- Contents Page
- Introduction
- Technology-led theories
- Reductionism
- Mechanistic models
- Reification
- Technological autonomy
- The 'technological imperative'
- Technology as neutral or non-neutral
- Universalism
- Techno-evolution as 'progress'
- Theoretical stances
- Deterministic language
- Conclusion
- References and related reading
- Relevant links
Technological or Media Determinism
Daniel Chandler
Deterministic Language
As an interpretive bias, technological determinism is often an inexplicit, taken-for-granted assumption which is assumed to be 'self-evident'. Persuasive writers can make it seem like 'natural' common sense: it is presented as an unproblematic 'given'. The assumptions of technological determinism can usually be easily in spotted frequent references to the 'impact' of technological 'revolutions' which 'led to' or 'brought about', 'inevitable', 'far-reaching', 'effects', or 'consequences' or assertions about what 'will be' happening 'sooner than we think' 'whether we like it or not'. This sort of language gives such writing an animated, visionary, prophetic tone which many people find inspiring and convincing.
Marshall McLuhan's work is full of the language of technological determinism (McLuhan 1962, 1964, 1969; McLuhan & Fiore 1967). McLuhan saw changes in the dominant medium of communication as the main determinant of major changes in society, culture and the individual. For instance, print created individualism, privacy, specialization, detachment, mass production, nationalism, militarism, the dissociation of sensibility (a split between head and heart), and so on. The writings of Alvin Toffler are also typical of this style, as is a great deal of popular writing about computers.
However, scholars who carefully avoid deterministic terminology may not necessarily be any less deterministic, as in the case of Jack Goody's suggestion that his early article with Ian Watt 'should perhaps have been entitled the "implications" rather than the consequences of literacy' (Goody 1968, p. 4). Approaches which reject extreme technological determinism (broadly involving 'social context' models) tend to be characterized more by terms such as 'human agency', 'social constraints', 'social opportunities', 'socio-cultural contexts', 'control', 'purposes', 'access', 'power' and so on.
Index
