IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/teinso/v48y2017icp64-69.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The problem of technology as valuation errors: The paradox of the means in Simmel and Scheler

Author

Listed:
  • Gunderson, Ryan

Abstract

Georg Simmel and Max Scheler provide a framework for making judgements about the desirability of technological development and use, an evaluation absent from a largely relativistic contemporary sociology of technology. The appropriate role of technology in society is to aid in the attainment of ultimate values (ends). Both Simmel and Scheler framed the problem of technology as the elevation of technology to an ultimate value. The modern valuation of technology as an end is irrational because it is a reversal of the means-ends relationship and values the general development of technology instead of the potential benefits of particular technical developments. This inverted valuation is also detrimental to the cultivation of “subjective culture” and harmful to life. The importance of Simmel and Scheler for the contemporary sociology of technology is an illustration of what an evaluation of technology presupposes: claims about the general nature of modern technology as well as its essence. Although insightful, the cultural and phenomenological sociologies of technology found in Simmel and Scheler could be strengthened with structural analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Gunderson, Ryan, 2017. "The problem of technology as valuation errors: The paradox of the means in Simmel and Scheler," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 64-69.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:48:y:2017:i:c:p:64-69
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2016.12.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X16301567
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techsoc.2016.12.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Li, Bocong, 2015. "Human nature, the means-ends relationship, and alienation: Themes for potential East–West collaboration," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 60-64.
    2. Regina Roth, 2010. "Marx on technical change in the critical edition," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(5), pages 1223-1251.
    3. Gunderson, Ryan, 2016. "The sociology of technology before the turn to technology," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 40-48.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Üzelgün, Mehmet Ali & Pereira, João Rui, 2020. "Beyond the co-production of technology and society: The discursive treatment of technology with regard to near-term and long-term environmental goals," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    2. Gunderson, Ryan, 2020. "A materialist conception of the lifeworld: Enzo Paci's social phenomenology of technology and the environment," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Al Lily, Abdulrahman Essa & Ismail, Abdelrahim Fathy & Abunasser, Fathi Mohammed & Alhajhoj Alqahtani, Rafdan Hassan, 2020. "Distance education as a response to pandemics: Coronavirus and Arab culture," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    2. Gunderson, Ryan, 2020. "A materialist conception of the lifeworld: Enzo Paci's social phenomenology of technology and the environment," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    3. Gunderson, Ryan, 2016. "The sociology of technology before the turn to technology," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 40-48.
    4. Lukovics, Miklós & Flipse, Steven M. & Udvari, Beáta & Fisher, Erik, 2017. "Responsible research and innovation in contrasting innovation environments: Socio-Technical Integration Research in Hungary and the Netherlands," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 172-182.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:48:y:2017:i:c:p:64-69. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/technology-in-society .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.