Volti society and technological change

SOCIETY and TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE

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Pitzer College

SOCIETY and TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE S E V E N T H E D I T I O N

Rudi Vol t i

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v

C on t en t s

About the Author xiii Preface xv

part one Or i en ta t i on s 1 Chapter 1 The Nature of Technology 3

Defining Technology 3 Technological Advance and the Image of Progress 7 Technology as a Metaphor 10 Technology and Rationality 12 Technological Determinism 15 Living in a Technological Society 17 Questions for Discussion 18 Notes 18

Chapter 2 Winners and Losers: The Differential Effects of Technological Change 21 Technology as a Subversive Force 21 The Luddities 26 Neo-Luddism 28 Whose Technology? 29 What Technology Can Do—And What It Cannot Do 29

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vi Contents

The Technological Fix 30 Why Technology Can’t Always Fix It 31 The Appeal of Technocracy 33 The Technocrat’s Delusion 36 Questions for Discussion 37 Notes 37

part two The P ro ce s s o f Te chno log i ca l Change 39 Chapter 3 The Sources of Technological Change 41

Technological Change as a Social Process 41 The Great Breakthrough 42 The “D” in R&D 44 All Together Now 45 Push and Pull 48 Belated Demand 51 Market Economies and Technological Advance 52 Noneconomic Sources of Technological Advance 54 Questions for Discussion 57 Notes 58

Chapter 4 Scientific Knowledge and Technological Advance 61 The Historical Separation of Science and Technology 61 Studies of Contemporary Science–Technology Relationships 62 How Technology Differs from Science 64 How Technology Stimulates Scientific Discovery 66 Indirect Effects of Technology on Scientific Advance 69 The Commonalities of Science and Technology 71 The Translation of Science into Technology 74 Questions for Discussion 76 Notes 76

Chapter 5 The Diffusion of Technology 79 The International Diffusion of Technology 79 Clever Copyists 84 Adaptation and Adoption 85 Learning to Make Steel in Old Japan 86

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Contents vii

Appropriate Technology 87 Business Firms and Technological Diffusion 90 A Risky Business 91 The NIH Syndrome 92 Efforts to Restrict the Diffusion of Technology 93 Patents and the Diffusion of Technology 94 Questions for Discussion 96 Notes 96

part three How Techno logy A f f e c t s t he Hea l t h o f t he Ea r t h and I t s I nhab i t an t s 101

Chapter 6 Technology, Energy, and the Environment 103 Fossil Fuels, Air Pollution, and Climate Change 103 A Planet under Stress 107 Is Technology the Problem or the Solution? 108 Some Technological Fixes of the Past 109 Alternatives to Fossil Fuels 110 Doing More with Less 114 More Miles to the Gallon 116 Economic Systems, Government Policies, and the Environment 118 Questions for Discussion 121 Notes 122

Chapter 7 Medical Technologies 125 New Medical Technologies: Choices and Trade-offs 127 The Case of Kidney Dialysis 127 Replacing Broken Hearts 131 Diagnostic Technologies 135 Medical Technologies and Medical Ethics 137 New Ways of Making and Sustaining Babies 138 When Does Life End? When Should It? 140 Halfway Technologies 140 Questions for Discussion 141 Notes 141

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viii Contents

Chapter 8 Genetic Technologies 145 The Genetic Fix 145 Discovering Genes and Patenting Them 146 Bioengineering on the Farm 148 Genetic Mapping and Screening 151 Cloning, Present and Future 152 Stem Cells and Future Therapies 155 The Ethics of Genetic Intervention 156 Questions for Discussion 159 Notes 159

part four Techno logy and t he T r ans fo rma t i on o f Wo rk 163

Chapter 9 Work in Nonindustrial Societies 165 Working with the Earliest Tools 165 Work and Leisure in Technologically Primitive Societies 166 Work and the Development of Agriculture 168 Farming Techniques and Patterns of Work 169 The Ironies of Progress 171 Artisan and Craft Work 171 Guild Organization and Technological Change 174 Slavery and the Inhibition of Technological Development 175 The Measurement of Time and Changed Working Patterns 176 The Clock 178 Questions for Discussion 180 Notes 180

Chapter 10 Technology and Jobs: More of One and Less of the Other? 183 The Technological Threat in Historical Perspective 183 A Case for Optimism 184 How Technology Creates Jobs 186 The Indirect Effects of New Technologies on Employment 188

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Contents ix

The Machines Aren’t Ready to Take Over 189 Technology, Jobs, and the Changing Structure of the Economy 191 Technology and the Distribution of Income 194 Technology, Globalization, and Jobs 196 Rebounding from Job Losses 197 Benefits, but Disruption Too 198 Questions for Discussion 199 Notes 199

