Introduction
Technology is an important constituent of all human cultures which impacts positively as well as negatively up on people’s lives and which are in turn affected by them.
Human activities in all sectors of a society is made easier by general and/or specific collection of implements and tools which has been invented by man over a long period of time since the very humble beginnings of human civilization during Stone Age when man was using stones to make tools such as arrow heads, scrappers, axe heads, hammers and cutters (Modern Drama, 2005).
Technology is an important component in all socioeconomic sectors including industry, communication, transportation, medicine, military, food production, energy and education among others (Modern Drama, 2005).
The term technology is derived from two Greek terms, that is, tekhne which refers to an art or craft and logia which means an area of study, logic or reason Modern Drama (2005).The two terms combined refers to the science or study of crafting Modern Drama (2005).
Fundamentally, the term technology refers to the use of knowledge, inventions and discoveries to make human life easier and even enjoyable. Generally, it is the application of science to solve problems or attain an identified desired goal (Modern Drama, 2005).
Owing to its significance in our daily lives, technology is and has been a major object of study in social as well as natural sciences.
The aim of this task is to discuss some social theories of technology that have been put forward by scholars to explain technologies in relation to our social, economic and political activities. It also aims at discussing the impacts of digital communications up on our lives.
Social Theories of Technology
Technological Determinism
Technological determinism is one of the main social theories of technology put forward by scholars to explain progress and change in the society. This theory revolves around the question what is the cause of change and progress in society or to put it more precisely what is the driving force of history?
Technology is a major fabric of our ways of life through which man manipulates the environment so that it can provide for his basic and secondary needs up on which survival is founded. Technology is absolutely manifestation of a peoples ideals and their mastery of the environment they live in.
As such it has been viewed by many as the core impetus of transformation and development in society and it has resulted into emergence of the philosophical and scholarly belief referred to as technological determinism Smith and Marx (1994).
According to Smith and Marx (1994), belief in technology as a major driving force in society traces its origins to the initial stages of the Industrial Revolution. Technological determinism holds that changes in technology put forth a greater pressure on societies and their processes than any other factor (Smith & Marx, 1994).
Proponents of technological determinism maintain that technology is more important to explaining models and problems of modern life in twentieth century because it came into being before other factors adopted to explain the same like unequal distribution of wealth, national politics, differences of class and gender and international conflict Smith and Marx (1994).
Smith and Marx (1994) argue that such a perspective of technological determinism brings out two main facets of this theory, that is, a soft perspective which holds that technological determinism governs social change but at the same time responds categorically to social pressure and a hard view which identifies technological progress as an autonomous force that is absolutely free from social limitations.
Technological development is thus viewed as the determinant of social, economic and political activities and progress.
Consequently, any human event whether social, economic or political is underpinned by a major technological development without which there is an assumption among those who espouse this school of thought it would not have occurred.
For instance, the famous Christian reformation of 16th Century is attributed to invention of printing press which preceded it and made it possible for more and more individual Christians to have copies of the bible in their homes as opposed to previously when it was only the clergy who were privileged to have bibles.
Individuals were thus able to read the scriptures on their own and identify cases of misinterpretation by the clergy and as a result they readily and enthusiastically supported the outspoken critics of the Holy Roman Catholic clergy led by Martin Luther, John Knox and Thomas Calvin and other philosophical and theological scholars of that time.
In this case, the radical transformation that took place in the church particularly in continental Europe and its spiral effects up on other spheres of life is closely associated to technological advancement in printing.
According to Smith and Marx (1994), scholarly inheritance of technological determinism can be drawn from the passion and faith in technology as an emancipating force put across by leaders of the Enlightenment Age during the eighteenth century.
The two streams of thought within the technological determinism tradition one passionate and the other critical maintain that technology and science are powerful instruments of social change (Smith & Marx, 1994; Dusek, 2006).
In short, technological determinism holds that as technology progresses and changes other societal institutions change as well as the art and religion of society (Dusek 2006; Straubhaar, Larose & Davenport 2009). For example, computers have altered the nature of work and jobs in all professions.
