The Social Shaping Of Technological Development

This paper is a SST(The Social Study of Technology) study about technologicaldevelopment, especially China's technological development. Basing in theintroduction of SST theory, the paper investigates the problems of the social shapingof technological development (SSTD) from social driving to social adjust, and givessome view points about how the technological development is influenced by varioussocial factors. With new perspective, the paper analyze the special problems in theprocess of technological development in China, and concludes that the socialdevelopment is more important than the technological development in recent. Dueto so much social disadvantage condition, our technological development isunsatisfactory, and so we must develop technology through developing society. Thechapters also give some suggestions of the concrete social ways of developing ourtechnology. The paper includes three part: Part one, i.e. chapter one, summarizes briefly theconversion of theory from Technological Determinism to the Social Shaping ofTechnology, which displays a special appealing to use social measures to developtechnology. In case of investigating the current relation between technology andsociety in China, the paper points out that it is the social status of China which shapesthe technological development status of China, and the reason of unsatisfactory ofour technological development is rooted in the society. It is the various socialdisadvantage conditions, especially the institution obstacle, which delay the smoothdevelopment of our technology. As a result, if we want to change our status oftechnological development, we should reform our society to promote thedevelopment of technology with the SST approach, and not focus only on thetechnology itself under the thinking way of technological determinism. In presentChina developing society is more important than developing technology.Part Two, from Chapter2 to Chapter 6, analyzes concretely how the societyinfluences technological development from some primary social roles, which shapeor dominate the possibility, direction, speed, scale, configuration and forms oftechnology separately or wholly. Some questions, such as "why does technologydevelop", "why it develops in this way and not that way", can get answers abovediscuss, and demonstrate the indiscerptible relation the state of technologicaldevelopment and social context.Chapter 2 asserts the first mining the SSTD: only from society we canunderstand why technology develops, i.e., the technological development, the mostimportantly, is shaped by social driving. It is social needs from which the technologyis produced, and the social needs provide the most ultimate, permanence and strongmotivity for technology. Basically, the SST tell us the social needs the developmentof technology, the driving function of social needs is a fundamental influence ofsociety to technology, and also is the key of resolving the problem of technologicaldevelopment. From the prospective, this chapter gives two suggests, keeping strongsocial needs and utilizing effectively the needs, to settle the problem of lackingmotivity for technological development, and analyzes the two kinds of motivitylacking in China and how to overcome them.Chapter 3 investigates the social shaping of technology from the purpose oftechnological development. Although the social realization of technology is acategory about technology impacting society, it is also of important shaping roletowards the technological development, so as to be a key to determine whether thetechnology can develop smoothly. This chapter points out the main contents of thesocial realization of technology from economics and philosophy, and studies thecharacter of integration between technology and economy, the technologicalinnovation and the transform of technological achievements, and displays theabundant dialectic meaning of social realization from the relation between Specificand General Realization. In addition, it probes the serious problems of socialrealization to which China is facing presently: the difficult of transform oftechnological achievements, and also analyzes its social reasons and the promotingway.Chapter 4 focuses on the social selection of technological development,which is which is an important tache of the development of technologyand a social activity determining the destiny of technology. It is also asummarization of the social shaping towards the technology, and providesan explanation for the evolution system of technology. There is mutualidentity between technology and society by selection. Technology will notdevelop smoothly when two sides are not identity each other, therefore wecan overcome it from two directions. Basing on above analysis the chapterreviews the problems of social selection in China presently, such aslacking of selecting ability and closing combination between socialselection and market system, and tries to find how to elevate our selectingability.Chapter 5 investigates the social adjust and its influence on technology, anddefines it as some particular modulation and induction, i.e., we hope what result oftechnological development will be. The social adjust is mainly carried by socialmanagement organization, particularly the national governments, to inflict anintended result of the development of technology through power, management andother social resource. The chapter concretely analyzes the epistemologicalcharacteristics of the social adjust, and investigates some adjusting forms, forexample, direct intervention of the states, stratagem and programs of science andtechnology, technology policy and technology law. They are displaying moreimportant function, and also are important measure to fasten our technologicaldevelopment. There are some problems in our social adjust, for instance, thefaultiness of technology policy and technology law, and too much of administrationintervention. So we need perfect our policy and law, change the form of adjust,establish a new adjust system.The perspective of chapter 6, the social condition of technological development,is of wide meaning and general term, it further posts the proposition "there is a statusof technological development which stern from relevant social status", and confirmsthe important of social condition for any development of technology, or theindispensability of social resource in technological activities. And shows that it canttranscend the restrict of social resource and condition, which includes materialconditions, economic strength, institution arrangement, cultural background and thecircs of actors. In order to develop technology successfully one must recognize thecircumstance and conditions of technology. The analysis of social conditions is alsothe analysis of how to develop technology. If one cant know correctly the conditionfactors, he will not have a satisfactory effect of technological development. Thedirect inspiration for China is that we should start off from social condition to choosethe emphases of development, and quicken the step of eliminating the disadvantagesocial conditions, build a social circumstance benefiting the progress of technology.For the task the core is institution innovation and the system reform, as well theestablish of socialist consummate market system, the foundation is the elevation ofeconomic strength and the cultivation of cultural background, and the key is theantecedence of education so as to bring up enough innovation persons with ability,the dominant is the correct and timely adjust to the mutual relation betweentechnology and society by decision-makers. Only we take an active attitude of respectas well as using the social conditions, can we shape an all levels of driving totechnology, and build up an excellent phases of technological development.Part Three, the chapter 7, is a final conclusion of this paper: the most importantdemonstration of grasping the correct relation of technology and society is to achievea harmony development of both and make of favorable factors each other, which arethe ideal status reciprocity and the aim we should make effects to pursue for Chinesetechnology. The chapter posts concretely the dialectic contents of the harmonydevelopment between the technology and society, and gives a quantity analysis forthe harmony status, investigates different degree of the harmony, particularly thehigh degree harmony or the strong relativity, and put forward two evaluation ways ofthe harmony. Furthermore, it construes whether it is in harmony state in China andgives some opinions about how to tend to the ideal goal. We cant passively acceptthe reality of our technology, but we can create social condition through our activeeffort to promote the improvement of Chinese technology, and stride forward to thehigh harmony or strong relativity between our technology and society, and realizethe full prosperity in technology, economy, culture and society.In this paper, the arrangement of theory is a analysis between philosophy andsociology, the understand to the reality of China is a basic judgment: among the twodevelopments, in current China the more important problem is the socialdisadvantage restrict, and so the development of our technology is not only atechnological problem, but also, even more a social problem. In order to resolve theunsatisfactory problem of our technology, the main effort should be put on the socialconstruction and development. The research is of significance both in theory andpractice. It can take a conversing thinking about the relation between technology andsociety, abundance our studies on philosophy of technology, sociology of technologyand the theory of development, and overcome the conventional thinking way oftechnological determinism which usually be used to deal with the problem oftechnological development, and provide a wider investigating space for exertingscience and technology as the first productivity and implementing the strategy ofrising country with science and education.