Assignment 2 

S Aryaman Shrey 
2018111030 
 
 
 
Technology determinism is the train of thought that puts 
technology in charge of shaping the social fabric, in an attempt to 
make us more e cient. It believes that technology by itself is 
value neutral but is autonomous in its existence, i.e. it continually 
evolves by trying to address the basic needs of humans. Its 
characteristics can be listed as: 
 
● Value Neutral: It lays down the fact that technology does not 
have any underlying value associated with it, and the 
responsibility of the actions is completely shifted to its 
wielder. 
● Autonomous: It is beyond the stage of being controlled by 
humans, as in it continually evolves and engulfs us. 
 
It is believed by many that Karl Marx was instrumental in 
propelling this view to the masses, but the question is whether he 
really was a determinist? 
 
Marx ardently believed that “society is the product of man’s 
interaction upon man”1, and that the productive forces employed 
by a definitive economic structure take the society forward. 
The society’s nature was governed by the labour,knowledge and 
tools of production (productive forces encapsulates the three) in 
use. 

1
A quote of Karl Marx 
In other words when the economy saturates, the relations 
between the productive forces and goods (economic structure) 
are replaced by newer ones thus surging the society forward, with 
this cycle repeating itself. 
 
From this shallow analysis of Marx, it can be falsely devised that 
he indeed was a technological determinist, after all technology 
determinism is the school of thought that believes that the 
economic structure changes to make way for advances in 
productive forces and Marx gave precedence to the productive 
forces over societal structure. 
 
However, Marx is also known for putting forward an argument2 
laying out the fact that a society constantly tries to revamp its 
productive forces in an attempt to satiate its thirst towards a 
better life. But, this argument seems to align with the 
instrumentalist rather than the determinist. 
 
A deep dive into Marx views will reveal that what he viewed as 
productive forces encompassed not only the tools and skills but 
also the cooperation between the two and labour. He constantly 
stressed3 on the importance of social cooperation between social 
individuals and with this, it gives birth to social power. This weaves 
on the fabric of a determinist’s take on Marx’s views, a social layer 
that accounts for the amalgamation of knowledge,tools and 
labour. 
 
Marx was indi erent between what is considered social and what 
is considered material, something that might feel unnatural to 
many who take one to be the antonym of the other. It is only when 
they are decoupled and certain arguments of his are cherry 
picked, can someone come to the conclusion that Karl Marx was a 
Technology Determinist 
2
An unmentioned example plucked from the “Communist Manifesto” 
3
In “The German Ideology”