The telephone led to the decrease in letter writing while the internet has drastically altered the nature of interpersonal communication further leaving written records unlike the telephone (Dusek, 2006).
Automobile revolution impacted upon distribution of population by enabling people to migrate from the city centers to the suburbs and leaving central cities poor (Dusek, 2006).
However, critics of technological determinism have faulted this theory because of limiting forces of social progress and transformation exclusively to features of technology Smith and Marx (1994).
Actor Network Theory
Actor -network theory is drawn from sociology science and was put forward by Michael Callon and Bruno Latour Lamers and Verbeek (2011). Actor -network theory denounces the belief that the society is created solely through human action and meaning alone (Lamers & Verbeek, 2011).
Proponents of Actor-network theory hold that social life is performed and constructed by actors both human and non human all of which may be enrolled in the construction of knowledge that constantly assumes some material form.
This theory holds that human instruments or agents and machines are all outcomes of networks of different materials and not simply human.
In this theory, the social is not observed as an exclusively human realm but rather an organized network of diverse materials including people, institutions, text, machines and other materials Lamers and Verbeek (2011).
Actor-network theorists assert that the social and the technical cannot be separated. Lamers and Verbeek (2011) argue that this theory is concerned with the mechanics of power.
Actor-network theory attempts to make known and explain the progress of stable networks of related interests and how these networks come to be constructed and maintained. Actor-network theorists also concern themselves with instances where a network has failed to become established.
It has two major viewpoints; one theoretical and the other methodological in that it presents the concepts like actor, translation enrolment among other through which to observe the socio-technical world as well as the facets which need to be made known in empirical work (Lamers & Verbeek, 2011).
Actor-network theory treats all things in social and natural worlds as a constantly generated outcome of the network of relations within which they are situated Turner (2008). It presumes that nothing has actuality or form outside performance of those relations (Turner, 2008).
Unlike technological determinism and other determinisms like economic determinism derived from Karl Marx’s historical materialism which holds that all facets of society are reliant up on a single fundamental set of factors for progress and change, Actor –network theory maintain that everything both social and natural is a continuous consequence of the webs of relations in which they are located (Turner, 2008).
Therefore, rather than relating the sixteenth century Christian Reformation solely , to advancement in printing technology Actor-Network theory would relate it to a network of diverse factors operating in European countries at that particular time.
According to Turner (2008), just like other material-semiotic methods, actor-network theory describes the performance of materially and indirectly diverse relations that construct and reorganize all kinds of actors including human beings, machines, organizations, objects, social institutions, animals, spatial arrangements, ides scale and sizes, and inequalities (Turner, 2008).
The Social Construction of Technology school of thought
The Social Construction of Technology school of thought is guided by three main principles namely; relevant social groups, interpretive flexibility, and closure (Dixon, 2005; Fox, 1996). Interpretive flexibility refers to the way different social groups append meaning to different technical artifacts.
Dixon (2005) notes that competitions between diverse social groupings founded on power and influence are critical part of the process and thus some may take actions to exclude the interests of others.
Closure and stabilizations of technology means situations whereby a particular technology appears to present fewer problems than others and so it ends up dominating McGrath (cited in Dixon, 2005).
According to Dixon (2005), constructivism is a divergent view to determinism. As opposed to determinisms which see technology or economy as a driving force with far reaching effects irrespective of social context, constructivist approach put emphasize on conscious deliberation, individual will, choice and free agency amongst human agents (Dixon, 2005; Klein & Kleinman, 2002).
Proponents of the social construction of technology school of thought attempts to explain how and why certain technologies arise and are adopted in particular times. Technology is viewed as a process in which diverse interpretations come out depending on social context.
Unlike the eighteenth century view which considers science to be independent of social, political, economical and subjective influences, social construction of technology theory demonstrate the social, economic and political influences on technology and science (Bauchspies, Croissant & Restivo, 2006).
