Social science
Disciplinary Approaches to Social Science Techno-logistic I
SOSC 1000 6.0
Lecture 18
Jan Krouzil PhD
July 22, 2021
Agenda
Announcements
PART I Ways of thinking ‘technology’
PART II Technology as practice
PART III Social construction of technology
PART IV Questioning ‘technology’
Keywords
Part I Ways of thinking ‘technology’ (1)
Terminology
‘technology’ (etymology)
‘science of craft’ (Greek), techne, ‘art, skill, cunning of hand’
‘-logia’ as the sum of techniques, skills, methods, and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives (such as scientific investigation)
‘knowledge’ of techniques, processes or embedded in machines to allow for operation without detailed knowledge of their workings
technological systems (e.g., machines) applying technology by taking an input, changing it according to the system's use, and then producing an outcome
Ways of thinking ‘technology’ (2)
Episteme and techne
epistêmê (Greek) translated as ‘knowledge’
technê translated as either craft or art
contemporary assumptions about the relation between theory (the domain of ‘knowledge’) and practice (the concern of ‘craft’ or ‘art’)
at the level of practice, concrete experience might be all we need
skepticism outside of modern science about the relevance of theory to practice
within science, theory strives for a value-free view of reality
theory is conducted at so great a remove from the facts - the province of practice - that it can lose touch with them
as a consequence, scientific theory cannot tell us how things should be — the realm of ‘art’ or ‘craft’
Ways of thinking ’technology’ (3)
Technicity
refers to the relationship between technology and humanity (or humans)
can be seen as either mutually co-constituted or not
ways of understanding ‘technicity’ (Ash 2012) as
a persuasive logic for thinking about the world (Heidegger’s thought)
a mode of existence of technical objects
an originary condition for human life itself
Ways of thinking ‘technology’ (4)
Alternative definitions and usage of technology
as ‘the entities, both material and immaterial, created by the application of mental and physical effort in order to achieve some value’
in this usage, technology refers to tools and machines that may be used to solve real-world problems
a far-reaching term that may include simple tools (such as a crowbar or wooden spoon) or more complex machines (such as a space station or particle accelerator)
tools and machines need not be material
virtual technology, such as computer software and business methods, fall under this definition of technology
as ‘a means to fulfill a human purpose’ (Brian 2009)
Ways of thinking ‘technology’ (5)
Use of the term ‘technology’
changed significantly over the last 200 years
before the 20th C
the term uncommon in English
used either to refer to the description or study of the useful arts or to allude to technical education (Massachusetts Institute of Technology chartered in 1861)
in the 20th C in connection with the 2nd Industrial Revolution
the term's meanings changed in the early 20th century when American social scientists, beginning with Thorstein Veblen, translated ideas from the German concept of Technik into ‘technology’
in German and other European languages, a distinction exists between technik and technologie that is absent in English - translates both terms as ‘technology’
by the 1930s, ‘technology’ referred not only to the study of the industrial arts but to the industrial arts themselves
Ways of thinking ‘technology’ (6)
can also be used to refer to a collection of techniques
the current state of humanity's knowledge of how to combine resources to produce desired products, to solve problems, fulfill needs, or satisfy wants
includes technical methods, skills, processes, techniques, tools and raw materials
when combined with another term (such as ‘medical technology’ or ‘space technology)
refers to the state of the respective field's knowledge and tools
‘state-of-the-art technology" refers to the high technology available to humanity in any field
can be viewed as an activity that forms or changes culture
the application of math, science, and the arts for the benefit of life as it is known
the rise of communication technology has lessened barriers to human interaction and as a result has helped spawn new subcultures
the rise of cyberculture has at its basis the development of the Internet and the computer
can also help facilitate political conflict, violence and war via tools such as guns
Part II Technology as practice (1)
Reality of a technological realm
'technology' as 'practice’ and how the practices and their contexts have changed over time
‘From the invention of writing to the use of the Internet, the way in which knowledge is kept, transmitted, or shared has structured the perception of what is real, as well as what is possible or desirable.’ (Franklin 2004)
the impact of these new technological practices on human ties, on work and community, on governance, citizenship, and the notion of individual and collective responsibility
how new technologies, new ways of doing things, have pushed against the physical and social boundaries of space and time
Technology as practice (2)
how these activities have altered the relationships of people to nature, to each other, and their communities
‘the house that technology has built’ (Franklin 2004)
Technology as a multifaceted entity
not the sum of the artifacts, of the wheels and gears, of the rails and electronic transmitters
entails far more than its material components
includes activities as well as a body of knowledge, structures as well as the act of structuring
involves organization, procedures, symbols, new words, equations, and, most of all, a mindset (Franklin 2004)
Technology as practice (3)
Forms of technological development
distinction between holistic technologies (HTs) and prescriptive technologies (PTs)
involve distinctly different specializations and divisions of labor with different social and political implications
not asking what is being done, but how it is being done
