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TECHNOLOGY AND PUBLIC CHOICE: STRATEGIES FOR TECHNOLOGICAL CONTROL AND THE SELECTION OF TECHNOLOGIES
Abstract
Despite a dramatic growth in interest in technology over the last two decades, this has not resulted in a clear understanding of either the nature of technological change or the basis for its regulation. Part of the problem is the ambiguous heritage of science, technology and society studies which rose to prominence in the 1970s. This paper seeks to provide a theoretical scheme for categorising the commonly used models of technological change: to outline the limitations of ‘technocratic’ and ‘technophobic’ approaches to technology and social development and argue for the superiority of an explicitly ‘technochoice’ approach; and to discuss the dominant models for the public control of technology.
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NOTES AND REFERENCES
This article is an extended version of a paper presented to the ANZAAS Conference, May 1984 at the Australian National University, Canberra. It is part of a wider project on the major social and political theories of technology, and the political and philosophical implications of radical critiques of technology. For a further discussion and elaboration of the major issues and models, see R. Badham, ‘The sociology of industrial and post-industrial societies’, Current Sociology, 32, 1, 1984; idem, Theories of Industrial Society, Croom Helm, London, 1986; idem, ‘The dangers of technospeak: 1984, Brave New World and approaches to technology’ in 1984 and Social Control, Jura Books, Sydney, 1985; idem, ‘Radical ecology for beginners: the sad case of Andre Gorz and Murray Bookchin’, paper presented to AAHPSSS Conference, University of New South Wales, Sydney, August 1985; Jim Falk, Richard Badham and Greg Smith, Public Accountability and Electricity Planning in Victoria, Victorian Department of Minerals and Energy, Victoria, 1984; and the submissions and oral evidence presented to the Senate Standing Committee on Science, Technology and the Environment by the Centre for Technology and Social Change, University of Wollongong (Senate Standing Commmittee on Science, Technology and the Environment, Hansard, 2 April 1985, Canberra).
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