Chapter 11 Technological Change and Life on the Job 203 Industrial Production 203 Machine-Paced Labor 205 Is Technology to Blame? 207 Industrial Technology and the Division of Labor 209 Scientific Management Once Again 212 Industrial Work and Recent Technological Developments 213 Technological Change and White-Collar Work 214 Telework 216 Smart Technologies and Dumb Jobs? 217 Questions for Discussion 219 Notes 220

part five Commun i ca t i on 223 Chapter 12 Printing 225

The Printing Revolution 226 Printing and the Expansion of Knowledge 228 Printing and the Rise of Protestantism 229 Printing, Literacy, and Social Change 230 Psychological Effects of Printing 232 Newspapers 233 Circulation Wars and the Shaping of Public Opinion 235 Questions for Discussion 237 Notes 238

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x Contents

Chapter 13 The Electronic Media: From the Telegraph to Television 241 The Invention of Radio 241 The Origins of Commercial Radio 243 The Rise of Television 245 The Federal Government Steps In 246 Problems of Regulation 248 The Television-Viewing Public 249 Violence on Television and Its Consequences 250 Delivering the News 253 Television and Politics 255 Television and Thought 257 Questions for Discussion 258 Notes 259

Chapter 14 The Internet Age 263 The Birth and Growth of the Internet 263 E-Mail and the Network Effect 266 Mobile Communications 267 More Digital Connections: Social Networks 268 Social Media and Social Movements 270 Video Games 272 The Digital Divide 275 Intellectual Property 276 Privacy in the Digital Age 278 The Electronic Media in Modern Society 279 Questions for Discussion 280 Notes 281

part six The Too l s o f Des t r u c t i on 285

Chapter 15 Weapons and Their Consequences 287 Military Technology in the Ancient World 287 Military Technology and the Feudal Order 289 New Weapons and the Decline of Feudalism 290 The Gunpowder Revolution 293

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Contents xi

War and the Centralized State 296 Technological Change and Naval Culture in the Era of the Battleship 297 Weapons and the Making of the Modern World 298 Questions for Discussion 302 Notes 303

Chapter 16 The Era of Smart Weapons 305 Cruise Missiles 305 Smart Bombs 307 High-Tech Surveillance 308 Drones 309 The Cost of Technological Sophistication 310 Asymmetrical Warfare 311 Technology and Terrorism 313 Cyberterrorism and Cyberattacks 315 Military Technologies in a Changing World 317 Questions for Discussion 319 Notes 320

Chapter 17 How New Weapons Emerge—And How They May Be Contained 323 Action and Reaction 323 Social Structure and the Development of Military Technologies 324 Organizational Interests and the Air Weapon 329 Social Revolution and the Enlargement of War 331 Industrial Technology in the Service of War 333 Controlling Military Technologies 335 Historical Attempts to Limit New Weapons 336 A Successful Example of Arms Control 337 Gun Control in Old Japan 339 The Control of Nuclear Weapons 341 Deterrence, but No More 341 The Perils of Proliferation 342 Questions for Discussion 343 Notes 344

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part seven The Shap ing and Con t r o l o f Te chno logy 347

Chapter 18 Technology and Its Creators: Who’s in Charge of Whom? 349 Technological Advance and Cultural Lag 349 Technology, Globalization, and Cultural Convergence 351 Experts, Expertise, and the Shaping of Technology 355 Engineers and the Control of Technology 358 Questions for Discussion 363 Notes 364

Chapter 19 Organizations and Technological Change 367 Technology as a Cause of Organizational Structure 367 Technology as a Consequence of Organizational Structure 372 Organizations and New Information Technologies 375 Interorganizational Relations and Technological Development 378 Organizations and Technological Innovation 379 Entrepreneurs and Organizations 381 Questions for Discussion 383 Notes 384

Chapter 20 Governing Technology 387 Government Actions and the Shaping of Technology 387 But Is It Really Necessary? 391 Government Institutions for the Guidance of Technology 392 Processes 394 The Democratic Control of Technology 399 The Challenges of the Future 402 Questions for Discussion 403 Notes 404

Index 407

xii Contents

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Rudi Volti is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Pitzer College, where he was a founding member of the program in Science, Technology, and Society of the Claremont Colleges. His books and articles have covered a variety of topics on the interaction of technology and society, including technology transfer to East Asia, the history of the engineering profession, the origin of frozen foods, and the history of automobile engines. His personal encounters with modern technology center on cars, motorcycles, and model railroading.

xiii

A bou t t he Au tho r

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When the first edition of Society and Technological Change came out in 1988, Microsoft’s initial public offering had occurred only two years earlier, tweets were something birds did, and Mark Zuckerberg had not yet entered kindergarten. Since that time, ongoing technological changes and new ways of interpreting the interaction of technology and society have provided new opportunities to revise and expand suc- ceeding editions. Even so, the animating spirit of the book remains the same. This seventh edition of Society and Technological Change continues to explore the many ways in which various technologies have influenced our lives. At the same time, it shows how these technologies have themselves been shaped by social, economic, cultural, and political forces, and that the study of technology is important not just for its own sake but also for what it tells us about the kinds of societies we make for ourselves.

