Technopoly

The Surrender of Culture to Technology

Paperback
$18.00 US
On sale Mar 31, 1993 | 240 Pages | 9780679745402

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Postman examines the American fixation with technology and argues that the United States is in danger of becoming a  technopoly,  a system in which technology of every kind is cheerfully granted sovereignty over social institutions and national life, and becomes self-justifying, self-perpetuating, and omnipresent.  Postman traces the historical movement of technology from being a support-system for a culture’s traditions to competing with them, and, finally, to creating a totalitarian order with no use for tradition at all.  As he shows, technology comes irresistibly to redefine what we mean by religion, art, family, politics, history, truth, privacy, and intelligence, so that the new definitions fit the requirements of the technological thought-world.  As a consequence, alternative ways of living and believing become invisible and irrelevant, and the possibilities of other narratives that might serve to organize national purpose are driven out of consciousness.
Neil Postman was a University Professor, the Paulette Goddard Chair of Media Ecology, and the chair of the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, all at New York University. Among his 20 books are studies of childhood (The Disappearance of Childhood); public discourse (Amusing Ourselves to Death); education (Teaching as a Subversive Activity and The End of Education); and the impact of technology (Technopoly). His interest in education was long-standing, beginning with his experience as an elementary and secondary school teacher. He died in 2003. View titles by Neil Postman

About

Postman examines the American fixation with technology and argues that the United States is in danger of becoming a  technopoly,  a system in which technology of every kind is cheerfully granted sovereignty over social institutions and national life, and becomes self-justifying, self-perpetuating, and omnipresent.  Postman traces the historical movement of technology from being a support-system for a culture’s traditions to competing with them, and, finally, to creating a totalitarian order with no use for tradition at all.  As he shows, technology comes irresistibly to redefine what we mean by religion, art, family, politics, history, truth, privacy, and intelligence, so that the new definitions fit the requirements of the technological thought-world.  As a consequence, alternative ways of living and believing become invisible and irrelevant, and the possibilities of other narratives that might serve to organize national purpose are driven out of consciousness.

Author

Neil Postman was a University Professor, the Paulette Goddard Chair of Media Ecology, and the chair of the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, all at New York University. Among his 20 books are studies of childhood (The Disappearance of Childhood); public discourse (Amusing Ourselves to Death); education (Teaching as a Subversive Activity and The End of Education); and the impact of technology (Technopoly). His interest in education was long-standing, beginning with his experience as an elementary and secondary school teacher. He died in 2003. View titles by Neil Postman

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