Revealing the technical code

Contemporary technology is contentious subject matter within the social sciences. It is paradoxical, technology provides techniques and objects that serve humans in a positive way, but at the same time it can destroy the environment and dehumanize the labour process. A significant aspect of analyzing technology and society is accounting for the complex relationships that stand behind even the most mundane technologies. Andrew Feenberg seeks to account for this complexity with his critical theory of technology. The critical theory of technology identifies capital as a determining force in the design and function of technology. Revealing the influence of capital in apparent neutral technologies allows Feenberg to develop a dialectical concept of technological rationality that underscores the idea of a transformation of technological society to better reflect more humanistic and environmental needs.; Within the critical theory of technology, Feenberg critiques another approach to society and technology, actor-network theory. The purpose of this work is to examine and compare the claims of both the critical theory of technology and actor-network theory in order to examine how actor-network theory can complement the critical theory of technology. This will be achieved by identifying a commonality that can be found in both, the concept of society and technology combined as the sociotechnical. Within the sociotechnical, the concept of power as explained by both theories will be re-interpreted to illuminate how actor-network theory can complement the critical theory of technology.