This book is intended to be used in the growing number of courses on tech- nology and society, as well as in other courses that take into account technology’s role in human affairs. It presents perspectives, theories, and facts that should help the reader to understand the consequences of technological changes, as well as the forces that have produced these changes. Many specific examples of the interaction between technological change and other changes are introduced, for general pro- cesses are often best understood through references to particular instances.

The rapid pace of technological change during the opening years of the twenty-first century may have led to an overuse of the word “revolutionary,” but it also provides the basis for significant new discussions of the reciprocal interac- tions of technology and society. In particular, the seventh edition of this book now devotes an entire chapter to the Internet and digital communications media. Chapter 14, “The Internet Age,” discusses mobile communications, social media and social movements, the digital divide, and challenges to intellectual prop- erty and personal privacy. Another new chapter, Chapter 16, “The Era of Smart Weapons,” tracks advances in weaponry amid a changing military and political environment. Among the topics covered are weapons such as cruise missiles, smart bombs, and drones, which are raising remote-control warfare to a new level. Also discussed are cyberattacks, terrorism, the financial costs of technologically sophisticated weaponry, and the psychological distance that new weapons put between those who deploy them and the consequences of their deployment.

xv

P r e f a c e

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One of modern technology’s strongest influences has been on the development of the cluster of political, cultural, social, and economic changes that are subsumed in the term “globalization.” New material in this edition covers offshoring and tech- nology transfer, appropriate technologies in poor countries, new media and social movements in authoritarian societies, and the extent to which the world’s cultures are converging toward a common pattern.

Some of the most important issues involving technology and society center on health, both the health of humans and the health of the earth. In regard to the latter, the broad issue of sustainability is addressed by expanded coverage of climate change and the use of sources of energy other than fossil fuels. As far as human health is concerned, advances in genetics research are giving rise to new healing technologies. At the same time, however, DNA-based technologies also pose many practical and ethical problems that are noted in an expanded chapter on these technologies. Apart from human health concerns, genetic technologies offer a number of benefits, everything from improved crop yields to ascertaining the guilt or innocence of criminal suspects. These too present a number of concerns that will be explored in this chapter.

The preparation of this new edition also has provided an opportunity to update and extend many pertinent facts and statistics. These include new data on climate change, the costs of medical care, unemployment, the distribution of income, video game sales, the use of various media (including e-mail, mobile phones, and social media), future employment prospects, and government support of research and development.

Also new in this edition are short introductions to related chapter groupings that preview some of the overarching themes of each chapter. In addition, new dis- cussion questions have been added at the end of every chapter, intended to stimu- late further consideration of how particular technologies interact with the societies in which they emerge, are adopted, and mutate.

Although this edition has quite a lot of new material, no pretense is made that it presents an all-encompassing view of technology and society. Much has been left out because of space limitations and my own limitations of time, energy, and expertise. At the same time, systematic study of the interactions between technol- ogy and society is a relatively recent endeavor, and many gaps remain to be filled. It can only be hoped that this book will provide a foundation for thought and future study. If annoyance at the inadequacy of coverage leads the reader to undertake more extensive explorations of some of the topics presented, then this book will have served its purpose.

Acknowledgments Writing can be a lonely activity. While I was putting this book together, some of my loneliness was alleviated by being able to call on a number of colleagues for assistance. I would like to thank the following people for reading portions of the manuscript and making invaluable suggestions: Hugh G. J. Aitken, Newton Copp, David Cressy, Stephen Cutcliffe, Paul Faulstich, Barbara Gutek, Margaret Hamilton,

xvi Preface

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Lamont Hempel, Christine Ilgen, Sue Mansfield, Meg Mathies, Richard Olsen, Robert Post, Leonard Reich, Kathryn Rogers, Mark Rose, John Truxal, James C. Williams, and Andrew W. Zanella.

