"The country that is more developed industrially only shows to the less developed, the image of its own future,"— Karl Marx

Technology refers to the development over time of systematic techniques for making and doing things. The term is a combination of the Greek word techne, “art, craft,” and logos, “word, speech”. In Greek, the word referred to a discourse on the arts, both fine and applied. When it first appeared in English in the 17th century, it was used to mean a discussion of the applied arts only. By the early 20th century, the term embraced a growing range of means, processes, and ideas in addition to tools and machines. By mid-century technology was defined by such phrases as “the means or activity by which man seeks to change or manipulate his environment.” Such broad definitions have been criticized by observers who point out the increasing difficulty of distinguishing between scientific inquiry and technological activity.¹ In current usage technology is defined as practical application of knowledge and use of techniques in productive activities.

The relation between technology and social change has been an issue of longstanding debate in sociology. From Marx’s analysis of modes of production as the contradiction between the forces of production (tools, machines and raw material) and relations of production to theories in modernization and development, the question of technology has been at the heart of the debate on social change.

Idea of ‘cultural lag’ proposed by William F. Ogburn is opposed to economic determinism. His theory was that the changes in material culture proceeds at a faster rate than changes in culture—customs, beliefs, law, government. This leads to social maladjustment.

For example, the invention of contraceptives and new division of labour in the economic realm do not change perspectives such as ‘woman’s place is in the home’. He also gives the example of automobile and road: how even after automobiles came, the roads were built for many years for horse-driven wagons.

In this lecture we will be discussing a review article that delineates the major areas of inquiry in technology and urban sociology.