Technological change

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Technological change is a term that is distinguished from technological development, yet can refer to several different yet compatible concepts.

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[edit] Sociology

Underpinning the idea of technological change as a social process is general agreement on the importance of social context and communication. According to this model, technological change is seen as a social process involving adopters and others who are profoundly affected by cultural setting, political institutions and marketing strategies.

[edit] Elements of diffusion

Emphasis has been on four key elements of the technological change process: (1) an innovative technology (2) communicated through certain channels (3) to members of a social system (4) who adopt it over a period of time. These elements are derived from Everett M. Rogers Diffusion of innovations theory.

[edit] Innovation

There are five main attributes of innovative technologies which influence acceptance. These are relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability. Relative advantage may be economic or non-economic, and is the degree to which an innovation is seen as superior to prior innovations fulfilling the same needs. It is positively related to acceptance (i.e., the higher the relative advantage, the higher the adoption level, and vice versa). Compatibilty is the degree to which an innovation appears consistent with existing values, past experiences, habits and needs to the potential adopter; a low level of compatibility will slow acceptance. Complexity is the degree to which an innovation appears difficult to understand and use; the more complex an innovation, the slower its acceptance. Trialability is the perceived degree to which an innovation may be tried on a limited basis, and is positively related to acceptance. Trialability can accelerate acceptance because small-scale testing reduces risk. Observability is the perceived degree to which results of innovating are visible to others and is positively related to acceptance.

[edit] Communication channels

Communication channels are the means by which a source conveys a message to a receiver. Information may be exchanged through two fundamentally different, yet complementary, channels of communication. Awareness is more often obtained through the mass media, while uncertainty reduction that leads to acceptance mostly results from face-to-face communication.

[edit] Social system

The social system provides a medium through which and boundaries within which, innovation is adopted. The structure of the social system affects technological change in several ways. Social norms, opinion leaders, change agents, and the consequences of innovations are all involved. Also involved are cultural setting, nature of political institutions, laws, policies and administrative structures.

[edit] Time

Time enters into the acceptance process in several ways. The time dimension relates to the innovativeness of an individual or other adopter, which is the relative earlyness or lateness with which an innovation is adopted.

[edit] Factors

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The term mythologised of technology refers to how technology start and elites who invented the new technology. By focusing on its process, it is proved MacKenzie and Wajcman’s argument of “social determination of technology”,(Green,2001,pp.1-20) which means it is social that realizing technology change, and sustained it. There are four factors motivate technology innovation, which involve intellectual agenda, economic, politics, and existing infracture (Green,2001,pp.1-20).

Elites It is elites who have intellectual agenda(Green,2001,pp.1-20)make technology change possible. However, it can not split their knowledge. Knowledge is not neutral, as it is “Socially bound knowledge”(Green,2001,pp.1-20).The elites can create new technology as they are able to access knowledge physically and they can afford it. Both procedures underpin knowledge privilege within social context. Moreover, to prevail the new technology in social, it acquires the avant-guards who obtain knowledge as well, which makes them able to manipulate new technology. As knowledge which plays a role of force in technology is only granted to a limit population in technology experiment period, it proves technology is not neutral.

Corporation Corporations which are driven by economic value benefit technology and are benefited as well. In order to continue elites’ experimentation, financial support is necessary, and in most case it is from corporation funding. On the other hand, corporation would like to invest the invention as the potential huge commercial benefits from it. In this case, it implies that social determines technology as technology advance can not separate from economic support and it brings economic value as well.

Government To supply a steady environment for technology advance, the bureaucracy plays an essential role. It exerts its power and publishes laws to guarantee that investment can process properly, such as copyright. Without the safe social circumstance, the elites methodology will be stolen by the others(Green,2001,pp.1-20), which prevents the invention processing properly in such chaos.

Globalization as macro-social context Globalization trend is realized by technology advanced and motivates it as well. In another word, the global social change is increasingly both a cause and effect of technological enhance(Green,2001,pp.1-20). Merchants appeal high technology, such as electronic business to run over-sea business, it not only benefits them enlarging their markets, but also make them finish business trading quicker. On the other hand, utilizing high technology realizes global social change, and makes communication access more conveniently. There is another way of how existing infrustration implements technology advance. Public policy can stimulate technology development (Danna, 2007). For instance, feminists invented satellite to provoke masculinity domination social pattern, and by which they established their roles as early communication adopters(Danna,2007,p87-110). Before feminism movement, women are looked down on, so they provoke unequal social pattern by their contribution.

Example There is an example to elaborate how these four factors work in technology advance process- Edison’s bulb invention(Green,2001,pp.1-20).Edison’s electrical power and lighting system can be achieved because of his inspiration. Via intellectual agenda(Green,2001,pp.1-20), he published mythology, which aims to be funded by corporate without whom the research laboratories can not keep on. The corporation bought his idea for its potential bringing commercial benefit. As his invention of bulb liberates human movement (people can work not only in daytime, but also in evening), it inevitably prevails in overseas, and rise global social change.

[edit] Economics

 This economics or finance-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Technological change is a term that is used in economics to describe a change in the set of feasible production possibilities.

Neutral technological change refers to the behaviour of technological change in models. A technological innovation is Hicks neutral (following John Hicks (1932)) if the ratio of capital's marginal product to labour's marginal product is unchanged for a given capital to labour ratio. A technological innovation is Harrod neutral (following Hicks) if the technology is labour-augmenting (i.e. helps labor); it is Solow neutral if the technology is capital-augmenting (i.e. helps capital).

A synonym, diffusion of innovations, is used more often in business and marketing.

[edit] Business-economic analyses

A review of the business-economic literature on technological development (change, innovation) in industry by Lewis F. Abbott found that the term usually referred to the following:

  • the introduction of new tools and techniques for performing given tasks in production, distribution, data processing.(etc.);
  • the mechanization of the production process, or the achievement of a state of greater autonomy of technical production systems from human control, responsibility, or intervention;
  • changes in the nature and level of integration of technical production systems, or enhanced interdependence;
  • the development, utilization, and application of new scientific ideas, concepts, and information in production and other processes; and
  • enhancement of technical performance capabilities, or increase in the efficiency of tools, equipment, and techniques in performing given tasks.

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[edit] References

  1. ^ Lewis F. Abbott, Technological Development In Industry: A Business-Economic Survey & Analysis. Industrial Systems Research Publications, Manchester (UK), 2nd revised edn. 2003, page 1. ISBN 978-0-906321-29-4

online source:http://web.ebscohost.com.simsrad.net.ocs.mq.edu.au/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=13&sid=7671aa01-6760-430f-8fb2-9d7ce4c8bb09%40sessionmgr7

  • Green,L2001 Technoculture, Allen&Unwin, Crows Nest, pp.1-20

[edit] See also

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