I would also like to thank those who have reviewed this and previous editions: Janet Abbate, University of Maryland; Patience Akpan, Arizona State University; Elazar Barnette, North Carolina A&T University; Wenda K. Bauchspies, Pennsylvania State University; Donald Beaver, Williams College; Paul Cesarini, Bowling Green State University; Dave Conz, Arizona State University; Jennifer Croissant, University of Arizona; Adam Driscoll, North Carolina State University; Kerry Dugan, Northeastern University; R. Valentine Dusek, University of New Hampshire; Anna Erwin, Appalachian University; Nora Foust, Alamance Community College; Martin Friedman, SUNY Binghamton; Ted Gaiser, Boston College; Gary Gappert, The University of Akron; James Gerhardt, Southern Methodist University; Kenneth Gould, Northwestern University; James P. Hamilton, Pennsylvania State University; Kurt Helgeson, St. Cloud State University; Robert Hoffman, North Carolina State University; Charles Jaret, Georgia State University; Richard Kahoe, University of Central Missouri; Felix Kaufmann, Eastern Michigan University; Robert Keel, University of Missouri— St. Louis; Mark Kelso, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; David Klein, Metro State College of Denver; Diane N. Long, California Polytechnic University; Carol MacLennan, Michigan Technological University; Toy McEvoy, Wayne State College; Marilyn Mertens, Midwestern State University; Todd Morgan, De Paul University; Karen Oslund, University of Maryland, College Park; Robert S. Paradowski, Rochester Institute of Technology; Karin E. Peterson, NC-Asheville; Dretha M. Phillips, Roanoke College; John Renzelman, Wayne State College; Terry Richardson, Northern State College; Laurel Smith-Doerr, Boston University; Donald Sorsa, DePaul University; James Steele, James Madison University; David Swift, University of Hawaii; L. E. Trachtman, Purdue University; Yung-Mei Tsai, Texas Tech University; Della M. Vanhuss, Tri-County Technical College; Steve Vergara, Wayne State College; Rollin Williams III, East Tennessee State University; and Thomas Zeller, University of Maryland, College Park. Their knowledge and expertise exceed my ability to make complete use of the help they have given me, and they are not responsible for any errors of fact or interpretation that may be found in these pages.

I would also like to thank the editorial and production staffs of Worth Publishers. Sarah Berger and Kirk Bomont have been terrific sources of guidance and encouragement; although I am pleased to see the publication of this new edi- tion, I will miss our regular conferences regarding its style and content. I also appre- ciate the able assistance of Cecilia Varas, Lisa Kinne, Edward Dionne, and Barbara Seixas. Finally, special thanks go to my wife, Ann Stromberg, and our daughter, Kate, for their unfailing support.

Rudi Volti

Preface xvii

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p a r t o n e

1

The ability to create and use a great variety of technologies is one of the distinguishing characteristics of humans, but what exactly is meant by “technology”? The term is a familiar one, but like many words in current circulation it carries with it a multitude of meanings. Chapter 1 offers a definition of technology that is meant to be precise but elastic enough to cover the many connotations of the word. Although technology is often associated with particular items of hardware, the ultimate basis of technology is knowledge, and the chapter delineates the ways of thinking that are associated with technological advance.

Chapter 1 also includes an effort to disentangle technological advance from an even more slippery concept: “progress.” In Chapter 2 the discussion is continued by noting that many technological changes do not necessarily make things better for everyone, as is implied in the word “progress.” To the contrary, they may affect individuals and groups in different ways, leaving some better off while others are left in a worse position. This aspect of technological change is often ignored, making it hard to resist the temptation to seek technological fixes for problems that require more than the introduction of new devices and processes. This chapter describes the kinds of situations where technological fixes are likely to be successful and others where they are doomed to failure.

Orientations

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Today’s technology leaves us both exhilarated and terrified. Recent technological developments have presented us with such marvels as spacecraft leaving the solar system, instant access to billions of Internet Web pages, and diseases cured through gene therapy. At the same time, however, the seemingly inexorable march of technology has produced global pollution, overpopulation, and the threat of nuclear annihilation. On many occasions technological change has also produced social disruptions, as when automation destroys jobs in a particular industry or a new weapon upsets the balance of power between nations. And when technologies fail, some of them do so in a big way, as exemplified by the loss of the Challenger and Columbia space shuttles, the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the catastrophic failure of the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, and the disastrous breaching of the levees in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Despite all the crises, disruptions, and disasters that have accompanied it, modern technology is still viewed in a favorable light, according to public opinion surveys. Although significant minorities of respondents express their disapproval of certain technologies like nuclear power and genetically modified foods, the positive achievements of technology as a whole are seen to substantially outweigh the negative ones.1 But this support of technology is based more on faith than on understanding. When confronting technology, most of us are poorly informed spectators, seemingly incapable of understanding an esoteric realm of lasers, microprocessors, gene splicing, and nanomaterials.

