Technology, Society and Inequality
New Horizons and Contested Futures
©2013
Textbook
XII,
215 Pages
Series:
Digital Formations, Volume 87
Summary
Over the last 250 years, the global capitalist system has been responsible for rapid economic growth and technological change. The consequent increase in production of an ever-changing and expanding range of products and services has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and deprivation.
This book suggests, however, that the primary purpose of current production and distribution is not to satisfy human needs but to create profit for the owners of capital that in turn has devastating consequences for the environment and for vulnerable people.
Multidisciplinary in perspective, contributors to this volume addresses issues of inequality which affect both developed and developing countries. While they are concerned with the framework of income distribution they also explore the wider dynamics of capitalist systems of production and consumption and examine the dimensions of inequality from both an economic and socio/cultural perspective.
The book has three key themes: relations between technologies, inequalities and exploitation; issues surrounding technologies and development; and the nature of technologies and their associated opportunities in the face of the future. That future is contested, and in the present context of persistent inequalities, a debate about where we might be going and how we might get there is crucial. This book makes a trenchant and challenging contribution to this debate.
This book suggests, however, that the primary purpose of current production and distribution is not to satisfy human needs but to create profit for the owners of capital that in turn has devastating consequences for the environment and for vulnerable people.
Multidisciplinary in perspective, contributors to this volume addresses issues of inequality which affect both developed and developing countries. While they are concerned with the framework of income distribution they also explore the wider dynamics of capitalist systems of production and consumption and examine the dimensions of inequality from both an economic and socio/cultural perspective.
The book has three key themes: relations between technologies, inequalities and exploitation; issues surrounding technologies and development; and the nature of technologies and their associated opportunities in the face of the future. That future is contested, and in the present context of persistent inequalities, a debate about where we might be going and how we might get there is crucial. This book makes a trenchant and challenging contribution to this debate.
Details
- Pages
- XII, 215
- Publication Year
- 2013
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9781453910429
- ISBN (Softcover)
- 9781433119705
- ISBN (Hardcover)
- 9781433119712
- DOI
- 10.3726/978-1-4539-1042-9
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2013 (June)
- Keywords
- economic growth change poverty environment
- Published
- New York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, Oxford, Wien, 2013. 215 pp., num. ill.
- Product Safety
- Peter Lang Group AG