History and Past Activities
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History and Past Activities |
Frans A.J. Birrer
Mathematics, Computer Science & Society
P.O. Box 9512
2300 RA Leiden
Netherlands
phone 31 - 71 - 5277048
fax 31 - 71 - 5276985
e-mail : birrer@math.leidenuniv.nl
Technology as subliminal enticement
Fields of sociology can be defined according to social subsystems (like the family or the firm), or sometimes according to a certain type of problems, like risk issues (with the purpose to investigate communalities and differences in how these issues are dealt with). In this way, technology does not seem to define a proper subfield of sociology. In the sense of physical instruments, technology figures in human life like other instruments, rather than to define a field of its own. Such a narrow conception of technology is of course incomplete: what we encounter in our experiences is not a bare, neutral instrument, but an instrument with a paradigm of social expectations about how it should be designed and used. It is possible to diverge from these expectations, but they do have a strong and often subliminal influence. They almost imperceptively invite certain kinds of behaviour: users are seduced to certain types of use, and designers are seduced to certain types of design. In fact, the complexity and refinement introduced by modern technology strongly contributes to the subliminal character of these effects. If there is to be something like a sociology of technology, a large part could be conceived as the sociology of subliminal enticement. Such a sociology traces how new possibilities arising from technology divert human action, by new possibilities and changing (paradigmatic) expectations. Illustrations will be taken from modern computer technology and other technologies.
Sociology of Science and Technology NETwork - last update: April 2006