Democratizing Technology: Andrew Feenberg's Critical Theory of Technology

254 Pages·2006·0.76 MB·English

by  Tyler Veak

Edited by Tyler J. Veak
Democratizing
Technology
Albert Borgmann
Simon Cooper
Andrew Feenberg’s
Gerald Doppelt
Critical Theory Andrew Feenberg
Trish Glazebrook
of Technology
Larry A. Hickman
Andrew Light
David J. Stump
Paul B. Thompson
Iain Thomson
Edward J. Woodhouse
DEMOCRATIZING TECHNOLOGY

Democratizing Technology
Andrew Feenberg’s
Critical Theory of Technology
Edited and with an introduction by
Tyler Veak
state university of new york press
Published by
State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2006 State University of New York
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Democratizing technology : Andrew Feenberg’s critical theory of technology / editor,
Tyler J. Veak.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13: 978–0-7914–6917–0 (hardcover : alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0–7914–6917–4 (hardcover : alk. paper)
isbn-13: 978–0-7914–6918–7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0–7914–6918–2 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Technology—Social aspects.
I. Veak, Tyler J., 1963-
T14.5.D448 2006
303.48'3—dc22 2005037169
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
PART 1: THEORETICAL ASSUMPTIONS
OF A CRITICAL THEORY OF TECHNOLOGY
Chapter 1. Rethinking Modernity as the Construction of
Technological Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
David J. Stump
Chapter 2. The Posthuman Challenge to Andrew Feenberg . . . . . . . . 19
Simon Cooper
Chapter 3. An Ecofeminist Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Trish Glazebrook
Chapter 4. What’s Wrong with Being a Technological Essentialist?
A Response to Feenberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Iain Thomson
Chapter 5. From Critical Theory to Pragmatism:
Feenberg’s Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Larry A. Hickman
vi | Contents
PART 2: THE POLITICS OF TECHNOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION
Chapter 6. Democracy and Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Gerald Doppelt
Chapter 7. Feenberg and the Reform of Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Albert Borgmann
Chapter 8. Commodification and Secondary Rationalization . . . . . . . 112
Paul B. Thompson
Chapter 9. Democratic Technology, Population, and
Environmental Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Andrew Light
Chapter 10. Technological Malleability and the
Social Reconstruction of Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Edward J. Woodhouse
Replies to Critics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Andrew Feenberg
Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Acknowledgments
The idea for this volume was first conceived at a Society for Philosophy and
Technology conference in 1999, where I presented a paper critiquing Feen-
berg’s latest work, Questioning Technology. Feenberg responded; and from this
engagement we began an ongoing dialogue that ultimately resulted in this vol-
ume. When I initiated this project I had no idea that it would take seven years
to complete. Putting together an edited volume requires the cooperation of
multiple parties without whom this volume would not have been possible.
I wish to thank all of the contributors for their insightful chapters and for
their patience in waiting for this publication, and especially to Andrew for tak-
ing the time to work with me on this project. I am also grateful to Jane Bunker
at SUNY Press who was willing to take on such a project from an unknown
scholar, and to Kelli Williams for her patience in leading me through the maze
of bringing a manuscript to publication. I would also like to thank my good
friend and fellow colleague, Piyush Mathur, for his superbly prepared index.
Lastly, I want to thank my family for their unwavering support in all my en-
deavors...
Tyler Veak
Lynchburg, Virginia

Introduction
Giiven the interconnections between particular technologies and local/global
problems such as war, poverty, environmental destruction, disease, and increas-
ing economic disparity, the importance of formulating a theory of technologi-
cal transformation seems paramount. To this end, Andrew Feenberg offers one
of the most fully developed theories on the politics of technological transfor-
mation to date.1 His critical theory of technology is, therefore, a significant
point of dialogue for further research, hence the reason for this volume.
Feenberg argues that “there are ways of rationalizing society that democra-
tize rather than centralize control.”2He reasons that if modernity as we know
it is established through a process of rationalization, then alternative rational-
izations are necessary in order to create alternative modernities. According to
Feenberg, the current modernity is characterized by a particular rationality—a
technical code—and that this rationality has been embodied in the techno-
logical designs of modern society. Democratizing technology means expanding
technological design to include alternative interests and values.
Background and Context of Feenberg’s Work
Some understanding of the context of Feenberg’s work is necessary to fully ap-
preciate the contributions in this volume. Feenberg, a student of Herbert Mar-
cuse, draws most heavily from the Frankfurt School3tradition to formulate his
critical theory of technology. Like his Frankfurt School predecessors, Feen-
berg’s work is largely a response to, or continuation, of Max Weber’s theory of
modernity. Weber claimed that the process of modernization fueled by capi-
talism’s emphasis on “formal rationality” necessarily led to a differentiation