Technological or Media Determinism

Daniel Chandler

Introduction

Scholars who study the history of communications technologies or media include historians of technology and of literacy, sociologists, economists, political scientists, anthropologists and technologists such as computer scientists. A central controversy concerns how far technology does or does not condition social change. Each commentator emphasizes different factors in technological change. No neat explanation is adequate and rigorous proof is difficult if not impossible.

In this kind of arena it is wise to beware of generalizing too widely. In particular, it helps to be aware of the nature and pitfalls of a very persuasive stance known as technological determinism (or occasionally 'media determinism'). This is still the most popular and influential theory of the relationship between technology and society, but it has been increasingly subject to critical review by scholars in recent times. Students need to be aware that the term 'deterministic' tends to be a negative one for many social scientists, and modern sociologists in particular often use the word as a term of abuse.

Various kinds of 'determinism' feature in social science theories. For instance, biological (or genetic) determinism seeks to explain social or psychological phenomena in terms of biological or genetic characteristics. This stance underlies notions such as that women are 'essentially' earthy, natural and spontaneous (an argument known as 'essentialism').

The controversy in developmental psychology over 'nature versus nurture' is one between genetic and environmental determinism. Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was an early advocate of the importance of nature (heredity) whilst the most famous advocate of the importance of nurture (or experience) was Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78). An interesting integration of this debate with that about technology can be found in the book, So Human an Animal, by Rene Dubos.

Then there is linguistic determinism, according to which our thinking is determined by language, a theory which links it to certain forms of technological determinism.

Just like these other deterministic theories, technological determinism seeks to explain social and historical phenomena in terms of one principal or determining factor. It is a doctrine of historical or causal primacy. The term 'technological determinism' was apparently coined by the American sociologist and economist Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929) (Ellul 1964: xviii; Jones 1990: 210; see Veblen's 'The Engineers and the Price System').

Technological or Media Determinism

Daniel Chandler

Introduction

Index