This inability to understand technology and perceive its effects on our society and on ourselves is one of the greatest, if most subtle, problems of an age that has been so heavily influenced by technological change.2 But ignorance need not be a permanent condition. Although no one can hope to comprehend the inner workings of even a small number of the most significant technologies, it is still possible to come to a better understanding of the major causes and consequences of technological change. All technologies, be they high-definition televisions or reinforced concrete bridges, have some basic features in common. It will be the task of this chapter to show what they are.

Defining Technology Gaining an understanding of the meaning of words is often the beginning of knowledge. Before plunging into a discussion of the nature of technology, it is

3

The Nature of Technology

c h a p t e r o n e

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4 Orientations

necessary to provide a more precise definition of what is meant when we use the term. The linguistic roots of the word “technology” can be traced to the Indo- European stem tekhn-, which seems to have referred to woodworking. It is the source of the Greek word tekne, which can be variously translated as “art,” “craft,” or “skill.” It is also the root of the Latin word texere, “to weave,” which eventually took on the larger meaning of fabrication or construction. The term “technologist” was occasionally used by Aristotle and others of his time, but in their usage it referred to a grammarian or rhetorician. By the early eighteenth century the word had come close to its present meaning when an English dictionary defined it as “a Description of Arts, especially the Mechanical.” In 1831 Jacob Bigelow published Elements of Technology, the first book in English with the word “technology” in its title. As he defined it, technology consisted of “the principles, processes, and nomenclatures of the more conspicuous arts, particularly those which involve applications of science.”3

Technologies are developed and applied so that we can do things not otherwise possible, or so that we can do them cheaper, faster, and more easily. The capacity of human beings to employ technologies sets us apart from other creatures. To be sure, beavers build dams, otters crack open shellfish with rocks, and chimpanzees use sticks to extract termites from their nests. But no other animal comes close to humans in the ability to create tools and techniques—the first two elements in our definition of technology—and no other creature is so dependent on them. The development of technology is in large measure responsible for the survival and expansion of a species that lacks many of the innate abilities of other animals. Left with only their innate physical capabilities, humans cannot match the speed of a cheetah, the strength of an elephant, or the leaping ability of a kangaroo. They do not possess the eyesight of an eagle or the defensive armament of a porcupine, and they are among the 25 percent of all species that are incapable of flying. All in all, humankind is a physically puny bunch. But compensating for this physical weakness is an intelligence that is the ultimate source of technology. Humans stand apart from all other animals in their ability to gain and transmit knowledge, and to use this knowledge to develop tools and techniques. Without this capacity to invent and use a great variety of technologies, members of the human species would have never been able to establish themselves on virtually every part of the globe.

Reliance on technology is as old as humanity itself. Whatever evils have accompanied the use of particular technologies, it is pointless to indict technology as being somehow “unnatural.” Our past as well as our future as a species is inex- tricably linked to our capacity to shape our existence through the invention and application of implements and techniques that allow us to transcend our meager physical endowments. It is certainly true, as Jacob Bronowski observed, that “to quarrel with technology is to quarrel with the nature of man—just as if we were to quarrel with his upright gait, his symbolic imagination, his faculty for speech, or his unusual sexual posture and appetite.”4

Tools and techniques have been of unquestioned importance in allowing the physical survival of the human species. Still, they are not the whole story.

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The Nature of Technology 5

It is necessary to add some elements to our definition of technology that go beyond the usual identification of technology with pieces of hardware and ways of manipulating them. The first of these is organization. This follows from the fact that the development, production, and employment of particular technologies require a group effort. Even a relatively simple technology, such as one centering on the use of earthenware pots, requires a complex network of material suppliers, potters, tool makers, marketing agents, and consumers capable of making good use of the pots. Of course, one person can learn all these skills adequately if not expertly, but the day is not long enough for him or her to do them all on a scale that produces a reasonable degree of efficiency. In the case of a complex technology like a computerized manufacturing system, there is no possibility of a single individual developing even a tiny fraction of the requisite skills. For a technology to be developed and used, the energies and skills of many individuals have to be combined and coordinated through some organizational structure. Organization may be likened to the software that controls and guides a computer; without an operating system and application programs, a computer is a useless arrangement of capacitors, transistors, resistors, and other bits of hardware. In similar fashion, an organizational structure allows the integration of diffuse human and material inputs for the attainment of particular tasks. From this standpoint, there is considerable merit in Lewis Mumford’s assertion that the first “machine” was not a physical object, but the organizational structures that the Egyptian pharaohs employed to build the pyramids.5