Technical determinism vs cultural determinism

Throughout history, many theorists have raised arguments regarding which of the two modes of thinking is more viable in relation to new technology: technological determinism or cultural determinism.

Technological determinism argues that once a technology becomes possible it will become inevitable. Some of the examples media theorists have used to help prove why they believe this theory to be correct is the way in which technologies such as writing, print, television and computers have changed society. In Daniel Chandler's article Technological or media determinism he discusses a number of explanations which have been given in relation to technological determinism. These include reductionism which relates to causality, mechanistic models and reification which he labels as a kind of essentialism.

The cultural determinist on the other hand believes that technology is only one of many factors contributing to new technological developments and although something may be possible it may not actually happen unless there is a demand for it. This is the case because without public demand, then there is no economically viable reason as to why it should be developed. A cultural determinist would find it necessary to look at the social circumstances that exist at the time of a development in order to determine why it happened.

I personally would label myself as a cultural determinist as I do not believe that a new development would be created solely because there is technology that makes it possible. On the contrary, I would argue that society has a much more vital role in deciding how technology is implemented. Any development that is brought forward is done so in order to serve consumer demand. Consumerism then, can perhaps be said to play the most important role in the development of new technology.

Articles relating to this topic:

Winston, Brian (1990) 'How are media born?'. In J. Downing, A. Mohammadi, & A. Sreberby-Mohammadi (eds), Questioning the media: a critical introduction . Newbury Park: Sage

Max Weber and Raymond Williams article