Technology, Power and the

Individual
300-TP1-AS
Richard Fortier
Collège LaSalle

Week 1: Conceptions of Power & Perspectives on Technology

Outline
TPI: An Introduction
Definitions of Technology
Perspectives and Levels: States,
organizations and individuals &
Real Power

Conceptions of Power

Perspectives on Technology

Calendar of Themes and Activities for

the Semester
Technology, Power and the
Individual: An Introduction
This is a 45-hour, multidisciplinary
course for Social Science student in
their final semester.

The course aims to critically examine

the impact that technology can have
on power dynamics on the
individual, group, national and
systemic levels of analysis, in the
psychological, sociological, political
and economic spheres.
Technology
The the application of scientific knowledge to the practical
aims of human life or, as it is sometimes phrased, to the
change and manipulation of the human environment. –
Britannica

1. Sets of physical objects, designed and constructed by

man that require engineering knowledge for their design
and production, and perform work.
2. The human activities in connection with these artefacts
and the knowledge necessary to use them.
3. The body of knowledge necessary to be able to generate
new rules for the design and application of these
artefacts for new problems.
- The Impact of Technology on Human Rights
Food for Thought
Identify a piece of
technology that
empowers you.

Identify a piece of
technology that
disempowers you; is used
to exploit you, or to limit
your power.
Perspectives and
Levels Analysis
In Political Science, especially in
International Relations, Perspectives and
Levels Analysis can allow us to answer
questions about why certain entities do
what they do; to evaluate the impact of
what occurs, and even to make predictions
about what certain actors might be prone
to do.

Beginning with this framework, we can set

the stage for the scope and focus of this
multidisciplinary course.
 Perspectives and Levels Analysis
Levels of Analysis
*Systemic Transnational organizations; UN,
NATO, World Bank, Amazon?
*State Gov’ts
*Group Workers, Political groups, companies
*Individual You, me, Putin, Zuck & Elon
We will touch many levels of analysis as
we examine the impact of technology
on power dynamics between states,
organizations and individuals, and their
implications in the political, economic,
sociological and psychological spheres.
Perspectives
**Realist - Power
*Liberal – Institutions, values,
democracy, citizenship
Identity – Who we are
Our primary perspective will be
the Realist perspective. We are
concerned with how individual,
group and state actors
accumulate, lose, project and
wield power, aided by technology.
So, what is
Power?
So, what is Power?
Control, Influence,
Agency
Control over others – Robert Dahl
1957
The means of sustaining intergroup
oppression - C. Wright Mills, 1956
Social Influence; the ability to effect
change in others – Max Weber
1918/1946
Having freedom; personal agency –
Bertrand Russel, 1938
So, what is Power?
Cooperation & Change
The capacity to act in concert for
a public-political purpose –
Hannah Arendt, 1958
Transformative power; ability to
help others develop – Thomas
Wartenberg, 1990
Counterpower – countervailing
force used by the oppressed to
counterbalance or erode the
power used against them –
David Graeber, 2004
So, what is Power?
Meeting Needs
The present means, to
obtain some future
apparent good – Thomas
Hobbes, 1651

The means to meet

survival needs or to
create deficits in needs –
Felicia Pratto, 2010
So, what is Power?

The ability to act;

for those actions
to have an effect.
Forms of Power
Legitimate (De Jure) power – position, official
authority
Effective (De Facto) power – real power, regardless
of official authority

Referent power – ability to attract loyalty;

charisma
Expert power – skills and expertise; credibility

Reward power – ability to confer valued outcomes

Coercive power – the ability to apply negative
outcomes; withhold rewards and apply
punishment.
Perspectives on
Technology & The Future
Techno optimism, Techno
skepticism & Techno realism

Orwellian & Athenian perspectives

on information & communications
technology

Utopia, Dystopia & Protopia

Perspective: Techno optimism
Attitudes & discourse that see the world’s
problems as primarily technical problems,
wherein technological progress is the
solution.
The techno optimist perspective generally
places emphasis on the potential of Ray Kurzweil
technologies to solve problems, create
abundance, generate efficiency, make life
easier & better.
Generally frames the adoption of new
technology as a necessity; NB much techno
optimist content is also implicitly or
explicitly advertising.
Perspective: Techno
skepticism
Attitudes & discourse that see technology as a
tool; but questions whether those tools will:
Truly meet their potential
Create undesirable side-effects
Be deliberately abused by corporate or
state actors in their pursuit of power.
The techno skeptic perspective generally
recognizes the potential of technology, but
emphasizes that these tools will be inserted
into our existing, imperfect human systems.
Generally questions whether the adoption of
new technology is a necessity and places
emphasis on how they may exacerbate existing
problems, or even create new ones.
In its purest/most fatalist form, it can also be
called techno pessimism.
Perspective: Techno
realism
A perspective that seeks to balance the
emphasis on the potential of technologies
with a critical examination of their
necessity and their potential pitfalls.
Generally questions whether the adoption
of a new technology is potentially useful,
and if it appears to be so, puts emphasis
on measures to allow it to meet its
potential and to avoid foreseeable abuses
or negative side-effects.
Often refers to both principles (potential
and risk) for responsible and optimal
adoption/use & collective/legislative
frameworks to avoid pitfalls.
 Athenian & Orwellian
Perspectives on
Information Technology
A specific example of techno optimist and techno pessimist
perspectives on the potential effects of information &
communications technology on our role as citizens and on our
liberal institutions.
W.B.H.J van de Donk (1995; 2006) identifies discourse around
the potential and the risks of emerging information and
communications technology as generally espousing one of two
dichotomous narratives.

