HIS 2129 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Langdon Winner, Scientific Revolution
27 Feb 2015
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Document Summary
Technology and society: social networks, power, and inequality. Technology is strongest force of change in society. Its development, transformation, and diffusion directly shape many aspects of society, ie work, community, and social relationships. Process simultaneous with evolution of advanced construction, chains of mass distribution of goods, new forms of social and political organization. Evolutionary model of technological development: history of tool use follows this. Two key issues make understanding history of tech difficult. Gap in time between first development of tech and its reveal and examination. Gap represents time warp because it makes the past inaccessible. The further backk you travel, the harder it is to understand human behaviour. Reliance on artifacts as evidencde: they can be considered basic components of hominin material culture. + usually contrasted with elements encountered in nature (i. e. leaves) Material culture: interrelation between artifact and social relations, cultural attitudes, norms. Using artifacts as sole evidence of societal evolution is limiting.
