Abstract
Feenberg's theme is summarized in the first line of his preface: "Must human beings submit to the harsh logic of machinery, or can technology be redesigned to better serve its creators?" The work represents democratic socialist philosophy, with frequent allusions to such authors as Habermas, Foucault, Lukacs, Marcuse, Hegel, and Marx. It surveys such concepts as alienation, ambivalence, instrumentalization, civilization change, capitalist hegemony, workers' control, and other aspects of critical theory. Drawing on ideological rather than empirical social science literature on technology, Feenberg develops the theme "All modern industrial societies stand today at the crossroads, facing two different directions of technical development. They can either remain blocked at the level of primary instrumentalization in order to intensify the exploitation of human beings and nature, or they can take a new path in which the integrative tendencies of technology support emancipatory applications" (p. 195). The author seems blissfully unaware of empirical studies of whether computerization is empowering or oppressing on balance. Empiricists will find this an excessively long, jargon-laden effort that, once deciphered, adds nothing to the debate. Social theorists, however, will have an almost opposite reaction, appreciating the concise way in which Feenberg brings the literature of critical theory to bear on technological questions. His conclusions often parallel conventional empirical theory, as in his discussion of the "am- bivalence of the computer," which echoes the empirical literature on "augmentation," which also finds computers may serve either centralization and domination or democratization and empowerment, depending on the prevailing organizational culture. Indeed, such parallelisms confound Feenberg's presentation of the critical theory of technology as an assault on dominant theories. What is different is not the analysis of technology but rather the ideological prescription attached to that analysis: the need for democratization of industry as a precondition for releasing the potential of technology for empowerment rather than domination. Unfortunately, Feenberg approaches workers' control at the same level of ideological generality as he does technology, again seemingly unaware of the empirical literature on self-management. Supporters of self-management will find nothing in this text to address issues on how information systems can be structured to serve workers' control, nothing to address the problems of workers' control, merely a blithe assertion that it is necessary for the humanization of technology and that all will work out in the end. Conservatives will reject this work on ideological grounds, whereas those on the left, while agreeing with his presentation, will think that by sidestepping the important issues, Feenberg left out essentials. Marx understood that true theory must be capable of advancing practice. In this sense Feenberg's title is a misnomer and the book would be better labeled Critical Ideology of Technology.
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