CMST 1A03 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Substantivism, Technological Determinism, Social Forces
6 Apr 2016
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Chapter 6: communication technology and society theory and practice. Before cup people would drink from hands or face into a pool. Diffusion of innovation (rogers 1995) how an innovation gains acceptance and gets adopted by society. Effects of technology are results of the technology itself, nor the human decisions about technology. Modern condition reflects tech values: rationality, efficiency, priority on control and calculability. Non-tech values are threatened (we are slaves to the machine) Substantivism cont: technological progress coms at a price, tech progress causes more problems than it solves, problems are conceived of and solved as tech problems, negative effects of tech inseparable from the positive, all tech has unforeseen effects. Humans do have choices on how technology is developed. Social forces and political decision-making contribute to technology. Tech is socially contingent; issues of power, control, freedom at issue. Tech is socially constructed, shaped by social forces. Closure fixing of a system into socially recognized object or process that becomes.
