Technology and Culture

The theory that technology is the primary driver of social and cultural change, shaping human behavior, institutions, and values in ways that are largely inevitable once a technology is introduced. Hard determinism sees technology as an autonomous force; soft determinism acknowledges human agency but emphasizes technology's powerful influence.

A framework arguing that technology does not determine human action but is instead shaped by social groups, cultural values, and political negotiations. Different groups interpret and use the same technology differently, and its final form reflects social choices rather than purely technical logic.

The gap between individuals, communities, and nations that have access to modern information and communication technologies and those that do not. The divide encompasses not only physical access to devices and internet connectivity but also digital literacy and the ability to use technology meaningfully.

The ways in which algorithms increasingly mediate cultural experiences, from what news people see to what music they hear, what products they buy, and whom they connect with. Algorithmic curation shapes taste, opinion, and behavior at a massive scale.

The study of how the characteristics of a communication medium (oral, print, electronic, digital) influence the culture that uses it. Marshall McLuhan's famous phrase 'the medium is the message' captures the idea that the form of a medium affects society as much as its content.

William F. Ogburn's concept that material culture (technology) often changes faster than non-material culture (values, norms, laws, institutions), creating a period of maladjustment as society struggles to adapt its practices and regulations to new technological realities.

An economic model in which digital platforms (Google, Amazon, Uber, Airbnb) serve as intermediaries that extract value from user data, network effects, and the coordination of supply and demand, reshaping labor markets, consumption patterns, and cultural practices.

The cultural phenomenon of projecting Western anxieties and fantasies about technology onto East Asian societies, often depicting them as either hyper-technological utopias or dystopias. It intersects with racial and cultural stereotyping in media and popular culture.

The ability to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information using digital technologies. It encompasses technical skills, critical thinking about online information, understanding of digital privacy and security, and the capacity to participate meaningfully in digital culture.

The process by which global communication technologies spread dominant cultural products, values, and practices (often Western) worldwide, potentially eroding local traditions and cultural diversity. Counter-arguments point to cultural hybridization and resistance.