Technological Determinism

Defining the Concept

The term technology can mean many things. Often technology refers to machines or equipment. Sometimes it can be the means of production or a technique employed. By this broader definition, technology refers to art—not to fine art but to skill in doing something. Thus, technology is defined as the means to do or accomplish something practical or industrial. This is a much broader view than one of technology as merely a machine. In this way, technology can be thought of as a tool, and thus many things could be defined as a technology.

The word determinism is less often used colloquially than the word technology is. Determinism means the assertion that human action is not free but is necessarily decided by external forces acting as causes or motives. Determinism suggests that everything happens because of a particular causal chain of events and not because of human choice.

Taken together, then, technological determinism suggests that technology is the primary external force causing human activity. A chain of events occurs as a result of technological production. An important feature of technological determinism is the inevitability of action and reaction over the course of events. There is an inevitable path that technology paves that cannot be deviated from once things are in motion. The impact technology has on society is beyond human will. Thus, technological determinism positions technology as a blind force that dominates civilizations. Technology produces effects on society without a plan. The technology takes over. Technology enters into every aspect of life such that it cannot be removed from it. Therefore, when we seek to understand the social world, technological determinism argues that we must begin with the technology.

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