Science, technology, and social change
Ogburn's perspective
1. Environmental Change and Adaptation:
Ogburn notes that technology changes society by altering the environment, to which society then adapts. This adaptation occurs through adjustments in how people live, work, and interact within their surroundings.
For example, the shift from agrarian societies to industrialized ones due to advancements in machine technology and new energy sources (like steam and electricity) drastically altered economic structures and social norms.
2. Technological Revolution:
The introduction of machine technology is often referred to as a "revolution" because of its profound impact on society. It fundamentally changed production methods, labor dynamics, and daily life, leading to significant societal transformations.
This revolution is not merely about economic changes but also about social and cultural shifts. Old forms of social organization and traditional ideologies were challenged or devalued as mechanization progressed.
3. Devaluation of Traditions and Ideologies:
Technological advancements have eroded traditional beliefs, attitudes, and social structures. The spirit of craftsmanship, hierarchical social classes, gender roles, and notions of status based on birth have all been challenged or transformed by mechanization.
For instance, industrialization brought women into the workforce, altering traditional gender roles and family dynamics. It provided women with new economic opportunities and changed societal perceptions of their roles.
4. Examples of Technological Impact:
Industrial Age and Women's Status: The shift from domestic production to factory work expanded women's roles beyond the household, creating new social and economic opportunities. It challenged existing norms about women's capabilities and their place in society.
Invention of Gunpowder: This invention revolutionized warfare techniques, shifting the balance of power and strategies in conflicts. It illustrates how technological innovations can reshape not just economic and social structures but also geopolitical dynamics.
Conclusion
Ogburn's analysis underscores the transformative power of technology in shaping societies. Technological advancements are not just tools for economic progress but catalysts for profound social change, affecting everything from cultural norms to institutional practices. Understanding these dynamics helps illuminate how societies evolve in response to technological innovations, highlighting both the opportunities and challenges that arise from such changes.
Thorsten Veblen’s perspective
Thorstein Veblen's analysis of technology's impact covers various facets of social, familial, economic, religious, and rural life. Here's a detailed summary of his points:
1. Impact on Social Life
Individuality: Technological advancements promote individualism as people become more self-reliant and less dependent on communal support structures.
Problems of Housing: Urbanization and industrial growth lead to housing shortages and the development of slums.
Disparity of Sex Ratio: Migration patterns and employment opportunities can cause imbalances in the sex ratio in certain areas.
Crime, Corruption, and Competition: Rapid technological changes can lead to social instability, increasing crime rates, corruption, and fierce competition for resources and opportunities.
Decline of Community Life: As people move to urban areas and engage in industrial work, traditional community bonds weaken.
Psychic Conflict and Disease: The fast-paced, competitive environment can lead to mental health issues and stress-related illnesses.
2. Impact on Family Life
Disorganization of Joint Family: Industrialization and urbanization weaken the traditional joint family system, leading to nuclear families.
Employment of Women: Technology opens up new job opportunities for women, altering traditional gender roles.
Decrease in the Function of the Family: With many functions of the family (such as education and care) being taken over by institutions and services, the family's role diminishes.
Love, Inter-caste, Late Marriage, and Divorce: Increased individualism and new social norms lead to changes in marriage patterns, including more love marriages, inter-caste marriages, later marriages, and higher divorce rates.
3. Impact on Economic Life
Development of Capitalism: Technological advancements fuel the growth of capitalism, characterized by private ownership and profit-driven enterprises.
Large Scale Production and Development of Trade: Technology enables mass production and global trade, significantly expanding economic activity.
Division of Labour and Specialization: Technological progress leads to more specialized job roles and a more complex division of labor.
Economic Depression and Employment: While technology can create jobs, it can also lead to economic instability and unemployment during periods of rapid change.
Higher Standard of Living: Technology improves living standards by making goods and services more accessible and affordable.
Industrial Dispute, Disease, and Accident: The industrial work environment can lead to labor disputes, occupational diseases, and workplace accidents.
4. Impact on Religion
Secularization: Technological progress and scientific rationality contribute to the secularization of society, reducing the influence of religion in everyday life.
