Georg Lukacs: The Fundamental Dissonance of Existence by Hall Timothy Bewes Timothy

Author:Hall, Timothy,Bewes, Timothy.
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781441121080
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK
Published: 2011-03-15T16:00:00+00:00

Radical Philosophy of Technology

I want to conclude by developing the connection between the theory of reification and contemporary struggles over technology. This is one domain in which the theory, in something like its original formulation, retains surprising relevance. But to demonstrate its relevance requires a far more informed understanding of technology than we usually find among critical theorists. The historical context of Marxism was one in which technology was confined, for the most part, to the factory. In that context, struggles over technology were generally subordinate to wider labour struggles over wages, working conditions and political power. The extension of technology into other domains in the first half of the twentieth century met little resistance, although, as the Frankfurt School showed, it had disastrous consequences for the socialist movement. All this has changed in more recent times as technology has become the object of struggle in many domains. It is this which must be explained, and the field of technology studies is useful for this purpose.

Modern technology is more than a tool. It is an environment and structures a way of life (Woolgar, 1991; Akrich, 1992). This technology exhibits the underdetermination of rationality discussed earlier. At every stage in its development choices appeared and decisions were made that were strongly influenced by the interests of the dominant capitalist class. Thus the current technological system responds not just to universal interests of the human species but also to the specific requirements of capitalist development (Noble, 1984, part II). As Honneth says in the passage cited earlier, ‘Possibilities of action are closed not by a repeated recourse to purposive-rational considerations but only through the application of normative or political viewpoints.’

Of the many possible forms progress might have taken, we have a particular one. This is evident in the structural indifference this technology exhibits to the welfare of workers, consumers and the natural environment. There is nothing specifically ‘technological’ about this indifference, nor is it particularly ‘efficient’ from the standpoint of society as a whole whatever its helpful contribution to corporate profits. This indifference, made possible by the operational autonomy of the capitalist and his representatives, forms the background of current struggles over technology.

These struggles burst out in many domains, around environmental issues, medical issues, in education, on the internet and so on. They are carried on with very different methods, everything from hacking to lawsuits to consumer boycotts, to protests and demonstrations. Politically, they appear weak, even marginal, compared to the great issues of war and peace, civil rights, taxation and so on. However, cumulatively they are changing the nature of technologically advanced societies as ordinary people gain agency in the technological system (Oudshoorn and Pinch, 2003, ch. 1).

This is particularly clear in the case of the environment and the internet. In both these domains the technical traditions inherited from earlier iterations of modern technology have been challenged by ordinary people with a very different conception of how technology should be designed. The challenges have led to major transformations in the technical disciplines and technologies that depend on them.

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