Technology, Culture and Change

This book examines the emergence of capitalism and the ideologies surrounding its inception and subsequent progress; how markets are created and organized; and how technology is embedded socially, not only providing tangible innovations that transform our lives but also signifying changes in our self-identity. It analyses how industrialism in the 19th century resulted in the change from a production-based society to one that became consumer oriented in the 20th century; what such changes entailed for the nature of the family; and how modern consumers use material goods as part of fluid identity creation. Post-industrialism has often resulted in social and cultural polarization, with increasing opportunity gaps between the educated and less educated, rural, and urban populations, and the skilled versus unskilled. Recent technological innovations surrounding artificial intelligence raise even more questions regarding how work is structured, and the cultural responses to such changes. This book relies upon extensive historical data and provides an integrative discussion of how technology shapes cultural change, whilst also being a product of purposive human behaviour.