL LAG.

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000