Technology and Social Change
There is an intrinsic relationship between technology and social change. The exact nature of that relationship is interesting, especially when one considers the myriad facets of it. On the one hand, technology impacts social change in a way that is arguably causal. On the other hand, social changes can help to engender technological advances, which in turn continue to affect additional social changes. In this way, the relationship between these two phenomena are somewhat cyclical, much like the proverbial chicken and the egg conundrum. Suffice to say that both technology and social change affect one another, and are interwoven in the sort of advancements they foster in today's world.
It is difficult to discuss today's society without considering the impact that the personal computer, cellular phones, and the internet have had upon it. Quite simply, the ramifications of these technological developments are that considerable. The commercialization of the personal computer predates the commercialization of these other two aspects of society. From that perspective, its impact is arguably the greatest because its ubiquity helped to inspire the sort of social changes that made these other two elements ubiquitous as well. Still, were one to actually categorize the impact that these three advancements have had on society, it is fair to say that they have helped to usher in an era of instant gratification and the dearth of patience that currently categorizes contemporary society.
All three of these technologies have created a culture in which people expect instant results. In the form of the personal computer, those results include calculations and word processing that is done with a degree of expedience that was not possible prior to this innovation. The internet helped to further this sentiment in that it provided instantaneous communications between parties (regardless of distance) via mediums such as email, chatrooms, and the like. More recently, cellular phones have combined...
They provision instantaneous communication with text messages, video sharing, and phone calls. Additionally, they facilitate internet connections for the same emails and chatrooms that internet connections via personal computers do. Furthermore, these devices are readily equipped with any variety of applications, some of which can handle fairly complex computations and perform some surprising feats in a number of different realms of society.
It is perhaps easiest to describe the equilibrium model, digital divide, and cultural lag in relation to the internet, personal computer and cellular phones utilizing the functionalist perspective. This perspective is based on the notion that different aspects of society help to serve a specific function within that society (McClelland, 2000). For instance, personal computers provide a means of word processing and sharing information which is invaluable for allowing individuals to work (and to type this paper). The internet provides a vital communication function which is a means of transmitting information to parties without having to consider physical distance. The function of the digital divide is a means of allowing people to learn new technologies, which in turn further propagates those technologies and makes cell phones, the internet, and personal computers ubiquitous.
Conflict theory is the perspective that conflict helps to further advances in society (McClelland, 2000). When there are needs that are not met, for instance, with the personal computer in terms of communication, the internet was unveiled to provide that sort of communication. In turn, cellular phones were able to address some of the limitations of personal computers by operating as portable means of communication at all times. Cultural lag and the digital divide are impacted by conflict theory because they provide the means of form of tension -- when there are those that have technological needs greater than that which…