5. Impact on Rural Society
Migration: Technological developments in agriculture and industry cause rural-to-urban migration as people seek better employment opportunities.
Agricultural Development: Mechanization and new agricultural technologies increase productivity but also disrupt traditional farming practices.
Mechanization of Agriculture: The use of machines in agriculture reduces the need for manual labor and changes the rural economic structure.
New Class Formation: Technological changes create new social classes, such as a class of wealthy industrialists and a class of urban workers, altering the traditional rural social hierarchy.
Conclusion
Veblen's points underscore the profound and multifaceted impact of technology on different aspects of life. While technology drives economic growth and raises living standards, it also disrupts traditional social structures, family dynamics, and religious practices, leading to new social challenges and transformations.
Technological Impact on Social Change
Technological advancements have profound implications on society, affecting production, social structures, communication, and lifestyles. Here is a detailed exploration of these impacts:
1. Standardization and Production Efficiency
Mass Production and Distribution: Modern technology enables the standardization of goods, leading to efficient mass production and distribution. This has made products cheaper and more accessible.
Organized Labor and Service Functions: The rise of industrial plants, like textile factories, has led to organized labor and complex production systems. Increased efficiency has freed many from direct production roles, leading to a surge in service functions such as engineering, bookkeeping, and sales.
2. Political and Legal Adjustments
Regulation and Legal Expansion: Advances in production and trade necessitate new political regulations. This expansion increases the number of lawmakers, bureaucrats, and lawyers to handle the growing complexity of industrial and agricultural laws.
Social Status Shift: Technological applications in various sectors elevate the status of service roles while reducing the social standing of traditional industrial workers.
3. Spectacular Technological Inventions
Atomic Energy: Atomic energy exemplifies the dual nature of technology as both a destructive and constructive force. It demonstrated its devastating potential in Hiroshima and Nagasaki but also holds the promise of immense benefits in peaceful applications.
Automobile Impact: The automobile has expanded social relationships, diminished the communal character of neighborhoods, and increased mobility, profoundly influencing social dynamics.
4. Socioeconomic Transformations
Rising Living Standards and Class Changes: Technological changes in production have led to higher living standards, the rise of the middle class, and shifts in class structures. This has undermined traditional local customs and weakened the communal family system.
Urban Dominance and Women's Improvement: Urban lifestyles increasingly dominate, contributing to improved conditions for women and spawning new political and social movements like communism and socialism.
5. Agricultural Advancements
Rural Community Impact: New agricultural tools and chemical fertilizers have boosted agricultural productivity, raising rural living standards. This efficiency has reduced the need for agricultural labor, prompting migration to urban areas for employment.
6. Communication Technology
Social Relationship Changes: Advances in communication technology, such as the internet and smartphones, have drastically altered social relationships and interactions. These devices enhance connectivity, but also have significant social implications, such as changes in how people interact and form communities.
7. Conquest of Time and Space in Communication
Primary and Secondary Techniques: Communication technologies, from speech and gestures to advanced electronic media, conquer time and space limitations. They shape the extent and nature of human organization. Primary techniques like speech and gesture form the basis of all communication, while writing, radio, and digital media build on these foundations.
Gestural and Linguistic Differences: Differences in language and gestures hinder intimacy and understanding between diverse groups. Technological advancements in communication have aimed to bridge these gaps, fostering greater connectivity.
8. Development of Writing Systems
Alphabetical Writing: Superior to ideographic systems, alphabetical writing supports complex and enduring organizations. It facilitates cultural diffusion and political organization by providing a flexible and simple system for recording and sharing information.
9. Printing Press Revolution
Cheap and Easy Reproduction: The printing press enabled mass production of written material, which was crucial for the rise of science. It allowed for the accumulation and dissemination of knowledge, making information accessible to a broader audience.
Storehouse of Wisdom: Printed records serve as a repository of knowledge, aiding inventors and scholars. The widespread availability of printed material has democratized knowledge, reducing monopolies on information.
10. Diffusion of Inventions and Discoveries
Rapid Cultural Change: The printed word has accelerated cultural changes by making information widely accessible. It has impacted various sectors including entertainment, education, politics, and trade, and bridged the gap between urban and rural lifestyles.
