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Technological determinism is a reductionist theory in assuming that a society's technology progresses by following its own internal logic of efficiency, while determining the development of the social structure and cultural values. [1] The term is believed to have originated from Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929), an American sociologist and ...
An example that supports technological determinism is the development of the printing press that accelerated the Protestant Reformation. [5] In contrast, social determinism (SD), popularized by social theorists Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim, purports that social structure is the driving factor towards change in society. [6]
Technological momentum is a theory about the relationship between technology and society over time. The term, which is considered a fourth technological determinism variant, [1] was originally developed by the historian of technology Thomas P. Hughes. The idea is that relationship between technology and society is reciprocal and time-dependent ...
To challenge the so-called "technological determinism", today's theories of technological change emphasize the scope of the need of technical choice, which they find to be greater than most laypeople can realize; as scientists in philosophy of science, and further science and technology often like to say about this "It could have been different."
Technological determinism is the idea that "features of technology [determine] its use and the role of a progressive society was to adapt to [and benefit from] technological change." [12] The alternative perspective would be social determinism which looks upon society being at fault for the "development and deployment" [13] of technologies.
SCOT is a response to technological determinism and is sometimes known as technological constructivism. SCOT draws on work done in the constructivist school of the sociology of scientific knowledge , and its subtopics include actor-network theory (a branch of the sociology of science and technology ) and historical analysis of sociotechnical ...
He contributed to the concepts of technological momentum, technological determinism, large technical systems, social construction of technology, and introduced systems theory into the history of technology. His book American Genesis was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2003. [6]
Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology is a book by Neil Postman published in 1992 that describes the development and characteristics of a "technopoly". He defines a technopoly as a society in which technology is deified, meaning “the culture seeks its authorisation in technology, finds its satisfactions in technology, and takes its orders from technology”.