Holistic technologies (HTs)
associated with the notion of craft
artisans - be they potters, weavers, metal-smiths, or cooks, control the process of their own work from beginning to finish
leaves the doer in total control of the process
Technology as practice (4)
Prescriptive technologies (PTs)
different ‘division of labor’
the making or doing something is broken down into clearly identifiable steps
each step carried out by a separate worker, or group of workers, who need to be familiar only with the skills of performing that one step
the Chinese way of casting bronze before 1200 BC is a production method (Franklin 2004)
‘the work is orchestrated like a piece of music’
understanding the social and political impact of prescriptive technologies – key to understanding our own ‘real world of technology’
in political terms, prescriptive technologies are designs for compliance
Technology as practice (5)
when working within such designs workers become acculturated into a milieu in which external control and internal compliance are seen as normal and necessary (Franklin 2004)
‘only one way of doing something’
Today's ‘real world of technology’
characterized by the dominance of prescriptive technologies
not restricted to materials production
used in administrative and economic activities and in many aspects of governance
the temptation to design more or less everything according to PTs so strong that it is even applied to those tasks that should be conducted in a holistic way
any tasks that require caring, whether for people or nature, any tasks that require immediate feedback and adjustment, are best done holistically
such tasks cannot be planned, coordinated, and controlled the way prescriptive tasks must be
when successful, PTs do yield predictable results
they yield products in numbers and qualities that can be set beforehand, and so technology itself becomes an agent of ordering and structuring (Franklin 2004)
Technology as practice (5)
the ordering that PTs has caused has now moved from ordering at work and ordering of work, to the prescriptive ordering of people in a variety of social situations (Franklin 2004)
those who work in the so-called ‘smart’ buildings have a card with a barcode that allows them to get into areas of the building where they have work to do but excludes them from anywhere else
'the digitalized footprints of social transactions’
any goal of the technology is incorporated a priori in the design and is not negotiable
as methods of materials production PTs have brought into the ‘real world of technology’ a wealth of important products that have raised living standards and increased well-being (Franklin 2004)
Technology as practice (6)
the acculturation to compliance and conformity has in turn accelerated the use of PTs in administration, government, and social services
the same development has diminished resistance to the programming of people
Growth model and production model
within a growth model all that human intervention can do is to discover the best conditions for growth and then try to meet them
growth occurs; it is not made (Franklin 2004)
in a production model things are not grown but made under conditions that are, at least in principle, entirely controllable
everything seems in hand, nothing is left to chance - while growth is always chancy
Technology as practice (7)
production models are perceived and constructed without links into a larger context (Franklin 2004)
this allows the use of a particular model in a variety of situations
at the same time such an approach discounts and disregards all effects arising from the impact of the production activity on its surroundings
such ‘externalities’ are considered irrelevant to the activity itself and are
the business of someone else
factors - such as pollution or the physical and mental health of the workers - which in the production model are considered other people's problems
the deterioration of the world's environment arose precisely from such inadequate modelling
Technology as practice (8)
processes that are cheap in the marketplace are often wasteful and harmful in the larger context
production models make it easy to consider contextual factors as irrelevant
we ought to think far more in terms of growth models rather than production models (Franklin 2004)
even though today production models are almost the only guide for public and private discussions
instructive to realize how often in the past the production model has supplanted the growth model as a guide for public and private actions
even in areas in which the growth model might have been more fruitful or appropriate (i.e., education, new human reproductive technologies)
Technology as practice (9)
prevalence of the production model in the mindset and political discourse of our time and the model's misapplication to inappropriate situations - an indication of just how far technology as practice has modified our culture (Franklin 2004)
the new production based models and metaphors ..so deeply rooted in our social and emotional fabric that it becomes almost sacrilege to question them
any critique or assessment of the real world of technology should involve serious questioning of the underlying structures of our models, and through them, of our thoughts (Franklin 2004)
Part III Social construction of technology (1)
Phrase ‘the social construction of technology’ (SCOT)
a theory about how a variety of social factors and forces shape technological development, technological change, and the meanings associated with technology
a specific account of the ‘social construction of technology’
SCOT uses the notions of relevant social groups, interpretive flexibility, closure and stabilization
the concept of interpretive flexibility as its distinguishing feature
to claim that technology has interpretive flexibility is to claim that artifacts are open to radically different interpretations by various social groups
artifacts are conceived and understood to be different things to different groups.
