The Relationship Between Technology And Society

The quote above can be used to explain the effects of technology on the society. Inventions, and discovery are made to improve the lifestyle of humans. Technology has played an important part in shaping not only in the lives of individuals, but also in the society. Thus, it can be said that there is an intersection of technology, and society. However, there are challenges that occur when trying to study the relationship of technology and society. This includes rapid change of technology, unprecedented social change, direction and type of effect of technology, the target group of technology, and changing uses of technology. Due to these challenges, there has been different definitions of technologies such as a technology as a material substance, as an embodiment of knowledge, as a practice, technique, and as an aspect of the life of an individual. While Ursula Franklin, and Langdon Winner encountered these problems when they were analyzing the relationship of technology, and society, Franklin theorized technology as a practice, and distinguished technologies as prescriptive, and holistic technologies. Winner, on the …show more content…
However, he sees that “technology has political qualities, and embodies specific forms of technology” (p.19).He uses the two technologies that Lewis Mumford introduces, namely authoritarian, and democratic technology. Authoritarian technology is “system-centered, immensely powerful, but unstable” (Winner, 1989, p.19). Nuclear power is a good example of authoritarian technology because it requires a lot of control to avoid instability despite being powerful. In contrast, Democratic technology is “man-centered, week, but resourceful, and durable” (Winner, 1989, p.19). For example, a solar power does not require control, and more democratic because it is resourceful. Therefore, the type of technology chosen by a society will affect the political aspect of the