What is it that shapes the direction of technological progress in advanced industrial societies? Is it science? Technology itself? Or is it something even more powerful and all-encompassing, like power or money or politics? John Kurt Jacobsen addresses this topic by investigating how contemporary democratic capitalist states govern the development

Technical Fouls: Democracy And Technological Change

Politics & Social Sciences

Jacobsen, John Kurt

Social Sciences

Routledge

Examines the interaction of ideology, profits, and power, and their combined effect upon technology policy in democracies.

Technical Fouls: Democracy And Technological Change (Interventions: Theory & Contemporary Politics)

What is it that shapes the direction of technological progress in advanced industrial societies? Is it science? Technology itself? Or is it something even more powerful and all-encompassing, like power or money or politics? John Kurt Jacobsen addresses this topic by investigating how contemporary democratic capitalist states govern the development and deployment of their scientific and technological resources. He examines the interaction of ideology, profits, and power, and their combined effect upon technology policy in democracies.The social function of science” has been a contentious area of scholarly study throughout the second half of the twentieth century. Although the book focuses mainly on the United States, for the sake of instructive comparison, it also studies technological development of other societies, including the former Soviet Union and China. Some competing accounts of technical change across the borders include laissez faire, cultural, and neo-Marxist markets. In fact, with regard to laissez faire markets, even to inquire if science has a social function is to deviate from the appropriate images of economic development. What is always politically at stake is who will rule the next stage in production due to each swing in technology, which will, in turn, be associated with a new structure of control. Most recently, the microchip revolution and cyberspace are the most highly publicized candidates for the next upswing in technologyand thus the next new structure of control.The explanatory focus of the book is on ideology, or on ideas about how technology works and should work, and the three key areas of policy contention discussed are industrial development, military uses, and the environment. Students and scholars of science, technology, and sociology should find this book useful in coming to terms with the fundamental questions underlying the development of technology today.

Technical Fouls: Democratic Dilemma and Technological Change

Perseus

Dead Reckonings: Ideas, Interests, and Politics in the Information Age

In periods of rapid change, social scientists are nearly as much "at sea" as anyone else. These "dead reckonings" accordingly try to chart a course through an arena where familiar landmarks are altered or absent. Dead Reckonings is aimed at an audience of political scientists and social scientists but should interest many nonspecialists who are concerned with these broad social issues. Therefore, the book investigates how scientific ideas interact with material circumstances and social ideologies to influence politics. It addresses debates in both the philosophy of science and in the field of political science; examines the socio-economic impact of foreign high technology investment upon "less developed" host states; the difficulties of reconciling the microelectronics revolution with the social needs in advances industrial nations; the prudent supervision of the export of sensitive nuclear fuels and facilities; the role that technology as an "independent variable" plays in the politics of trade policy, especially in the United States, the limits of rational choice analysis in the peace process in Northern Ireland, and a radical reconsideration of the :national-international connect" in political science and its implications for the porous border between the subdisciplines of international relations and comparative politics. The book concludes with a pair of short essays dealing with ideological antics within television and cinema.

Humanity Books

In periods of rapid change, social scientists are nearly as much "at sea" as anyone else. These "dead reckonings" accordingly try to chart a course through an arena where familiar landmarks are altered or absent. "Dead Reckonings" is aimed at an audience of political scientists and social scientists but should interest many nonspecialists who are concerned with these broad social issues. Therefore, the book investigates how scientific ideas interact with material circumstances and social ideologies to influence politics. It addresses debates in both the philosophy of science and in the field of political science; examines the socio-economic impact of foreign high technology investment upon "less developed" host states; the difficulties of reconciling the microelectronics revolution with the social needs in advances industrial nations; the prudent supervision of the export of sensitive nuclear fuels and facilities; the role that technology as an "independent variable" plays in the politics of trade policy, especially in the United States, the limits of rational choice analysis in the peace process in Northern Ireland, and a radical reconsideration of the "national-international connect" in political science and its implications for the porous border between the subdisciplines of international relations and comparative politics. The book concludes with a pair of short essays dealing with ideological antics within television and cinema.

Politics & Government

Humanities Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Jacobsen, John Kurt. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Jacobsen, John Kurt

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Jacobsen, John Kurt. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Technical Fouls: Democracy And Technological Change

Technical Fouls: Democracy And Technological Change (Interventions: Theory & Contemporary Politics)

Technical Fouls: Democratic Dilemma and Technological Change

Dead Reckonings: Ideas, Interests, and Politics in the Information Age

Dead Reckonings: Ideas, Interests, and Politics in the Information Age