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Exploring the Interplay Between Technology and Society: Determinism vs. Social Construction

This introduction delves into the complex relationship between technology and society, examining key theories such as Technological Determinism and the Social Construction of Technology (Constructivism). It highlights how technological advancements shape social structures, economic dynamics, and cultural practices while also addressing criticisms of determinism. By analyzing the views of influential theorists like Marx, Innis, and McLuhan, this text offers insights into the role of technology as both a driver of social change and a reflection of societal values, challenging the notion of neutrality in technological development.

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Exploring the Interplay Between Technology and Society: Determinism vs. Social Construction

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Presentation Transcript

  1. MEDIA, TECHNOLOGY and SOCIETY An Introduction

  2. Relasi Teknologi & Masyarakat • Kontroversi How far technology does or does not condition social change? • Most popular & influential theory of the relationship between technology & society - Technological Determinism - Social Construction of Technology (Constructivism)

  3. Varieties of Theory

  4. TECHNOLOGICAL DETERMINISM • Technology The medium of daily life in modern societies (every major technical changes reverberates at many levels, economic, political, religious, cultural) (Feenberg,1999) • Media Determinism • Determinism = essentialism (Chandler, 1995)

  5. Roots • Seeks to explain social & historical phenomena in terms of one principal or determining factor (doctrine of historical or causal primacy) • Thorstein Veblen • View: technology-led theory of social change (technology is seen as “the prime mover in history)

  6. Definitions • Technology is seen as the fundamental condition underlying the pattern of social organization • Technology in general and communications technologies in particular as the basis of society in the past, present and the future

  7. Technological Determinists • Karl Marx “the windmill gives you society with feudal lord; the steam-mill, society with the industrial capitalist” • Harold Innis & Marshall McLuhan “such inventions a the horse collar quickly led to the development of the modern world”

  8. Leslie White ‘we may view a cultural system as a series of three horizontal strata: the technological layer on the bottom, the philosophical on the top, the sociological stratum in between

  9. Focus • Causality; cause and effect relationships • Mono-causal • Reductionism (parts are assumed to affect other parts in a linear/one-way manner) • Technocentrism

  10. Critics • Strong (hard) technological determinism a particular communication technology is either a sufficient condition (sole cause) determining social organization and development or at least a necessary condition (requiring additional preconditions)

  11. Weak (soft) technological determinism the presence of a particular communication technology is an enabling or facilitating factor leading to potential opportunities which may or may not be taken up in particular societies or periods (techno-economic determinism)

  12. SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF TECHNOLOGY • Technology as non-neutral/contains an ideological bias: intellectual, political, sensory, social, content biases (Neil Postman, 1979) • Social or cultural determinism technologies and techniques are entirely determined by social & political factors • Determination is a real social process (Raymond Williams, 1990)

  13. The characteristics of a society play a major part in deciding which technologies are adopted (Mackenzie & Wajcman, 1985)

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