Summary
Summary all articles Technology, Policy & Society
- Course
- Institution
Summary of all articles for the course Technology, Policy & Society for Public Administration and MISOC in BA3 Erasmus University Rotterdam
[Show more]
2 reviews
By: sannagrootenboer • 2 year ago
By: leonjobs • 2 year ago
Seller
Followjinkeo
Reviews received
Content preview
Literatuur Technology Policy & SocietyArtikelen
Week 1
Winner, Do Artefacts have Politics? pp: 121-136
Ideas have persisted about the notion that technical things have political qualities, with a
troubling presence in discussions about the meaning of technology, so they deserve our
special attention.
- Critics have interpreted technical artifacts in political language as property of large-
scale high-technology systems, used for authoritarian regimes, such as nuclear
power.
- However, there are also those arguing that technologies are democratic and systems
like television, telephone, etc. have democratizing properties.
Indeed, technical systems of various kinds are deeply interwoven in the conditions of
modern politics, but to go beyond this and argue technologies in themselves have political
properties seems mistaken. Humans have politics, not things.
- Social determination of technology: what matters is not technology itself, but the
social / economic systems in which they are embedded.
- This view provides an antidote for uncritical technological determinism.
- However, the shortcoming is that when taken literally it might suggest that
technical things do not matter at all. This validates the usual study of power
for social scientists, so they don’t have a special study of technologies. But
this is also only a part.
- So we can call what we need a theory of technological politics: a novel framework of
interpretation and explanation of the patterns of modern material culture. The
strength is that it takes technical artifacts seriously, rather than merely reducing them
to an interplay of social forces. This is not a replacement but a complement to
theories of social determination of technology
- As Husserl would say: back to the things themselves (phenomenology).
Now Winner will give the outlines of the 2 ways in which artifacts can contain political
properties:
1) Instances in which the invention, design or arrangement of a device becomes a way
of settling an issue in a particular community.
2) Inherently political technologies: man-made systems strongly compatible with
particular political relationships.
Definitions:
- Politics: arrangements of power and authority in human associations and activities
that take place within those arrangements.
- Technology: all of modern practical artifice
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller jinkeo. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $5.04. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
83637 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now