Summary of Three Faces of Tehcnological Determinism
original by Bruce BIMBER
summary by Sadi Evren SEKER
Technological Determinism: Does technology determines the social changes?
There are three different approaches for technological determinism:
|
Normative |
Nomological |
Unintended Consequences |
|---|---|---|
|
Autonomous approach. Influence on history where societies attach cultural and political meaning to it. |
Naturalist approach. Given the past and the laws of nature, there is only onve possible future. |
Fuzzy approach Uncontrollability and uncertainty yields the changes |
|
Technological Society |
Steam-mill is follows the hand-mill not by chance but because it is the next stage in a technical conquest of nature |
Automobile is cleaner than horse, but environmental disadventages of automobiles are unknown while it is first invented. |
Applying model on Karl Marx as an Example:
Marx can not be technological determinist because of the “forces of production”.
How Marx defines the forces of production? He identifies three factors in the labor process:
the activity of people
the subject of work
the instruments of work
Necssary Factors in Marx's Theory of History
a basic drive for self-expression
the form of self-expression i production
expanding needs
Conditions that facilitate productive development in history
expanding population
increasing social intercourse
the availabilirty of science and technology(especially in the later phase of capitalism)
I think Marx can be both technological and economic determinist but not one of them alone.