A REVIEW OF THE BOOK “ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGY AND THE POLITICS OF TECHNICAL CHANGE"BY DAVID DICKSON (FONTANA ORIGINAL 1974)
THE BOOK under review is intended as a critique of the ‘contemporary
technology of the advanced industralized societies of the west and
proposes as an alternative, a utopian 'soft’ technology.
The author presents the case against contemporary technology very
well in the opening chapter itself, The all too familiar arguments against
the sophisticated ‘hard’ technology are repeated by him. He argues that
all the problems resulting from the contemporary technology have to be
seen in the perspective of industrialization. He rejects the traditional
interpretation of technological innovations as inadequate. He argues that
an ideology of industrialization with an emphasis on technology as having
an internal objective logic that determines a unique progression from one
stage of development to the next is what is responsible for the constant
improvement in technology.
This ideology of industrialization gives a sort of legitimacy to policies
that appear to promote the process of industrialization regardless of
their social in itself for the progress of mankind, and to stand in the
way of technology is by definition dubbed as reactionary. Thus,
industrialization gets equated with modernization, with progress, with a
better and healthier life for all. That is why the formula of
industrialization is hold out as a solution to all societies, especially
the under-developed countries of Asia and Africa. Dickson quotes professor
Ashton to prove this point. Ashton had said: "There are today on the
plains of India and China, men and women, plague ridden and hungry, living
lives little better, in outward appearance, than those of the cattle that
tail with them by way and share their places of sleep at night. Such Asiatic standards and such unmechanized horrors, are the lot of
those who increase their numbers without passing through an industrial
revolution”
Dickson rightly observes that while it is true that industrialization
succeeded in raising the standard of living of a large number of People,
the ideology of industrialization disguises the political exploitation and
manipulation that has accompanied industrialization, and hence, the
development of contemporary technology. The value-free notion of
industrialization and technology is rooted in the conventional model of
social evolution. The history of civilization with a unidimensional view
of progress implies that one can classify societies as primitive or
advanced according to their level of technological development.
Dickson says that almost all cultural and anthropological
studies were based on such a nation of history. Many interpretations of
industrial revolution have followed this pattern by claiming that it was
the direct result of major technological changes. Even F. Engels has, in
his earlier writings, explained industrial revolution is the result of
technological changes. The idea that technology develops independently of
society is still very popular as can be seen from Marshall McLuhan's
proclamation that 'the medium is the message’ as late as 1960.
Taking a closer look at the process of technological innovation the
author comes out with a conclusion that "the means of production of
industrialized societies since the industrial revolution to a great
reflection of the relations of extent, become a production under which
they were primarily carried out, the authoritarian and hierarchial class
relations of industrial capitalism". This has serious implications for an
alternative pattern of social development. As Dickson says “To use a
possible metaphor, technology has the key that unlocked the door to
progress. A key reflects the design of the lock it has been made to
open; to open a different door requires a different shaped key”. That is,
"A technology primarily developed under authoritaranism capitalism both
reflects and becomes part of an ideology that permits the exploitation of
men by man and the destruction of the environment in the ‘interests’ of
society". Thus the development of a nonalienating and non-exploitative
technology requires radical change in our attitudes towards the role of
technology society.
Dickson presents his blue print of a ‘soft’ alternative technology. While
discussing the details of his alternative technology he emphasises that an
alternative technology can be successfully applied on a large scale
only when an alternative form of society has been created, Till such a
time the technology that is proposed as an alternative remains
‘utopian’.
The most useful part of the book is the chapter on "Intermediate
technology and the third world". Dickson is very critical cf those who
propose an intermediate-technological solution to the problems faced by
the third world countries. He observes that intimidate technology still
has its roots in western technological rationality. It seems that the
so-called intermediate technology is “ideally suited to the growth in the
under-developed countries of a western-oriented clite or bureaucracy many
of whose numbers are rapidly becoming its fervent supporters".
To prove his point about intermediate technology Dickson refers to the
activities of the London based introduction technology development group
(ITDG).
In his view, the activities of ITDG proves that it is posing the wrong
questions. Implicit in the arguments of ITDG is the view that social
development will result from developing a technology considered
appropriate to a particular set of social and economic conditions. Here
again, technology is seen as a neutral element in the process of social
development This interpretation leads to two implications: One, That
advanced technology creates all the problems, and the other that merely by
altering the technology we will be able to solve our problems. Dickson
also quotes some cases to prove that Intermediate technology can be used
to further neo-colonialist interests. Ford Motor Company’s development of
a vehicle to meet the environmental and economic conditions of South-East
Asia is an example. The small pick-up truck called Fiora was claimed to be
"Asia’s own vehicle largely designed and wholly built in the Asia Pacific
region….. within the reach of.... emerging middle-classes’’. Dickson
concludes: “Only by realizing the extent to which technology provides an
integral “part of the ideology of contemporary society……..can we see the
extent to which the need to develop an alternative technology is
both necessary and desirable".
The book clearly shows that the problem with developing countries is not
only a choice of technology or adjustment of social relations but both. To
neglect the political dimension of technology is to support
an idealistic concept of technology. To argue that the problem is
only the social relations of production and not the very nature of the
means of production (of which S & T are a part) is to ignore the
extent to which current technology is permeated by the exploitative
ideology of advanced capitalist societies.
G.S.R. Krishnan, Bangalore
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