The Technological Dilemma - Essay Example

What are technology-led theories Technology is seen as a 'prime mover' in history; particularly technological development, communication technologies, media, or technology, in general, are the sole or prime antecedent of changes in society and technology is seen as the fundamental condition underlying the pattern of social organization. 3) Give the name of a technological determinist. The term was coined by American sociologist and economist Thorstein Veblen (1857 - 1929). 4) What does reductionism mean in terms of technological determinism Reductionism aims to reduce a complex whole to the effects of one part (or parts) upon another part (or parts)?

It is utilized in a linear or one-way manner. Technological determinism is mono-causal. It offers a single cause or 'independent variable'. 5) Describe the difference between reductionism and holism. Reductionism discusses a complex whole in terms of parts. Holism is broadly concerned with the whole phenomena and with complex interactions within it rather than with the study of isolated parts. There are no single independent causes. It is non-directional and non-linear. The whole is more than the sum of its parts.6) Why do mechanistic models not lend themselves well to interpretations of social phenomena Machines are characterized by their relentless and rigid regularity?

They are assembled from parts and can be analyzed or disassembled into them. A clock, for example, is autonomous - it can run independently of human intervention. It does not select its own goal. Machines are under complete control - we can turn them off. The complex fiber of reality cannot be neatly analyzed into component factors.