A Warm Welcome to Pre- and Non-Digital Technologies!

Hello future sociologists! Don't worry if you think technology studies are all about smartphones and the internet. This chapter is super important because it takes us back to the foundations of the modern world. We are looking at the huge, non-electronic inventions—like the steam engine, the printing press, and the automobile—that entirely reshaped society.

Understanding these pre-digital technologies helps us trace the roots of issues we face today, such as massive social inequalities, urban sprawl, and global environmental issues. Let's dig in!

I. Machines, Industrialisation, and the Changing Nature of Work

The biggest impact of early, non-digital technology was Industrialisation—the massive shift from small-scale production (like farming or craftwork) to large-scale, machine-driven production.

A. Machines and Economic Sectors

Machines didn't just replace human muscle; they reorganised entire economies, changing the types of jobs available:

1. Extraction (Primary Sector)

This involves taking raw materials from the earth.

  • Technology Used: Early large-scale mining equipment, basic drilling machines, and large tractors.
  • Sociological Impact: These machines drastically reduced the need for manual labour in rural areas, leading to rural depopulation as workers migrated to cities.
2. Manufacturing (Secondary Sector)

This is the process of turning raw materials into finished goods in factories.

  • Technology Used: The steam engine, looms, steel mills, and the famous assembly line (developed by Henry Ford).
  • Sociological Impact: This created the modern working class (the proletariat, in Marxist terms). Work became repetitive, specialised, and controlled by the rhythm of the machine, changing the traditional skills workers needed.
3. Service Industries (Tertiary Sector)

As societies grew richer, more jobs focused on providing services rather than making goods.

  • Technology Used: Early communications (like the telegraph) and transport systems (like large trains) were crucial.
  • Sociological Impact: Required new types of skilled workers (clerks, managers) and often involved office-based work, further separating work from home life.

Key Takeaway: Pre-digital machines created industrial society, defined by factory work and urban living, setting the stage for major social class divisions.

II. Mobilities and Mass Transport

The development of mass transport systems—all pre-digital—changed our relationship with distance, space, and the environment.

A. Key Forms of Mass Transport and Their Effects

These technologies allowed people and goods to move faster and further than ever before:

  1. Railways: Crucial for industrial economies. They facilitated the movement of goods between cities and ports, connecting national markets. Sociologically, they helped standardise time and created the possibility of mass leisure (travel).
  2. Cars and Roads: The mass-produced car introduced the idea of individual mobility.
    • Effects on People: Led to urban sprawl (people could live further from where they worked) and the creation of suburbs.
    • Effects on the Environment: Required massive construction (roads, bridges) and heavily relied on fossil fuels, starting widespread air pollution.
  3. Air Travel: Though initially exclusive, it dramatically sped up global connections, supporting early transnational networks and business travel.

Did You Know? The sociologist John Urry, famous for his work on mobility, argued that travel and movement are central to understanding modern life, not just static places.

B. Consumption and the Environment

Mass transport technologies are intrinsically linked to consumption. They allow raw materials to be extracted globally and finished products to be distributed globally. This movement drives demand for resources and increases environmental costs.

Quick Review: Mobility technologies essentially 'shrank' the world, but at the cost of the environment.

III. Consumerism and Conspicuous Consumption

Once machines could produce goods cheaply and quickly, a new social focus emerged: Consumerism—the belief that personal happiness and identity are achieved through buying and possessing material goods.

A. The Culture of Material Goods

Pre-digital technologies enabled this culture:

  • Mass Production: Factories churned out goods (clothing, household items) accessible to wider segments of society.
  • Advertising: Early forms of mass media (newspapers, radio—also non-digital media) became crucial technologies for creating desire and demand.

B. Conspicuous Consumption (Veblen)

The sociologist Thorstein Veblen examined how material goods became symbols of social status.

  • Definition: Conspicuous Consumption is spending money on luxury goods or services primarily to display economic power or status to others. It’s about showing off, not just using.
  • Example: If a simple, durable leather shoe is available, choosing to buy shoes made from rare animal skin that require high upkeep is an act of conspicuous consumption—displaying that you are wealthy enough to afford non-necessity and waste resources (time, money).

Importance: In industrial society, what you owned (made by machines) often became more important than who your family was (traditional status).

Key Takeaway: Pre-digital technology laid the groundwork for modern consumer culture, where wealth is signalled through material display.

IV. Sociological Views on Pre-Digital Technology

When studying the impact of machines and transport, sociologists take two major, opposing views regarding who holds the power: the technology itself, or the people who use it.

A. Technological Determinism

This perspective argues that technology is the single, independent force that drives social change. Society must adapt to whatever new technology appears.

  • Core Belief: The technology determines the social structure. Inventions have an inevitable and predictable effect on society, regardless of context.
  • Example: A determinist would argue that the invention of the printing press (a non-digital machine) inevitably caused literacy rates to rise and centralised political control to weaken. The technology’s characteristics forced society to change.
  • Crucial Point: If the technology is powerful (like the massive infrastructure required for railways), society has little choice but to follow the path it dictates.

B. Social Constructionist Views of Technology (SCOT)

This perspective, often called the SCOT approach, argues that social factors, culture, and human choices are what shape the technology and define its purpose. Technology is a product of society, not the other way around.

  • Core Belief: People construct technology. Technology only becomes significant when social groups decide how to use and interpret it.
  • A Simple Example (The Early Bicycle):
    1. When the first bicycles appeared, they were often hard to ride and dangerous ('penny farthings').
    2. Various relevant social groups (e.g., engineers, young men seeking speed, women seeking mobility) had different needs.
    3. Eventually, the 'safety bicycle' (with two equal wheels) was chosen and standardised, not because it was technologically inevitable, but because the interests of wider social groups (especially women and general commuters needing safety) won out over the interests of speed-seeking athletes.

Encouraging Note: Don't worry if this seems tricky! Just remember the basic argument: Determinism says 'Technology is the driver,' and Constructionism says 'Society chooses how the car is built and where it goes.'

Key Takeaway: Applying both these theories to pre-digital technologies (like the car) allows you to ask deeper sociological questions: Did the car automatically create suburbs (Determinism), or did capitalist interests and the desire for private property lead to the car being used to facilitate suburban living (Constructionism)?