SESSION 18
(1) Scoping Your Final Paper Topic &
Argument (revisiting Heilbroner’s ‘Soft
Determinism’)
(2) Outlining Exercise
SCOPING YOUR TOPIC +
ARGUMENT
Revisiting Heilbroner’s “Soft Determinism”
Do Machines Make History?
• “that machines make history in some sense—that the
level of technology has a direct bearing on the human
drama—is of course obvious” [….BUT…..]
• How to “say something systematic” and “order the
problem so that it becomes intellectually manageable”
[SCOPE THE CLAIM IN ORDER TO MAKE IT MORE
CREDIBLE]
Heilbroner - Scope
• Possibilities for examining this claim that machines make
history:
• The political course of history – i.e. technologies of war
• The social attitude underlying history – i.e. effects of radio or TV
• The content of life – its texture and substance as connected to tech
order
• “the effect of technology in determining the nature of the
socioeconomic order” – specifically “technologies of
production” (i.e the hand mill, steam mill)
Heilbroner - Argument
• Initial Claim – there is a fixed sequence to
technological development
• Evidence: innovations happen at the same time (without
connection btwn)
• Evidence: inventions are evolutionary (no sudden leaps)
• Evidence: we seem to know what is coming next (general
predictions)
Heilbroner - Argument
• Initial Claim – there is a fixed sequence to
technological development
• Evidence: innovations happen at the same time (without
connection btwn)
• Evidence: inventions are evolutionary (no sudden leaps)
• Evidence: we seem to know what is coming next (general
predictions)
Heilbroner – More Scoping
• Initial Claim – the impact on “society” is on
“relationships of production”
• Specifically – composition of the labor force (skilled vs. unskilled, at
home vs. at factory site)
• Specifically – orders of supervision and coordination (menmanager confrontations, industrial managers)
Heilbroner - Qualifications
• Heilbroner makes clear his case is one of a SOFT
Determinism
• Qualification 1: there is a social element in the design of technology
– “the machine will reflect…the social relationships of work”
• Qualification 2: technological progress is a social activity that not all
societies puruse
• Qualification 3: the course of tech advance is responsive to social
directions
• Qualification 4: tech change must be compatible with existing social
conditions
Heilbroner – Problem Space?
• Not entirely clear.
• Perhaps – the very question of scoping and arguing this
claim “do machines make history?”
• “to see if there is an empirical content—in the idea of technological
determinism…”
• “see if we can place the salvageable elements of the theory in
historical perspective—”
• What do we mean by problem space?
• Topic: anonymity
• Problem space:
1. How does anonymity either foster or inhibit community building?
2. How is ‘community’ possible given extreme full anonymity?
1.
Case: 4chan
What do we gain or lose from different forms of anonymity or
pseudonymity in online spaces?
3.
1.
2.
Case: 4chan
Case: World of Warcraft
Readings /
How to Read
Summative
Evaluation (of a
research field,
perspective)
Present a
Concept / Vision
Non-empirical
Present a Design
Solution
Academic
Publications
Argumentative
Essay
Statistical
analysis
Empirical
Qualitative –
ethnographic,
interviews, case
study
ASSIGNMENT 2 – PART II