Technical politics : Andrew Feenberg's critical theory of technology / Graeme Kirkpatrick.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kirkpatrick, Graeme, 1963- author.

Contributor:

Kirkpatrick, Graeme, Contributor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Feenberg, Andrew.

Technology--Philosophy.

Technology.

Technology--Political aspects.

Technology--Social aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vii, 165 pages) : illustrations (black and white); digital file(s).

Place of Publication:

Manchester, UK : Manchester University Press, 2020.

Language Note:

In English.

System Details:

data file

Summary:

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. Technology often plays an ambiguous role in theories of social change. Viewed by Karl Marx as the driving force of historical progress, it has come to be associated with exploitation and alienation, thanks in large part to the work of Frankfurt School critical theorists such as Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer.Andrew Feenberg is an unusual figure: a critical theorist with an essentially optimistic view of technology. His concept of 'technical politics' puts technology design at the heart of disputes over the future shape of society. This book provides the first sustained critique of Feenberg's work, describing how it has developed from the tradition of Marx and Marcuse and analysing the key ideas of formal bias, ambivalence, progressive rationalisation and primary and secondary instrumentalisation. Identifying the limitations resulting from Feenberg's attachment to critique, the book offers a utopian corrective that can provide a fuller account of the process of willed technological transformation and of the author's own idea of a technologically authorised socialism.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 Critical theory and technology

2 The theory of bias and the ethics of technology design

3 Technical politics

4 Aesthetic critique

5 From critique to utopia

6 Beyond critique

References

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

This eBook is made available Open Access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 https://www.degruyter.com/dg/page/open-access-policy

Description based on print record and e-Publication, viewed on December 8, 2020.

ISBN:

9781526105332

1526105330

OCLC:

1192324423

Access Restriction:

Open Access Unrestricted online access