Beyond Prometheanism : Modern technologies as strategies for redistributing time and space
(2024) In Environmental Values 33(1). p.28-41- Abstract
- Technologies developed since the late eighteenth century differ from earlier forms of technology by being as dependent on world market prices of labour, land and other biophysical resources as on human inventiveness. Yet, whether their outlook is mainstream or heterodox, modern people tend to view technology simply as ingenuity applied to nature, while oblivious of the extent to which it is contingent on the asymmetric exchange of resources in global society. Although inextricably entwined in the real world, the phenomena studied by economics and engineering are kept conceptually separate. This is achieved by disregarding the materiality of world trade. Modern technologies are not just instruments for solving problems but social strategies... (More)
- Technologies developed since the late eighteenth century differ from earlier forms of technology by being as dependent on world market prices of labour, land and other biophysical resources as on human inventiveness. Yet, whether their outlook is mainstream or heterodox, modern people tend to view technology simply as ingenuity applied to nature, while oblivious of the extent to which it is contingent on the asymmetric exchange of resources in global society. Although inextricably entwined in the real world, the phenomena studied by economics and engineering are kept conceptually separate. This is achieved by disregarding the materiality of world trade. Modern technologies are not just instruments for solving problems but social strategies for redistributing time and space in world society, displacing work and environmental loads to sectors of the world system where wages are lower and environmental legislation less rigorous. Technology should not remain extraneous to social theory. A sociometabolic reconceptualisation of technology is particularly essential for critics of global capitalism. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/c0fed8e5-75ec-4c3e-908a-0ea6b5bbf682
- author
- Hornborg, Alf LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Environmental Values
- volume
- 33
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 28 - 41
- publisher
- White Horse Press
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85188697321
- ISSN
- 0963-2719
- DOI
- 10.1177/09632719231209744
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- c0fed8e5-75ec-4c3e-908a-0ea6b5bbf682
- date added to LUP
- 2023-03-27 18:56:52
- date last changed
- 2024-04-19 11:07:54
@article{c0fed8e5-75ec-4c3e-908a-0ea6b5bbf682,
abstract = {{Technologies developed since the late eighteenth century differ from earlier forms of technology by being as dependent on world market prices of labour, land and other biophysical resources as on human inventiveness. Yet, whether their outlook is mainstream or heterodox, modern people tend to view technology simply as ingenuity applied to nature, while oblivious of the extent to which it is contingent on the asymmetric exchange of resources in global society. Although inextricably entwined in the real world, the phenomena studied by economics and engineering are kept conceptually separate. This is achieved by disregarding the materiality of world trade. Modern technologies are not just instruments for solving problems but social strategies for redistributing time and space in world society, displacing work and environmental loads to sectors of the world system where wages are lower and environmental legislation less rigorous. Technology should not remain extraneous to social theory. A sociometabolic reconceptualisation of technology is particularly essential for critics of global capitalism.}},
author = {{Hornborg, Alf}},
issn = {{0963-2719}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{28--41}},
publisher = {{White Horse Press}},
series = {{Environmental Values}},
title = {{Beyond Prometheanism : Modern technologies as strategies for redistributing time and space}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/09632719231209744}},
doi = {{10.1177/09632719231209744}},
volume = {{33}},
year = {{2024}},
}