This particular phenomenon is more relevant to the liberal

perspective than the realist perspective (last semester’s Media
& Democracy), but it can still be interesting to consider as we
examine the power dynamics between individual, corporate
and state actors (realist perspective)
The Athenian
Perspective
A specific techno optimist narrative that
sees information technology as
“technologies of freedom”
The internet will put the world’s
knowledge into the hands of ordinary
citizens, allowing for a democratization
of learning & engagement
The web and its various platforms are
seen for their potential as a free
marketplace for ideas, where engaged
and informed citizens participate
actively in what might resemble direct
democracy
The Orwellian Perspective
A specific techno pessimist narrative that sees
information technology as an increasingly
pervasive tool for surveillance, propaganda
and control.
The internet will render society’s citizens more
accessible to governments and political actors.
The web and its various platforms are seen as
a way of better monitoring, studying &
manipulating popular opinion through
carefully crafted messages/language to frame
public discourse; wherein citizens become
consumers and distributers of propaganda,
biased and even false narratives.
The abundance of information and voices
becomes not an edifying free market of ideas;
but rather a source of confusion, doubt,
mistrust, and a means of manipulation,
radicalization, compliance and control.
Utopia, Dystopian and
Protopian visions of the
future
Hand in hand with perspective on
technology, come different visions
of the future; different versions of
what world we are creating.
Utopian visions of the
future
The most techno optimistic tend
to believe that technological
progress can (and in some cases
Click for video
inevitably will) solve the problems
that humanity faces, including the
problems relative to the human
condition, our failings,
vulnerabilities and frailties; the
problems relative to human social
structures, etc.
 Techno skeptics (and especially techno pessimists) tend to
worry that technological progress may (and in some cases
Dystopian visions of inevitably will), fail to deliver on its potential, and exacerbate
the problems that humanity faces, entrenching inequalities,
the future degrading civil society and social structures, further degrading
the environment, or even creating brand new ways to render
humanity less prosperous, less free, less healthy, less fair, more
compliant, more wicked or more foolish.
A Protopian vision of
the future
In his 2010 book, “What Technology Wants,”
Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Wired magazine, coins
the term Protopia.
This techno realist perspective refers to a society
that, rather than solving all its problems (as in a
utopia) or falling into dire dysfunction (as in a
dystopia), makes incremental progress over a long
period of time
Adopting new technologies parsimoniously, trying
to be responsible in setting up frameworks for
their use, abandoning those that prove unhelpful
or harmful, trying to foresee and avoid potential
pitfalls, aiming to make tomorrow 1% better than
yesterday on a continuous basis.

Click for video

But is Protopia
realistic?
Is Protopia a realistic ongoing
goal? Don’t technological
disruptions come along suddenly?
Doesn’t technological progress
happen faster than our institutions
are able to adapt to them?

What do you think?

This course will invite you to
examine the role that
technology has on the power
dynamics that exist between
individuals, organizations,
political actors and the state,
around the following themes.

Past, current, and hypothetical

future technological change
will be used as a lens to
examine how these various
actors are empowered to act,
and to effect change in the
world.
References
The Impact of Technology on Human Rights: Global Case-studies (UNU, 1993, 322 p.) https://www.nzdl.org/cgi-bin/library?e=d-00000-00---off-0cdl--00-0----0-10-0---
0---0direct-10---4-------0-1l--11-en-50---20-about---00-0-1-00-0--4----0-0-11-10-0utfZz-8-00&cl=CL2.9&d=HASH01be7bf4afe130afc3049a53.5.3&gt=1

Power Basis Theory, a Psychoecological Approach to Power – Felicia Pratto et al

M. Kołodziejska, M. Paliński, BETWEEN TECHNO-OPTIMISM AND TECHNO-SKEPTICISM: THE NARRATIVES OF
DIGITAL PIONEERS ON THE IMPACT OF KEY DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, DELab Digital Working Studies nr 1/2023,
Warszawa 2023
van de Donk, W.B.H.J. and Tops, P.W. (2006), "Informatization and Democracy: Orwell or Athens? A Review of the Literature", Otenyo, E.E. and
Lind, N.S. (Ed.) Comparative Public Administration (Research in Public Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 15), Emerald Group Publishing Limited,
Leeds, pp. 635-666. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0732-1317(06)15028-9

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/yuval-noah-harari-technology-tyranny/5
68330/

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/14/special-series/protopia-movement.html