Technology and Social Complexity

Technology and Social Complexity explores the continuities between today's incredibly powerful new technology and the simpler technologies of the past. It shows that the diverse phenomena encompassed by the term "technology" can be analyzed coherently within the framework of the same concept. This book provides a broad historical and comparative perspective within which the complex relationships between technology and society can be more clearly understood. Topics discussed include the concept of technology; social evolution and other forms of social change; characteristics of technology in societies of different types; and the sources, directions, and implications of technological progress.