Abstract
The phrase the technological imperative is sometimes used to illustrate the great social impact of technology in modern societies. Langdon Winner, in his well-known book Autonomous Technology, elaborates this notion, claiming that technology, in the process of becoming established in society, also restructures its environment.1 In other words, the modus operandi of technology is to adapt the environment to the requirements of technology. Technological artifacts require technological surroundings to be able to operate smoothly, which includes people willing to make themselves suitable to this operation. Therefore, a chain of actions and behaviours adapted to artifacts are needed for the workability of technological systems. According to Winner the technological imperative refers to a technological system’s inherent potential for growth and societal power. Ultimately social goals become supportive of its operation. This implies that ends become means, defined in relation to the survival and expansion of the technological system, focusing on instrumental goals like efficiency. Winner’s view of modern technology is pessimistic. The political and individual control is limited; technology forces users into adaptive behaviour, and politicians to formulate pragmatic visions of the future.
Keywords
- Technological System
- Nuclear Waste
- Technological Artifact
- Nuclear Waste Repository
- Technological Imperative
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Notes
Winner 1977: 100f.
Hughes 1987.
Giddens 1990; cf. Sundqvist 1995.
Callon Latour 1981: 286.
Latour 1988: 44.
Latour 1990: 41.
See for example Collins Pinch 1993 and 1998. This is the view also hold by Nelkin and Jasanoff, see Chapter 2.
Ashmore 1996: 316.
CollinsPinch 1998: 3.
Colllins Pinch 1998: 5.
Collins 1987: 826.
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© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Sundqvist, G. (2002). Regulating Technological Systems. In: The Bedrock of Opinion. Environment & Policy, vol 32. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9950-4_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9950-4_9
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