Citation:Technology and State GovernmentRead Bain American Sociological Review , Vol. 2, No. 6 (Dec., 1937), pp. 860-874 Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.carleton.ca/stable/2084365

Test YourselfWhich approach focuses on technologies as causal agents?a) DOMESTICATIONb) SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF TECHNOLOGYc) SOCIAL SHAPINGd) TECHNOLOGICAL DETERMINISM

Test YourselfWhich of the following arguments is technologically deterministic?a) Since anyone can edit Wikipedia, and since so

many of us rely on it as a first point of knowledge about a subject, our cumulative knowledge is decreasing as a result.

b) Blogging has allowed anyone to become a media producer, allowing any view to be shared and as a result marginalized voices are becoming stronger.

c) Both are technologically deterministic.

4 Major Theoretical FrameworksTECHNOLOGICAL DETERMINISM:

– strong tendency to view TECHNOLOGIES as CAUSAL AGENTS– entering societies independent of social contexts and then affecting them;

humans have little power to resist– especially the case with new technologies

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF TECHNOLOGY:– HUMANS are the CAUSAL AGENTS– we are the primary sources of change in both technology and society

SOCIAL SHAPING:– influence flows in both directions (BI-DIRECTIONAL CAUSALITY)– humans influence technological development; technologies influence

humans and societal development

DOMESTICATION:– technologies NO LONGER agents of change– historical perspective; humans stop questioning individual technologies as

they become taken-for-granted parts of everyday lifeAdapted from: Baym, Nancy. 2011. Personal Connections in the Digital Age. Cambridge, UK: Polity.