AHSS*1090 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Technological Determinism, Determinism, Substantivism
Communication, Technology & Culture
Week 3: Studying Technology
A Little Economics
-Technology is a huge reason why business fail or succeed
-Economics studies how goods are produced and distributed
-Adam Smith and “The Wealth of Nations”
Five Assumptions To Explain How Nations Function
1. Private Property
2. Self Interest
3. Competition
4. Consumer Sovereignty
5. Capital Investment
A Little Economics
-Law of supply and demand
-Economies of scale
-Market Equilibrium
-How does technology play a role?
Factors Leading To Growth
1. Population and demographics
2. State of the Arts*
3. Growth of Knowledge*
4. Available Resources
5. Rate of Capitalization*
*These are directly related to technology
Cannot just view technology through the lens of the economy. What are negative
externalities or revenge effects?
Theories About Technology
Utopian Narratives Dystopian
Utopian: you embrace technology as a
new means of achieving progress and
efficiency
-Order is good
-Instrumental view of technology
-Technology can make our lives
better
by making them more ordered
-Technology can solve problems,
even
the problems technology creates
-Progress is a good and progress
Dystopian: sees technology as
threatening our way of life
-Technological innovation is always
Resisted
-Technology changes behaviour
-Technology is connected to or
evolves
into the state
-Control is maintained by a
technocracy
-Information overload
-People become “objects”
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Technology is a huge reason why business fail or succeed. Economics studies how goods are produced and distributed. Adam smith and the wealth of nations . Five assumptions to explain how nations function: private property, self interest, competition, consumer sovereignty, capital investment. Factors leading to growth: population and demographics, state of the arts, growth of knowledge, available resources, rate of capitalization* Cannot just view technology through the lens of the economy. Utopian: you embrace technology as a new means of achieving progress and efficiency. Technology can make our lives better by making them more ordered. Dystopian: sees technology as threatening our way of life. Technology is connected to or evolves into the state. Control is maintained by a even the problems technology creates. Progress is a good and progress technocracy. Technology is driving force in developing society and culture. Technology directs and shapes social interactions and systems of thought. Uses of technology are dictated by design of technology.
