Kittiwake

tech culture society

Technology & Culture

The beginning of a journey.

By Nathalie Alquati Bonisoli

April 24, 2021

Introduction 

Nowadays, access to the Internet on a regular basis is available for billions of people around the globe, which means that access to information has expanded globally to levels that have never before been witnessed in human history. The Big Tech industry is rising and dominating our world. Kids born in the last decades are denominated digital natives as they grew up in close contact with computers, the Internet, mobile phones, and Social Media. In this respect, the common view is that the main drive of the technological progress the world is facing solely concerns prosperity and economic growth.

However, the roots of technological progress are intrinsically linked to humanity’s cultural and social developments. Technology and culture work together, they go hand in hand when shaping our society and adapt to our needs. In these times, we are witnessing the development in digital and internet technology that have allowed for the promotion of digital culture like never before in every sphere of humans’ life from arts to politics, from science to law. 

The meaning of words

Technology

The components of the word “Technology” can be traced back to Ancient Greece: techne meant art, craft, while logia was the suffix denoting the study of something or the branch of knowledge of a discipline. The use of this particular word did not emerge until the second half of the 19thcentury. It developed mostly to describe the restructuring of Western societies during the Industrial Revolution (Murphie & Potts, 2003, p.3). During modern times, technology was normally conceived as the application of a body of knowledge or science in specific areas (Murphie & Potts, 2003, p.4). Nowadays, the meaning of technology has acquired a more abstract meaning, as we are surrounded by and totally dependent on it. Indeed, from the perspective of the Western world, technology became an overarching system that we inhabit. 

Culture

The word “Culture” derives from the Latin word cultura which meant tending, cultivation. From ancient times, the meaning of this word shifted from an agricultural reference into a metaphor to describe other pursuits as the cultivation of mind or body. (Murphie & Potts, 2003, p.7). The word culture, as we frame it today, is much broader, complex, and difficult to explain. The British anthropologist Edward B. Tylor described culture as “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by a man as a member of society”. Besides including every activity of humans, culture belongs to every human, to every social class, to different races, to different age groups(Murphie & Potts, 2003, p.8). 

The relationship of technology and culture

Multiple theories on the social and cultural significance of technology were formulated. In this respect it is relevant to cite Eric Schatzberg’s work Technology: Critical History of a Concept, which untangles and clarifies the history of technology by rehabilitating the latter as a concept for history and social theory (Schatzberg,2018, p.235). Schatzberg rejects a pure instrumentalist approach in which technology is reduced to an instrumental reason in the process of finding the best means to a specific end. Instead, Schatzberg sustains a cultural approach in which technology is defined as a set of practices humans use to transform the material world by creating and using material tools and as a creative expression of human culture. For societies to thrive and evolve, technological innovations have become necessary.

At the same time the culture of human societies has shaped how those civilizations have created, benefited from, and been implemented by technology. Technological systems are invented by humans and reflect the very essence of a society’s needs and specially cultural practices. Technology adapts also to new cultural demands and different needs. For instance, we could argue that the Big Tech industry’s products, such as computers, social media, streaming platforms are a response to the needs of the globalization process that our society is facing. 

 
Our Reality

The relationship between technology and culture is complex: it emerges through new forms of art and develops as a form of cyberculture and digital media. Technology brought rapid changes in culture; as a matter of fact, it is difficult to conceive any contemporary form of culture as untouched by developments in technology. Nonetheless, technology is intrinsically dependent on our society’s cultural drive. For this reason, in today’s world it is essential to understand the development of technology and its relations to society and culture, as the way technology advances is dependent on the way culture desires. 

Conclusion

Kittiwake’s aim is not to tell readers how to interpret technological change, but rather to describe the cultural expression of technology and its social impact. We aim to reflect on how we live with technology, what impact technology has on our lives and on to what extent technology shapes culture and vice-versa. 

References

1.     Murphie A., Potts J. (2003). Culture and Technology. Palgrave MacMillan.

2.     Shatzberg E. (2006). Technik comes to America: changing meanings of technology before 1930. Technology and Culture 47, 486-512.

3.     Schatzberg E. (2018). Technology: Critical History of a Concept. The University of Chicago Press.

4. Agar J. (2019). What is Technology?. Annals of Science 77(3), 377-382.

5. Tylor E. B. (1871). Primitive culture: researches into the development of mythology, philosophy, religion, art and custom. J. Murray Publications.

6. Kranzberg M. At the Start. Technology and Culture 1(1), 1-10.

7. Wardyinski D.J. (2019). Technology and Society: How Technology Changed Our Lives. Brainspire. Available at https://www.brainspire.com/blog/technology-and-society-how-technology-changed-our-lives

8. Newman D. (2017). What Comes First? Culture Change or Tech Change. Future of Work. Available at: https://fowmedia.com/comes-first-culture-change-tech-change/. 

Nathalie is completing her Master's degree in European Competition Law and Regulation at the University of Amsterdam. As an undergraduate, she studied European Law at Maastricht University. During her studies, she lived in London for a semester and attended Westminster University. She worked as an intern in a law firm in Italy, and she is currently working at Alber & Geiger in the EU Governmental Relations team. She is fluent in Italian and English and can communicate in Dutch, French and Chinese.