Technology and Social Power

This text provides an overview of debates in the sociology of technology, including definitions of the main terms and concepts and discussion of the dominant positions, especially in recent scholarship. At the same time, it develops a novel perspective on the subject based in critical theory, bridging work in the sociology of science and technology with wider debate in social theory. It integrates empirical and theoretical elements in well-themed chapters and draws on interesting contemporary examples such as mobile phones and computer games to offer a distinctive sociological perspective on an important dimension of social life.

Graeme Kirkpatrick is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Manchester, where he has recently moved from University of Northumbria at Newcastle. He has published articles on technology and society in Thesis Eleven, Max Weber Studies, Imprints and other journals. His co-edited volume, Historical Materialism and Social Evolution was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2003.