Engl507

University of Victoria
Jentery Sayers
Spring 2015

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Technology and Social Justice

In media studies, as well as science and technology studies, many practitioners stress how technology is in fact a key social justice issue. Here, questions include: Technology, but for whom? By whom? How? Under what assumptions? And for what purposes?

If you are interested in this topic, then below are some (among many) ways to understand and contextualize technology as a social force, a cultural practice, and a biased object.

Additionally, you might consider three other positions, articulated by Nick Dyer-Witheford in Cyber-Marx (U. of Illinois P., 1999), that I am paraphrasing below (especially pages 60-61). For more, see Chapter 3 ("Marxisms") of that book; it is a thorough account of how to variously understand technologies and their histories, with attention to unresolved and arguably necessary ambiguities. It also enacts a non-essentialist approach to tech (and to Marx's understanding of tech) that you might find persuasive.

To be sure, these only scratch the surface. But let me know if you'd like to know more about them or other approaches. Thanks you!