Societal
level
There are three topics to consider at the societal level. Each is listed
below and can be accessed by scrolling down the page or by clicking on the listing:
The
need to consider social and societal issues
Technical, economic, and social
change are interdependent. Technical change is closely
associated not only with economic changes, but also
with social, legal and cultural changes. The interactions
among these processes are complex. Changes in society
and technology are at the same time causes and effects.
In this sense technology is seen as a social process
as it meets real or perceived needs and changes those
needs, just as it is changed by them. Society is changed
by technical change, and technical change is shaped
by society.
A good example of these complex interactions can be seen in telecommunications where computers, television, telephone and new materials combine and interact with social, legal, and economic norms, values, and laws in an ever evolving process of causes, effects, and interrelations. Because of this interdependence, we can no longer simply make changes to our organisations and not stop to consider the impacts on the communities and larger social-systems within which they are embedded.
The
social costs and benefits
There are both costs
and benefits to innovation and technical change. Innovation
and technological change have brought benefits to
a great number of people in industrial societies.
Per-capita income has increased ten-fold in two-hundred
years, while unprecedented benefits may be seen in
health care, life expectancy, material wealth, living
and working conditions, social services, leisure and
personal development opportunities, etc.
However, for almost every benefit on the list, there is a potential or real cost as well. The scale and complexity of technological change and innovation are at the same time both a blessing and a nightmare. The potential consequences for accidents or deliberate misuse are staggering. The consequences of the technological risks of the past (e.g., mining disasters, railways accidents, dam bursts) now pale in comparison to the potential devastation of the risks of the present. "From Seveso to Bhopal and Chernobyl, from oil slicks to the risks of nuclear contamination, from the mercury at Minamata to the fallout from the Bikini explosion, the long-term effects on the environment can combine with a possible effect on the genetic capital of living species", including human-kind (OECD, 1988, p. 121).
Reference
OECD (1988). New Technologies in the 1990's.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,
Paris France.
The
future big picture
A crucial aspect of
the twenty-first century economy will be the role
of information and communication. A new economic order
that is enabling and conserving, while it focuses
on human needs, personal development, social justice,
sustainable use of resources and conservation of the
environment, will have to take account of the information
revolution. The information revolution is creating
conditions in which people want and need information
in order to compete and to survive economically. People
and organisations are increasing consumers of information
products. They are becoming ever more dependent on
the producers, such as the mass media, the producers
of information technology hardware and software, and
a wide range of related professionals and experts
(e.g., educators, researchers, consultants, architects,
designers), and on their products.
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Holistic Management Pty. Ltd.