11. Radio, Telegraph, and Telephone
Social and Economic Impact: Innovations in radio, telegraph, and telephone have influenced business, recreation, public opinion, and organization. Ogburn identified numerous social effects of radio, including cultural uniformity, education, and industry impacts. These technologies have facilitated new modes of organization and interaction.
12. Transportation and Social Relationships
Physical Conquest of Space: Transportation technologies determine the ease with which people and goods move. They are crucial for social interaction and commercial exchange.
Modern Lifestyle: Modern transportation enables suburban living and urban working, integrates global commerce, and supports daily life activities. The cessation of transportation for even a day would disrupt modern society.
13. Spatial Relationships and Intercontinental Trade
Changing Spatial Dynamics: Advances in transportation have altered spatial relationships within societies. Rapid transportation has facilitated intercontinental trade and interdependence among countries, promoting the mixing of diverse populations. This intermixing reduces misunderstandings and fosters sympathy and cooperation, advancing the sense of universal brotherhood.
14. Airplanes and Urban Growth
Impact of Air Travel: The invention of airplanes has revolutionized the swift delivery of goods and facilitated the growth of cities. Modern transportation contributes to greater population mobility, breaking down barriers to cultural isolation and transforming culturally isolated regions into global hosts.
15. Cultural Diffusion and Economic Integration
Role in Cultural Uniformity: Modern transportation technologies like steamships, railroads, automobiles, and airplanes, alongside the printing press and radio, have significantly reduced cultural isolation. They have facilitated cultural diffusion and economic integration across regions, nations, and globally, though social integration remains a developing process.
16. Individualism and Social Uprootedness
Shifting Family Dynamics: Modern transportation has contributed to breaking family ties and community loyalty, fostering a shift toward individualism and away from traditionalism. This shift has intensified social and psychological uprootedness and promoted hedonism. Bureaucracy has expanded, and human relations have become more impersonal and secondary.
17. Ripple Effects of Inventions
Chain Reactions: Technological inventions often have cascading influences. For example, the cotton gin in the United States increased cotton production, which required more labor, leading to the growth of slavery and subsequently the Civil War. This illustrates the extended and interconnected impacts of technological innovations.
18. Multi-Factor Influences
Complex Causes: It is essential to recognize that technological inventions are only one of several factors influencing social phenomena. The cotton gin's influence on slavery and the Civil War, for instance, was not solely due to the invention itself but also due to other contributing factors. Social phenomena are typically the result of multiple interrelated causes.
19. Diminishing Influence of Derivative Effects
Reduced Impact of Remote Derivatives: As technological innovations ripple through society, their derivative effects tend to diminish with distance from the original invention. For example, the impact of inventions producing cheap fibers in reducing class barriers is often overshadowed by other factors. Tracing the influence of a single invention too far into distant derivatives can lead to an overemphasis on its importance.
20. Convergence of Inventions and Urbanization
Significance of Combined Inventions: When multiple inventions converge in one area, their combined influence can be substantial. Innovations in manufacturing, transportation, and communication—such as factory machines, electric railways, telephones, radios, and cinemas—collectively contributed to the creation of cities. Although the individual purposes of these inventions were not to create urban areas, their combined effects facilitated urbanization.
21. Joint Derivative Effects of Technological Groups
Compounded Technological Influence: A group of related inventions can jointly produce significant derivative effects. For instance, the rise of urban communities due to manufacturing, communication, and transportation technologies led to the need for efficient lighting. This demand spurred the development of kerosene and eventually gasoline, which, in turn, led to the invention of the internal combustion engine and the automobile industry. As lighting technology advanced, surplus kerosene found new uses, illustrating how developments in one technology can catalyze innovations in another.
22. Interconnected Systems and Social Issues
Interdependency of Technological Systems: Changes in one technological system often lead to changes in others. For example, the development of cities, while solving some technological problems, also created new social issues such as crime, family disintegration, and increased state control. These issues are partly a result of the new transportation and communication technologies of the twentieth century. Social workers and policymakers must consider the interconnectedness of technological advancements and their broader social implications.