


Paperback
Published: 20th August 2004
ISBN: 9780262633109
Number Of Pages: 433
For Ages: 18+ years old
If asked, most people would agree that there are deep connections between technology and the modern world, and even that technology is the truly distinctive feature of modernity. Until recently, however, there has been surprisingly little overlap between technology studies and modernity theory. The goal of this ambitious book is to lay the foundations for a new interdisciplinary field by closely examining the co-construction of technology and modernity.The book is divided into three parts. Part I lays the methodological groundwork for combining studies of technology and modernity, while integrating ideas drawn from feminism, critical theory, philosophy, sociology, and socioeconomics. Part II continues the methodological discussion, focusing on specific sociotechnical systems or technologies with prominent relations to modernity. Part III introduces practical and political issues by considering alternative modes of technology development and offering critiques of modern medicine, environmental technology, international development, and technology policy. The book as a whole suggests a broad research program that is both academic and applied and that will help us understand how contemporary societies can govern technologies instead of being governed by them.
"An interesting and well-integrated collection that opens up the conceptual space for the understanding of the co-construction of modernity and technology." - Peter Beech, First Monday
Acknowledgments | p. vii |
Workshop Participants | p. ix |
The Compelling Tangle of Modernity and Technology | p. 1 |
Modernity Theory and Technology Studies | |
Theorizing Modernity and Technology | p. 33 |
Modernity Theory and Technology Studies: Reflections on Bridging the Gap | p. 73 |
Critical Theory, Feminist Theory, and Technology Studies | p. 105 |
Technologies of Modernity | |
Modernity under Construction: Building the Internet in Trinidad | p. 139 |
Surveillance Technology and Surveillance Society | p. 161 |
Infrastructure and Modernity: Force, Time, and Social Organization in the History of Sociotechnical Systems | p. 185 |
Creativity of Technology: An Origin of Modernity? | p. 227 |
Changing Modernist Regimes | |
The Contested Rise of a Modernist Technology Politics | p. 257 |
Technology, Medicine, and Modernity: The Problem of Alternatives | p. 279 |
The Environmental Transformation of the Modern Order | p. 303 |
Technology, Modernity, and Development: Creating Social Capabilities in a POLIS | p. 327 |
Modernity and Technology -- An Afterword | p. 359 |
References | p. 373 |
About the Authors | p. 409 |
Index | p. 413 |
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved. |
ISBN: 9780262633109
ISBN-10: 0262633108
Series: The MIT Press
Audience:
Professional
For Ages: 18+ years old
Format:
Paperback
Language:
English
Number Of Pages: 433
Published: 20th August 2004
Publisher: MIT Press Ltd
Country of Publication: US
Dimensions (cm): 22.9 x 15.2
x 2.2
Weight (kg): 0.59