Political Ideas Embedded
in technology
Winner states that artifacts/ideas:
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tell us who we are
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where we are situated in the social order
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what is normal
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what is possible
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what is excluded
He gives the following examples of ideas present in "the structure of contemporary
technological devices and systems"
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Power is centralized.
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The few talk and the many listen.
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There are barriers between social classes.
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The world is hierarchically structured.
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The good things are distributed unequally.
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Women and men have different kinds of competence
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One's life is open to continual inspection.
"As they are expressed in the shape of material objects, ideas of this
kind are covert."
These ideas are convert because:
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Most people buy the functional account of the meaning of material things,
such as "This is a car which enables us to go from Point A to Point B"
or "This is a hoe which helps us to dig in the fields." (See Conventional
View explanation)
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They have been implanted there by those who do not wish those ideas to
be known or widely discussed. The alibi is "This is most efficient."
On to How technology conflicts with democratic
ideals
Back to Argument Map . . .