Download Free The Social Shaping Of Technology Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online The Social Shaping Of Technology and write the review.

Technological change is often seen as something that follows its own logic -- something we may welcome, or about which we may protest, but which we are unable to alter fundamentally. This reader challenges that assumption and its distinguished contributors demonstrate that technology is affected at a fundamental level by the social context in which it develops. General arguments are introduced about the relation of technology to society and different types of technology are examined: the technology of production: domestic and reproductive technology; and military technology. The book draws on authors from Karl Marx to Cynthia Cockburn to show that production technology is shaped by social relations in the workplace. It moves on to the technologies of the household and biological reproduction, which are topics that male-dominated social science has tended to ignore or trivialise -- though these are actually of crucial significance where powerful shaping factors are at work, normally unnoticed. The final section asks what shapes the most frightening technology of all -- the technology of weaponry, especially nuclear weapons. The editors argue that social scientists have devoted disproportionate attention to the effects of technology on society, and tended to ignore the more fundamental question of what shapes technology in the first place. They have drawn both on established work in the history and sociology of technology and on newer feminist perspectives to show just how important and fruitful it is to try to answer that deeper question. The first edition of this reader, published in 1985, had a considerable influence on thinking about the relationship between technology andsociety. This second edition has been thoroughly revised and expanded to take into account new research and the emergence of new theoretical perspectives.
Thoroughly revised and updated, this Student Edition of the successful Handbook of New Media has been abridged to showcase the best of the hardback edition. This Handbook sets out boundaries of new media research and scholarship and provides a definitive statement of the current state-of-the-art of the field. Covering major problem areas of research, the Handbook of New Media includes an introductory essay by the editors and a concluding essay by Ron Rice. Each chapter, written by an internationally renowned scholar, provides a review of the most significant social research findings and insights.
This text evolved from the European COST A4 Action on the Social Shaping of Technology 1991-9, a coordinated effort of national scientific and technical research conducted on a European level. In this collection of 13 essays, 15 international scholars explore several issues regarding social shaping technology (SST), including the development of SST as a research area; the main concepts and approaches emerging within the area of SST; the new explanatory frameworks, concepts and tools which have recently emerged; and how these findings contribute to policy and public and commercial intervention around technological innovation. For academics and researchers in science and technology studies, technology policy, and the management of technology, and for technology policymakers and practitioners. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Creative Technological Change draws upon a wide range of thinking from organisational theory, innovation studies and the sociology of technology. It explores the different ways in which these questions have been framed and answered, especially in relation to new 'virtual' technologies. The idea of metaphor is used to capture the differences between, and strengths and weaknesses of various ways of conceptualising the technology/organisation relationship. This approach offers the possibility of developing new ways of thinking about, viewing and ultimately responding creatively to the organisational challenges posed by technological change.
The internet has fundamentally transformed society in the past 25 years, yet existing theories of mass or interpersonal communication do not work well in understanding a digital world. Nor has this understanding been helped by disciplinary specialization and a continual focus on the latest innovations. Ralph Schroeder takes a longer-term view, synthesizing perspectives and findings from various social science disciplines in four countries: the United States, Sweden, India and China. His comparison highlights, among other observations, that smartphones are in many respects more important than PC-based internet uses. Social Theory after the Internet focuses on everyday uses and effects of the internet, including information seeking and big data, and explains how the internet has gone beyond traditional media in, for example, enabling Donald Trump and Narendra Modi to come to power. Schroeder puts forward a sophisticated theory of the role of the internet, and how both technological and social forces shape its significance. He provides a sweeping and penetrating study, theoretically ambitious and at the same time always empirically grounded.The book will be of great interest to students and scholars of digital media and society, the internet and politics, and the social implications of big data.
Covering diverse themes such as intellectual property, media and architecture, satellite debris, server farms and search engines, art installations, surveillance, peer-to-peer file-sharing, the construction of techno-history and much more, this book discusses both the culture of technology that we live in today, and culture as technology.
Many organisations are using an increased range of information technologies to support a variety of new organisational practices and organisational forms. The book aims to investigate the integration of information technologies into work places and their effect on work and work-life. Issues include changes in: the nature, quantity and quality of work; power relations; privacy; and aspects of organisational culture. The book also considers the social process of shifting from present organisational structures and practices to new ones.