An instrument That Drives Society
Technology over the decade has essentially influenced society. Technology is an instrument of exercise and maintaining a source of power. It is used to enhance symbolic and material position. This is shaped through the ideologies of technology. Ideology is the set of values and beliefs shared by members of a group, culture and nationality. Some of the dominant ideologies that have structured the discourse of technology are measured in determinism, efficiency and technological progress.
Technological determinism is a theory that views technology as the principle that drives the development of its cultural values and social structures. It is based on two hypotheses; the technical base of a society is the fundamental condition affecting all patterns of social existence and technological change is the single most important source of change in society. The television was invented as a result of scientific research and development. Its power as a medium of news and entertainment has altered all proceeding medias, along with institutions and forms of social relationships.
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Figure 1According to Williams (2003) "new technologies are discovered, by essentially internal process of research and development, which sets the conditions for social change and progress" (p. 5); this implicates research and development as self-generating. Williams stated that the invention of television have been incentive and responses within a phase of social evolution. This idea states that the discovery of new technology results in society changing to adapt to a particular technology.
Change in technology is equated to new forms of technology; this is known as technological progress. Progress refers to moving forward towards a goal or an endpoint. This typically involves community, leisure, health, wealth, harmony and other values. Progress is associated with two different types of goals; material and moral betterment. This is linked to key values of the...