Technology and Power / Edition 1

by David Kipnis

Overview

There is a dark side to human nature that is nurtured by the control of power. In an earlier book, The Powerholders, I I described several psychological principles that appear to govern the behavior of people who control and use social power. In particular, I examined how the successful use of power transformed, for the worse, the values and behavior of the influencing agent. My interest in the relation between technology and power grew out of reading David Howarth's Tahiti: A Paradise Lost,2 a description of the almost causal ways in which Western technology was used by early explorers and traders to obliterate the Tahitian civilization. In reflecting on what happened in Tahiti, what struck me was the similarity in the behavior of these explorers and traders to the behavior of the husbands, wives, and businessmen, in positions of power, that I wrote about in my earlier book. Technology and Power is concerned with the issue of how the added power provided by technology changes the behavior of people who control it. I describe these changes among managers at work, psychologists, physicians, and colonists. What unifies these disparate areas is the implacable logic of power. The seeming ease with which power promotes the derogation of those controlled by power provides, I believe, a needed perspective for viewing the many social problems generated by technology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780387970820
Publisher:	Springer New York
Publication date:	11/22/1989
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1990
Pages:	150
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.01(d)

Table of Contents

I Introduction.- 1. Technology and Human Needs.- The Technological Perspective.- A Focus on the Powerholder.- II The Psychology of Power.- 2. Tactics of Influence in Everyday Life.- Why Bother to Influence Others?.- Control of Resources.- Tactics of Influence.- Empirical Studies of Influence Strategies.- When Are Stronger and Weaker Tactics Used?.- Gender Differences in the Use of Influence.- Other Studies of Influence Tactics.- Technology, Dependency, and Power.- 3. The Metamorphic Effects of Power.- Early Writings.- Power Corrupts.- Autonomy and Control.- The Consequences of Using Strong Tactics.- Does Power Corrupt?.- III Technology and Control.- 4. Behavior Control Technology.- What Is Behavioral Technology?.- Behavioral Control Technologies.- The Ethics of Behavior Control.- Can the Metamorphic Model Be Applied to Behavioral Technologies?.- Therapeutic Practices and Changes in the Therapist.- Some Cautions.- Techniques of Leadership and the Metamorphic Model.- Conclusion.- 5. Medical Technology.- The Balance of Power in Doctor-Patient Relations.- Pre-World War II.- The Mental Health Profession.- Modern Technology and the New Physician.- Future Trends in Medicine.- 6. The Routinization of Work.- Technology Reduces Management’s Dependency on Labor.- Field Studies in Industry.- Technology and Democracy.- 7. The Technology of Coercion.- Why Use Coercion.- Colonialism and Military Power.- The Metamorphic Model of Power.- A Final Account.- 8. Solutions.- Problems of Technology.- Solutions to Technological Problems.- Author Index.

Editorial Reviews

Kipnis (psych, Temple U.) argues that the power conferred by technology corrupts the wielder of that power and depreciates the respect with which the doctor, the manager, the psychologist views the patient, the employee, the client. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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