GS 336 Work and Society

Lecture 19
 5: TECHNOLOGY, SOCIETY AND WORK

Topics : Technological Determinism

Objectives:
 Definition of Technology
 Technological Determinism
 Blauner’s view on Technology and Work
Technology: Definition
Technology is the usage and knowledge of tools,
techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization
in order to solve a problem or serve some purpose (to
do things cheaper, faster and easier).
Gorilla uses a stick to gauge the water’s depth (Gorilla's technology)
Technology, Society and Work
Technology  Society
Technological Determinism
Society is influenced by technology.

Technology  Society
Social Constructivism
Technology is influenced by society

Technology  Society
“Soft” Determinism or “Weak” Constructivism
Technology both influences and is influenced by society
 Technological Determinism
• Technological Determinism assumes that a society's technology drives the
development of its social structure and cultural values.

• Technological Determinism considers technology to be an independent and

autonomous development which determines social and economic
organizations and relationships.

• Technology influences society, but society does not influence technology,

which means that technological development is an autonomous process
independent of society.

• Technological, not social, factors determine success of a technology; the

inherent superiority of a technology leads to its success
• Technology develops in a linear fashion.

• At the Macro level, technology causes social and historical changes.

• Technology affects social and social-psychological processes as individuals

use technology and tools.
 Technological Determinism
Example: The automobile created suburbia in the USA.
See: McShane, C. Down the Asphalt Path: The Automobile and the American City. New York,
NY: Columbia University Press. 1995.
 Blauner (1964) on Technology and Work

• Examined the relationship between alienation and the patterning

of technological and organizational trends through time.
• According to Blauner alienation has four related facets:
o Powerlessness
o Meaninglessness
o Isolation
o Self-estrangement
These four facets of alienation are directly linked to technology or indirectly
to it through the division of labour—a result of technology.
 Technology and Alienation (Blauner’s assumptions)

Technology:

 delimits workers’ control and freedom

 determines the level of interest in job

 affects the size of plant and the nature of the work

groups—influence group cohesion

 patterns the occupational structure and skill distribution

in society
 Four Phases of Technological Change Over Time
1. Craft Technology:
The mergence and development of the
printing industry as craft technology
showed the impact of new technology
on society in such a way that:
 Crafts workers controlled much of
the process of work directly
 They enjoyed considerable degree
of freedom in the shape of unions,
market positions and integrating
occupational communities.
 Technology resulted in the high
level of skills and low levels of
alienation.
 Four Phases of Technological Change Over Time

2. Textile Workers
The trends in textile industry led to:
 Less division of labor generating a
sense of powerlessness and
meaninglessness
 The low status of the work being
hostile to any occupational identity
 High level of alienation and low level
of skills
 Strong community bonding outside
factory that minimized the feeling of
alienation.
Four Phases of Technological Change Over Time

3. Technology of Assembly line

For assembly line workers, their

work is an activity whose only
relationship to meaning is
through economic reward.
 Four Phases of Technological Change Over Time

4. Work in chemical processing industry

 Technology marks the nature of skills

 Give autonomy and control to the worker

 Reduced alienation
THANK YOU!

Questions?