Social Construction of Technology vs Technological Determinism

Its development can be traced the need of humans to change the units of analysis from artifacts to technological culture besides being traced to the central methodological heuristics (Wiebe, 96). Technological determinism, on the other hand, is the theory that contradicts the theory of social construction of technology by asserting that a society’s technology is responsible for the determination of its cultural values, history and social structure (Ceruzzi, 584). Under this theory, s social advancement pursues an unavoidable course that is driven by mechanical development. This particular theory has fallen out of favour with academia, even though it still remains to have a popular view throughout popular culture. This essay intends to discuss the arguments put forth by the social construction of technology and the technology determinism concerning the various modes of implementations by drawing three temporally distinct historical examples of computer implementation and use.

During the implementaion of computers, the relevant social group was created whose members shared the same set of ideas attached to specific artifacts. The development of the first computers involved the association of different groups whose members have their own meaning and view as to what an artifact should look like. These different ideas enabled the group members to develop a committee that deliberated on a specific design of the computer. Even though members of a social group work together when they are developing the design of the computer, their different definitions and working techniques enable them to continue developing computer designs until every individual in the group is satisfied that their artifact works. After all the members in a social group are in agreement that the artifact works, when developing computers to solve the then existing issues, the social deliberate on bridging closure so that further modifications are brought into a halt as the artifact takes the final form.

The use of artifacts like computers has changed the way of lives of most people across the globe. For instance, during its initial development, computers were only used to perform complex calculation before being upgraded to store data for future references. This development changed the lifestyle of most academicians who spent most of their time in labs solving calculation problems besides changing the mode in which people stored data from physical files to virtual storage (Ceruzzi, 411). The use of use these computers was limited to a very few individuals and its regulation was so high. However, over time the availability, regulation and the use of computers have immensely changed due to massive production and is now being used by all people including students who have been able to access their reading materials using computers that are stored in the internet.

This, however, is not the case since computers have resulted in isolation as children find themselves spending too much time indoors playing games and movies. This will subsequently result in an isolationist society that is attached to computers, which leads to the development of a society with low networking skills. In conclusion, this essay has discussed the implementation of computers as media technology while taking into consideration its historical examples such as its production, distribution, and regulation over the years under both technology determinism and social construction of technology theories. From the implementation and use of the computer as a media technology, both theories present realistic arguments concerning their proposition with regards to advancements in technology and human social and cultural developments, which are interrelated.