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Unit 9 - Society & the Future
Three technological revolutions and the sociological imaginationThe sociological imagination tells us that the lives of individuals are
shaped by our historical and social context. Nowhere does that process show
up more clearly than in the history of technology. We humans have been through
two technological revolutions so far and it looks as if we are in the midst
of a third. A technological revolution is a period in human history when
everything changes about the way we live our lives because of some set of
technological developments. The first one was very gradual. It began about
four or five thousand years ago when humans learned to grow cereal crops
on a large scale. Prior to the agricultural revolution, virtually all humans
lived in small family groups or tribes. They foraged, kept a few animals,
and grew small crops of food. They typically moved around a lot but stayed
with the same people. There were divisions of labor but relatively little
inequality. Men and women, for example, might do different tasks but both
tasks were valued for their contribution to the group. Religion and nature
were closely interwoven. Power was limited to decisions about where to look
The Industrial Revolution has led us to the 21st century and to the
development of a new kind of machine. While the elements for the development
of computers have been around for several hundred years, it was only
in the last fifty or so that electronic technologies became available
as research tools or toys. In the last ten years they have become not
only necessities to our way of life but also the foundation of the
third technological revolution. Like the others, the Electronic Revolution
or the Information Age (this is all so new we don’t have a name
for it) will change everything about our lives but unlike the others
it will do so quickly and inescapably. The Agricultural Revolution
took thousands of years to change society. Many generations could adapt
to the changes over time. The Industrial Revolution took a couple of
hundred years to change society. Several generations could gradually
adopt new ways as industrialization and capitalism spread across the
world. The Electronic Revolution is, by its very nature, moving much
more quickly to change our lives. I think it will totally change our
institutions and our way of life within forty or fifty years. The interesting
thing about this set of changes is that it is well within the lifetime
of people alive today –your lives. Rather than having generations
to adjust, each individual will have to cope day by day and year by
year. Changes in cultureAlmost everyone agrees that globalization is one of the most important processes in the modern electronic world. The ability to communicate instantly and reliably with anyone, anywhere in the world changes the nature of national boundaries and eventually calls into question the whole cultural framework of nations. Diversity is at once promoted and destroyed. There is a growing acceptance of cultural diversity which promotes the growth of a truly integrated global society that, in turn, blurs regional differences and cultures. Our own culture is changing due to the infusion of information and people from around the world. We like to think that immigrants become Americanized, and they do, but they change the culture in the process. This is a perfect example of a system in process. Cultures used to be separate systems with input from other cultures. Now, I suspect, we are creating one large global culture, one system. Systemic forces, like rationalization, can be seen all over the world. China, which has resisted the spread of capitalism longer than any other global power due to its own material conditions, is now becoming part of the world economic system and concepts like efficiency, predictability, and calculability becoming part of the Chinese vocabulary as their economic system becomes part of the Electronic Revolution. Changes in institutions Globalization will force changes in our political institutions in ways
we cannot even imagine. As an example, we currently we have threats
of global terrorism, dependent on electronic technologies, pushing
our own society to consider limiting the personal freedoms that have
been the hallmark of American society for 225 years. And, all this
while electronic technologies facilitate more social control over individuals
and groups. We can now be tracked from birth to death through our electronic
footprints. That changes systems of social control that were developed
during the Industrial age. We’ll need and see new ones in the
future.
Materialism Most of the changes we will live through as our institutions change
are caused by material factors that we will not be able to control
or even direct. The kind of social change we are seeing now is
not the result of what people want. It occurs in response to changes
in material conditions. Attitudes, values, and beliefs are created
by the new conditions we face in the world. They follow technology
rather than the reverse. Global warming, produced by technology, globalization,
produced by technology, the development of new sources of energy,
required
by technology, and population growth due to medical innovations
are
likely sources of massive change. Any ideological solutions for
such overwhelming forces are difficult to envision. Within our own lives
we can use our ideas about the world to adapt to and maybe even
benefit
from the Electronic Revolution, but the changes are coming whether
we will them or not. Only intervention by another material force,
such as a global war, could defer the Information Age from becoming
the
third technological revolution.
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for food next and who should marry whom. As people learned about all of
the various technologies required to grow crops on a large scale (ranging
from which seeds were most suitable to irrigation systems) everything changed.
People stopped moving around so much and built cities where thousands might
live in close proximity. Barter and trade became important economic activities.
The division of labor between men and women became more pronounced and social
classes developed. With a surplus of food, someone had to decide how the
food would be distributed and someone had to be in charge of large project
such as road or viaduct building. Kings and slaves emerged in human society
and some religions shifted from a worship of nature to the worship of a
deified human being. 
is still taking place in some parts of the world, humans learned to
substitute machine power for muscle power. of Thousands of tasks, once
done by human hand or animal muscle began to be done by machines. Among
the earliest of these was the creation of cloth by mechanical looms
in large factories. Because cloth making created industries where only
crafts had existed before, this revolution became known as the Industrial
Revolution. It began in Europe but again spread all over the globe.
And, again, it changed political and economic institutions, family
life, religion, and every other aspect of daily life.
that may lead to longer lives for all of us and our children. It has
provided new opportunities for businesses and education. You get to
take classes at home in your fuzzy slippers instead of sitting in a
stuffy classroom. We have access to amazing amounts of information
on the web. But this technological revolution won’t be all fun
and games. Once this thing really hits it will affect most of our cherished
values and beliefs as well as how we spend our time and interact with
other people. Let’s use our sociological imaginations to speculate
about the future.
