SYA FINAL STUDY SESS

Technology

A core part of social life; tools, techniques, and systems used to accomplish tasks

Sociotechnical Co-Production

Technology and society mutually shape one another

Human Agents vs. Nonhuman Actants

Humans who act versus nonhuman objects or technologies that influence actions

Technological Determinism

"Technology is asocial"; technology shapes society, not the other way around

Hard Determinism

Technology essentially controls society

Soft Determinism

Technology strongly influences society, but society also influences technology

Path Dependency

Earlier technological decisions influence and constrain later development

Sociotechnical Systems

Interconnected technologies, people, institutions, and social practices

Narrativization of Reality

Organizing experiences into logical sequences or stories; associated with early stone-tool use

4 types of technological determinism

1. justificatory

2. descriptive

3. methodology

4. normative

justificatory

Technology is used to justify decisions

Descriptive

Technology helps explain historical change

Methodological

Technology is used as a tool for studying society

Normative

Technology becomes so powerful that society struggles to control it

Ideology

"Discursive or symbolic distortions of reality designed to maintain a system (of power)."

connected technological determinism as ideology to supporting corporations, minimizing regulation, individualizing problems, and encouraging adoption

Heilbroner

Technological development follows sequences; new inventions depend on existing knowledge, resources, and social conditions

Wyatt

Technology does not develop independently of society; critiques technological determinism

Attendence question

Oldowan tools → Narrativization. Technological determinism as ideology → Undermines human agency

Fire

Improved nutrition, brain/body development, culture, and migration

Stone Tools

Hand development, reasoning, and narrativization

Agriculture

Sedentary lifestyles, settlements, and population growth

Discipline (Foucault)

"A particular mode of socialization"; a model of social control that trains and regulates individual bodies.

Sovereign Power

Authority exercised through visible punishment and force, such as public executions

Panopticon

"All-seeing eye"; surveillance encourages people to regulate their own behavior

Self-Regulation

Monitoring and controlling your own behavior because of social expectations or possible surveillance

Biopower

Management of life and populations, including health and reproduction

Technocultural Regimes

Systems of technology, cultural expectations, and social practices that shape behavior

Tool v Machine (Marxist)

• Tool: "X uses Tool" — A person directly controls technology.

• Machine: "Machine does Y" — Technology performs or organizes the task, potentially reducing human control.

example: Writing on a computer improves speed and organization but can create dependence on autocorrect and database logic

Attendance connection

Discipline → Training and management of docile bodies

SCOT (Social Construction of Technology)

Relevant social groups shape technological meanings and development

SST (Social Shaping of Technology)

Social, political, and economic forces influence technological development

Interpretive Flexibility

"The meanings of tech are not natural or static; they vary by group and context."

Relevant Social Groups

People or groups influencing technology, including inventors, manufacturers, and users

Closure

"Efforts to minimize flexibility and manage meanings."

Rhetorical Closure

People are persuaded that a technological problem has been solved

Closure by Redefinition

A technology gains acceptance because people begin seeing it as solving a different problem

Political Economy

How corporations, industries, policies, and markets shape technology

Bicycle example

Different groups valued mobility, speed, freedom, and safety differently. Designs evolved from the velocipede and penny-farthing toward the safety bicycle

Refrigerator example

General Electric, appliance manufacturers, patents, and marketing influenced technological development

Attendance connection

Interpretive flexibility → SCOT

Induced Need

"Manufacturing or conjuring a sense of need and desire for something previously unnecessary or irrelevant."

Induced need techniques

creating insecurities

perceived obsolescence

exploiting social status

artificial scarcity

creating insecurities

Making consumers feel inadequate — bad breath, outdated fashion, poor parenting

perceived obsolescence

Making functioning products seem outdated — new iPhones, cars, fast fashion

exploiting social status

Associating purchases with prestige or improved social standing

artificial scarcity

Creating a sense of limited availability — exclusive drops, "first 10 buyers"

Institutions

"Large scale social systems"; formalized structures of social norms

institutional environment

Broader culture, competing organizations, related organizations, policies, and standards

Institutional Isomorphism

"The tendency of organizations in the same field to become more alike as they respond to environment."

Legitimacy

"Right/permission to govern/act."

Types of institutional isomorphism (3)

coercive

mimetic

normative

coercive

Institutions change due to external pressure

mimetic

Organizations imitate others to reduce risk and gain legitimacy

normative

Organizations become similar through professional norms and training

Human-Centered vs. Social-Centered AI

human-centered emphasizes individual needs and interactions, while social-centered emphasizes broader collective and institutional effects

data

"Quantified value"; information that can be gathered, collected, or abstracted

statistics

"Numerically aggregated information"; mathematical organization, valuation, and interpretation of data

Probability Theory

Mathematical study of uncertainty and likelihood

Inference

"Think: hypothesis testing"; drawing conclusions from data

Regression

"Think: relationships between variables."

Classification

Think: types, groups, clusters

Big Data

Extremely large or complex datasets

Machine Learning

Computer systems identifying patterns in data to make predictions or classifications

Microtargeting

Using data to direct tailored messages toward specific people or groups

Gamification

Applying game-like features, such as points and rewards, to nongame activities

Data Reification

Treating data or statistical categories as if they fully represent reality

Inference

Hypothesis testing → Biomedicine/public health

Regression

Relationships between variables → Social policy

Classification

Types/groups/clusters → Politics

Statistics

Historically associated with the "science of the state."

Simulmatics

Used data to support JFK's political strategy; reliance on previous voter data could overlook disenfranchised groups

Babbage Principle

"Break down tasks/processes into manageable components to increase efficiency.”

Deskilling

Reduction in the specialized skills required to perform work

Modularity

Dividing a system or process into separate components

Racial Capitalism

Capitalism and racial inequality are historically intertwined

Stratification

Unequal distribution of resources, status, opportunities, and power

Jacquard Loom

• Removed the drawboy's role.

• Transferred aspects of artisan work into punch-card instructions.

• Increased efficiency and modularity.

• Reduced some physical risks.

• Contributed to deskilling

Babbage Analytical Engine

Connected to the division of complex processes into manageable operations.

Main connection: Increased efficiency → Separation of skills → Deskilling → Reduced worker power and authority

Politics

"Power Relations."

Designed Inequity

Inequality embedded in technological or physical design

Forms of Order

"Design decisions to produce a specific effect."

Inherent Politics

The structure of a design only works w/ particular social arrangements.

Counterfactual

Considering what might have happened if a historical condition had been different. example: "No slavery, no civil war."

Form of Order examples

Example	Effect
Low bridges	Prevent buses and trucks from passing
Pool planning	Restricts accessibility; lower temperatures discourage certain users
Toll bridges	Restrict access based on income
Roads for division	Divide communities and establish neighborhood boundaries

Forms of Order

A design decision creates a particular social effect

Inherent Politics

A technology requires or reinforces particular social arrangements

Cotton gin and plantation slavery

Cotton gin → Increased plantation profits

Accumulation of plantation-owner wealth

Accumulation of political power

Forms of Order: Proportions/profit, plantation production.

Inherent Politics: Whites' interests, profit/efficiency incentives

Robert Moses

Low bridges restricted public transit buses, demonstrating how infrastructure can reinforce unequal access