A theme that appears over and over in discussions about technology is whether or not technology is the cause of major social, cultural, political, and economic changes in modern society. Of course, we can find many, many examples of technologies associated with enormous social changes. The automobile, for example, is often spoke of as "causing" a whole array of social changes, from the creation of suburbia, to the development of the fast food industry, to the paving of farm land, to the imported oil vulnerabilities of the 1970s. The popular media is filled with similar examples of new technologies that are going to change everything, from computers to new technologies to new medical devices. And we are often told that we must find ways to accommodate ourselves to these new devices and to the changes they will cause, that we must strive to ride the wave of social flux produced by emerging technologies, or face the dire prospect of being "left behind."

In this essay I will define the meaning of technological determinism. In doing so I will also assess whether this view helps us to understand contemporary mass media or does i

Technology is one of a number of mediating factors in human behaviour and social change, which both acts on and is acted on by other phenomena. Being critical of technological determinism is not to discount the importance of the fact that the technical features of different communication technologies facilitate different kinds of use, though the potential applications of technologies are not necessarily realized.

Ellul, Jacques. The Technological Bluff. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990.

Brook J and Boal I A (1995) Resisting the Virtual Life: the Culture and Politics of Information San Francisco: City Lights Books

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Approximate Word count = 2495
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)