Politics of alternative technology

Book · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1975

OSTI ID:6445285

Dickson, D

The general thesis of the book is that technology plays a political role in society, a role intimately related to the influence of power and the exercise of social control. This book falls into four parts. The first chapter is an attempt to describe as objectively as possible some of the social problems associated with contemporary technology in both industrialized and underdeveloped countries. The second two chapters deal with the way that we look at technology and its role in society. The following three chapters discuss two particular types of alternative technology. The technical aspects of a possible utopian technology, stressing in particular how such a technology might be designed along ecologically-stable lines, are described in some detail. An analysis of the theory and practice of intermediate technology--an alternative technology for the Third World--highlights the impossibility of separating technological from political change. In the last chapter, the author attempts to draw together the more theoretical arguments of the book into a composite description of the political function of technology in contemporary society, the legitimating role of science, and some of the implications of both.

• OSTI ID: 6445285
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290500* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Research
Development
Demonstration
& Commercialization
APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
ENERGY SOURCES
PRODUCTION
REGULATIONS
SOCIAL IMPACT
SOCIOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
TECHNOLOGY UTILIZATION