communication technologies and their impacts cm1007 | ibcom ba year I - term IV (2019-2020) [by gycc]
COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AND THEIR IMPACTS
(summary + reading notes)
compulsory literature;
multiple articles by multiple authors
On utopia and dystopias: toward an understanding of the discourse surrounding the internet
by Fisher & Wright (week I)
Abstract
It’s clear that the Internet has both the capacity to change the social interaction of individuals as well
as increase access to information. However, it’s not clear whether these factors affect the social
landscape. Therefore, this paper will contextualise some of the main issues regarding the Internet,
describing both the utopian and dystopian perspectives.
Introduction
Since the Internet became accessible to mass society in the early 1990s, many different responses
occurred to the Internet’s effects. Therefore, it’s important to consider the discourse surrounding this
medium of communication as it will likely affect how technology will be utilized by society in the
future. This paper will explain various academic responses to the Internet and argue that the utopian
and dystopian visions surrounding the Internet are consistent with what William Ogburn describes
as the theory of the cultural lag (1964).
Cultural lag → The effects of a technology will not be apparent/visible to social actors until some
time after its introduction to a society
As a result of this lag between the introduction of a technology and its cultural adaptation, both
utopian and dystopian perspectives on technologies are more likely to reflect authors’ own
preferences and values rather than taking into account the technology’s impact on the material and
social conditions of society. Thus, much of the discourse concerning the Internet is from an
ideological viewpoint, filled as much with the hopes and fears of individuals as with the reality of that
particular medium’s effects.
Cultural Lag
Although the notion of cultural lag provides a framework for understanding and discussing the
extreme responses to the technology and its effects on society, it’s not without any critics or
limitations;
● The most potent criticism of the theory is its’ inclusion of technologically determinism;
Although Ogburn does admit that the effects of culture and technology can be reciprocal, he
continues claiming technology as an autonomous independent variable that affect the
dependent variable of culture
○ Thus, extreme and unrealistic interpretations of the technology
● The cultural lag also suffers from a teleological bias; It suggests that the identification of a
problem is carried out by a single, unified culture. Many scholars tend to be much more likely
to argue over defining the problem that should be studied than they are in deciding how to
solve the problem. The presence of such a telos in Ogburn’s work may have contributed to
this assumption, which led to most studies of cultural lag getting overlooked and becoming
unpopular.
1
,communication technologies and their impacts cm1007 | ibcom ba year I - term IV (2019-2020) [by gycc]
Ogburn’s project was supposed to explain the temporal difference in time between a technology’s
invention, its distribution to society and the social adjustment that follows. Ogburn believed that some
technologies are quickly followed by social institutional change and others are not, as social
institutions could lag behind in varying degrees. He not only believed that the cultural lag could be
best seen with technology, he also felt like technology was responsible for most social change.
The theory of cultural lag specifies that societies as a whole don’t universally change in response to
introductions of new technology. When a new technology is invented, different sectors of society
accept and adopt it at different speeds. He points out that there are four stages to a cultural lag:
I. Technological
II. Industrial
● The first sector to adjust to and acquire the technology
III. Governmental
● After the industrial sector responds to the new technology, the government structures
deals with new technology by mainly regulating it
● Without governmental structures dealing with technology, the fourth stage of the
cultural lag cannot adjust because satanic and angelic images that surround and
justify technology would exist, without realistically assessing its actual capabilities
and limitations
IV. Social Philosophical
● Within this stage of cultural lag, scholarship understand technology
Cultural lags are actually difficult to distinguish from each other; Ogburn states why identification is
so difficult: “...Lags are not visible because they have been caught up. They are visible phenomena
largely at the present time”. Thus, hindsight prevents identification of historic lags; once the lag has
disappeared, the period of the cultural lag is forgotten. Although no longer visible, the four stages of
cultural lag can be frequently identified. Examples of cultural lags in earlier forms of communication
technologies are provided by the telephone and the television. Both technologies were perceived as
both being harmless and harmful in their social effects. On the positive side, TV was viewed as a
utopian tool for democracy, bringing culture and information to the masses. On the negative side,
however, TV was accused as bringing the loss of privacy and homogenizing society.
Like the earlier technologies, both utopian and dystopian visions of the Internet have also been put
forth. The Internet has been viewed as the most powerful democratizing force in communications; not
only does it have the capabilities to give a voice to the powerless, but it’s also said to be able to give
the powerless access to the world.
Utopian and Dystopian Visions of the Internet
Perhaps the most noticeable aspect of the utopian vision is the implied notion that the Internet is the
technological solutions to social problems. These solutions are often described in terms of
technology’s effects on communitarian and populist forms of democratic participation:
❖ The communitarian model suggest that the Internet facilitate civic engagement by
increasing the ease of communication among citizens by transcending geographic and social
boundaries
2
, communication technologies and their impacts cm1007 | ibcom ba year I - term IV (2019-2020) [by gycc]
➢ In turn, the produced bonds by this interaction will encourage the formation of new
deliberative spaces and new forms of collective action
❖ The populist model emphasizes technology’s role in altering the interaction between
citizens and government
The utopian position is largely based on the viewpoint that cyberspace will make it easier for people
to communicate both politically and otherwise. This approach usually emphasizes the democratic
potential of computers; through this network that provides communicative interaction, democratic
participation and a sense of communication are facilitated. The utopian position argues that the
communicative action can limit the subversion of deliberative democracy at the hands of market-
driven forces.
In contrast to the utopian perspective that focuses on the effects of the Internet on society, the
dystopian position has its roots in understanding the phenomenon of the experience. The dystopian
position emphasizes the potential of the medium to affect communication in such a way that
negatively alters the practices and spaces of communication that had previously stimulated
democracy. It claims that democracy crumbles as the social fabric of society becomes fragmented and
people become more isolated from one another. This is due to the decrease of face-to-face interactions
as they are supplanted by mediated ones. Dystopian interpretations of the Internet are no less
prevalent today.
In addition to the loss of strong bonds among members of a society, many critics agree that the
Internet will limit the connection between participants at the centre of an information-based
communicative structure and those on the periphery of that structure in a society. Moreover, the
Internet is expected to disturb political life through so-called “ accelerated rhythms” → rather than
facilitating political engagement among citizens, the Internet hinders thoughtful deliberation.
Beyond these dominant themes of utopian and dystopian visions of the Internet, there is a third theme
that exists. Technorealism is a position that tends to be held by journalists and technology
professionals as well as academics. This approach is usually more modest when it comes to claims
concerning the Internet’s potential impact → e.g. Calhoun argues that the effects of the Internet
“matter much more as a supplement to face-to-face communication than as a substitute for it”.
Technorealistic ideas are diverse, but they all seem to agree the medium is too new for scholars to
determine effects, which is consistent with Ogburn’s idea of a cultural lag.
Discussion and Conclusion
Whether one views the Internet and all of its technological possibilities as a panacea for problems
facing democracy or not, the truth about the Internet’s capabilities lies somewhere in between these
utopian and dystopian interpretations. Therefore, in order to realistically understand this technology
that is changing society, we must recognise the extreme literature of its effects as what they are;
products of a cultural lag between the diffusion of the Internet across society and society’s adoption of
the technology.
3