Social construction of technology (2)
Tenets of ‘technological determinism’
theory of the ‘social construction of technology’ compared with another view of technology referred to as ‘technological determinism’
1st technology develops independently from society
technological development either follows scientific discoveries—as inventors and engineers apply science—or it follows a logic of its own, with new inventions deriving directly from previous inventions
engineers and inventors work in an isolated domain in which all that matters is discovering and manipulating nature
2nd when a technology is taken up and used, it has powerful effects on the character of society
Social construction of technology (3)
social constructivists argue that technological development is shaped by a wide variety of social, cultural, economic, and political factors
nature does not reveal itself in some necessary or logical order
scientists and engineers look at nature through lenses of human interests, theories, and concepts - they invent and build things that fit into particular social and cultural contexts
technologies are successful not by some objective measure of their goodness or efficiency - they are taken up and used because they are perceived to achieve particular human purposes and to improve a particular social world or to further the interests of individuals and social groups
social constructivists claim that shaping does not just work in both directions but that technology and society are mutually constitutive - they co-create one another
Social construction of technology (4)
SCOT and ANT theories of ‘social construction’
critique of technological determinism and the emergence of the theory of the social construction of technology (SCOT)
began and gained momentum in the 1980s
the development of a new field of study sometimes labeled science and technology studies (STS) and other times science, technology, and society (also STS)
social constructivism (referred to as SCOT) and actor-network theory (ANT)
both seek to explain why and how particular technologies are adopted while others are rejected or never developed
both concerned with how technological designs are adopted and become embedded in social practices and social institutions
Social construction of technology (5)
actor-network theory
takes as its unit of analysis the systems of behavior and social practices that are intertwined with material objects
the network part of actor-network theory
the actor part of actor-network theory emphasizes the presence of many actors, human and nonhuman
for instance, nature plays an important role in determining which technologies come to be adopted and nature can be described as one of the actors in shaping the technologies that succeed in becoming embedded in the social world
technologies and artifacts can themselves also be actors
humans, nature, and artifacts collectively are referred to in actor-network theory as actants
Social construction of technology (6)
How ‘social construction’ works
what does it mean to say that technology is ‘socially constructed’?
theory referred to as SCOT makes use of the notions of relevant social groups, interpretative flexibility, stabilization, and closure
an account of the development of the design of the bicycle (Bijker 1995, Pinch and Bijker 1987)
areas where social factors have a powerful influence on the technologies that are developed and what those technologies look like
economics
regulation
culture
Social construction of technology (7)
Ethics and ‘social construction’
technological determinist theories imply that technological development is autonomous and unstoppable
that is, individuals and even social movements can do nothing to change the pace or direction of development
social constructivism seen as, at least in part, a response to the pessimism of technological determinism
social constructivist scholars see themselves as providing an account of technological development and change that opens up the possibility of intervention, the possibility for more deliberate social control of technology
SOTUS 2020
Social construction of technology (7)
social constructivist theories seen as having an implicitly critical, and perhaps even a moral, perspective
social constructivist theories developed primarily by historians and social scientists
scholars in these fields traditionally understood the task of their scholarship to be that of description, not prescription
generally deny that their perspective is ethical
social constructivist analysis reveals the ways in which particular social groups wield power over others through technology
knowledge of this aspect of technology opens up the possibility of deliberate action to counter the unfair use of power and the undesirable social patterns being created and reinforced through technology
Social construction of technology (8)
work on gender and technology draws attention to the ways in which technology reinforces gender stereotypes and how gender and technology are co-created ( Wajcman 1991, Cockburn and Omrud (1993)
makes it possible for those involved with technological development to avoid reinforcing prevailing stereotypes or patterns of gender inequality
in this respect social constructivism has important ethical implications
Part IV Questioning ‘technology’ (1)
Technology as an autonomous force separate from society
viewed as a kind of ‘second nature’ impinging on social life from the realm of reason in which science too finds its source (Feenberg 1999)
for good or ill, technology’s essence—rational control, efficiency—rules modern life
this conception of technology seen as incompatible with the extension of democracy to the technical sphere
technology is the medium of daily life in modern societies
every major technical change reverberates at many levels, economic, political, religious, cultural
if we continue to see the technical and the social as separate domains important aspects of these dimension of our existence will remain beyond our reach as a democratic society
Questioning ‘technology’ (2)
every major technical change reverberates at many levels, economic, political, religious, cultural
insofar as we continue to see the technical and the social as separate domains important aspects of these dimension of our existence will remain beyond our reach as a democratic society
the fate of democracy is therefore bound up with our understanding of technology (Feenberg 1999)
Keywords
techne
technicity
holistic technology
prescriptive technology
growth model
production model
technological determinism
interpretive flexibility (SCOT)
actor-network theory (ANT)
ethics and social construction