The Technological Society

Description

As insightful and wise today as it was when originally published in 1954, Jacques Ellul's The Technological Society has become a classic in its field, laying the groundwork for all other studies of technology and society that have followed. Ellul offers a penetrating analysis of our technological civilization, showing how technology—which began innocuously enough as a servant of humankind—threatens to overthrow humanity itself in its ongoing creation of an environment that meets its own ends. No conversation about the dangers of technology and its unavoidable effects on society can begin without a careful reading of this book. Statement from the Publisher Foreword Translator’s Introduction NOTE TO THE READER FOREWORD TO THE REVISED AMERICAN EDITION AUTHOR’S PREFACE TO THE FRENCH EDITION CHAPTER I—Techniques SITUATING THE TECHNICAL PHENOMENON Machines and Technique Science and Technique Organization and Technique Definitions Technical Operation and Technical Phenomenon HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT Primitive Technique Greece Rome Christianity and Technique The Sixteenth Century The Industrial Revolution CHAPTER II—The Characterology of Technique TECHNIQUE IN CIVILIZATION Traditional Techniques and Society The New Characteristics CHARACTERISTICS OF MODERN TECHNIQUE Automatism of Technical Choice Self-augmentation Monism The Necessary Linking Together of Techniques Technical Universalism The Autonomy of Technique CHAPTER III—Technique and Economy THE BEST AND THE WORST The Influence of Technique on the Economy Economic Consequences THE SECRET WAY The Economic Techniques of Observation The Economic Techniques of Action Planning and Liberty THE GREAT HOPES Economic Systems Confronted by Technique Progress Centralized Economy The Authoritarian Economy The Antidemocratic Economy ECONOMIC MAN CHAPTER IV—Technique and the State THE STATE’S ENCOUNTERS WITH TECHNIQUE Ancient Techniques New Techniques Private and Public Techniques The Reaction of the State to Techniques REPERCUSSIONS ON THE STATE Evolution The Technical Organism The Conflict Between the Politicians and the Technicians Technique and Constitution Technique and Political Doctrines The Totalitarian State SUMMUM JUS: SUMMA INJURIA REPERCUSSION ON TECHNIQUE Technique Unchecked The Role of the State in the Development of Modern Techniques Institutions in the Service of Technique CHAPTER V—Human Techniques NECESSITIES Human Tension Modification of the Milieu and Space Modification of Time and Motion The Creation of the Mass Society Human Techniques REVIEW Educational Technique The Technique of Work Vocational Guidance Propaganda Amusement Sport Medicine ECHOES Techniques, Men, and Man L’homme-machine The Dissociation of Man The Triumph of the Unconscious Mass Man TOTAL INTEGRATION Technical Anesthesia Integration of the Instincts and of the Spiritual The Final Resolution CHAPTER VI—A Look at the Future A Look at the Year 2000 BIBLIOGRAPHY