Social constructivism does not under look the power of the people influencing technology itself. In these way social constructivists affirms the role of the social in driving history or triggering off social progress and transformation (Klein &Kleinman (2002).
Thinking about Collaboration and Organization
Organizations are essentially people united by shared interests. Just like individuals they cannot operate in isolation from other organizations which bear on their activities directly and indirectly.
Cooperation and reliable relationships and networks are the key to success in business particularly with key stakeholders such as customers, suppliers, authorities as well as competitors among others (Hutt & Speh, 2009, p.9).
Even not-profit organizations must establish cooperative relations with other for profit and not-for-profit organizations. It is important to note that organizations should also promote cooperative relations within their organizations amongst their employees.
Cooperative efforts between organizations are inevitable during certain circumstances (Donaldson, 1997). For instance, health care organizations can be compelled to cooperate in their activities by science.
Also cooperative efforts between and among organizations seem sensible when competitors appreciate that they are common clients of a supplier as well as competitors (Donaldson, 1997).
Modern organizations have appreciated the need to be mature competitors and to accept the fact that at any given time they will always operate and be in existence as suppliers, competitors and customers of one another.
Hence, they appreciate the need to collaborate in order to create an environment where healthy competition can take place for the common good of the wider society.
This perspective also applies to employees and other stakeholders within a given organization because even the ability of organizational executives and others to establish beneficial collaboration with other organizations derives from cooperation values established within their individual organizations.
In a nut shell, organizational collaboration within and outside an organization enhance development of mutuality, generation of ideas and alternative in the face of problems and challenges and building and strengthening mutual support (Kondalkar, 2003).
Also it helps in development of synergy, collective actions and expansion of resources (Kondalkar, 2003).
Internet Collaboration and Organization: People Organizing and Collaborating
Technology significantly alters the way we people go about their day to day activities in all societies both in the developed world as well as in the developing world.
Advancement in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has drastically altered not only interpersonal communication but also the way we do business and manage our organization.
Computers for instance have altered the nature of jobs and work so much so that even those who do not use computers are forced to adjust to their use in various places like banks, post offices, hospitals, railroad stations and all other places where they go to seek services.
The internet which is a core element of information technology has made it possible for people all over the world to communicate faster than it had ever been imaged half a century ago through e-mails and in real time through social networks like twitter, Skype and Facebook.
These new forms of communications have been christened digital communications and recent sociopolitical happenings particularly in the Arab World have been attributed to these new forms of communication.
The power of these new information technologies has seen social theorists and other commentators regard political changes and transformations taking place in countries such as Egypt, Tunisia and Iran among others as digital revolutions.
According to Grossman (2009), Twitter became a perfect medium for this purpose because it is highly mobile, free, very quick and very personal Grossman (2009). It is also developed to spread fast(Grossman, 2009).
Fortner and Fackler (2011) assert that Iranian political opposition has been over and over again successful in using Twitter to organize political protest and construct a stage for a lively public sphere.
These new digital communications provided Iranians seeking a virtual field a place where they can share their ideas discuss different social and political aspects of their lives and purify their views and minds of the media-saturated information circulated by the strictly state-controlled media (Ghanavizi, as cited in Fortner and Fackler, 2011).
Conclusion
Technology and the society are inseparable. Whereas technological advancement inevitably brings about social change and progress as experience in history has shown, the social as argued by social constructivists is critical in shaping technology. In other words, technology affects the society and is in turn affected by society.
Furthermore, associating social transformation and development to a single set of factors appears simplistic and narrow given the complexity of the social and natural worlds. Therefore, even though technological advancements are critical forces of social change and progress.
Other social, political as well as cultural factors can explain societal change and transformation. The possibility of coincidence cannot be ruled out when looking at technology and society so a major social event may naturally coincide with a major technological invention which happens to be instrumental in driving the event.
For instance, advancement in printing technology may have simply coincided with an idea of spiritual revival whose time had come during the 16th century.
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