Toward Technology Studies That Matter
Toward Technology Studies That Matter
This chapter provides a summary of the book’s argument. It begins by drawing analogies between the contemporary provision of belonging in technological societies and the Oneida religious commune. The two are more similar than one might first expect. Next, the book’s arguments are summarized. The preceding analysis is described as presenting the networking of community as a case of technological lock-in: The sociotechnical makeup of many so-called advanced nations has made any mode of life other than networked individualism increasingly difficult to realize. Not only do artifacts, techniques, infrastructures and organizations stymie citizens’ efforts but policies, dominant economic arrangements, cultural norms and beliefs, and entrenched practices, in turn, reinforce and stabilize their influence. The chapter ends with a discussion of the advantages of the reconstructivist approach to the question concerning technology and community taken in this book and a call for more technology studies research to focus explicitly on providing assistance ordinary citizens. If technology scholars are not on the forefront of exploring how a more desirable technological civilization might be realized, who will be?
Keywords: Oneida community, Technological lock-in, Networked individualism, Reconstructivism, Science and technology studies
MIT Press Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
