Page 513 - Essencials of Sociology

486 CHAPTER 15 Social Change and the Environment

brief overview of the social effects of the automobile, however,
illustrates that technology is much more than just a tool: It
exerts profound influence on social life.

The New Technology: The Microchip
and Social Life

With technology changing so rapidly, our way of life often
meets unexpected twists and turns. Although we don’t yet know
where those twists and turns will lead us, it is intriguing to try
to peer over the edge of the present to at least catch a glimpse
of that future.
Let’s do this by focusing on the computer. We will begin
with its effects on social interaction, education, business, and
the waging of war. We’ll then consider the computer’s impact
on social inequalities and war.
Changes in Social Interaction. I have stressed that technol-
ogy changes our lives in fundamental ways, including the ways
we interact with one another. Consider this little example.
From this 1946 photo, you can see
how computers have changed. This is As I work on this edition of your text, my wife and I sit at the same large dining room
the ENIAC, the world’s first computer, table that serves as our desk, each absorbed in our computers as we go about individual
which weighed 30 tons, was eight tasks. Although we can easily talk to one another, and we do, we also send e-mails back and
feet high, three feet deep, and 100 forth throughout the day, even though we are within arms’ reach of one another. One of us
feet long. Most cell phones have finds something interesting, the latest news on Latvia or the global economic crisis, some
more computing power than this
monstrosity. sociological analysis, news from a friend or one of the kids, or even something humorous.
By sending the message, instead of talking, we don’t break the other’s concentration.
We attend to the message when it fits into our breaks, when we then chat with one another.
This is just one example of how technology is altering my interactions. If we were to
talk to one another, you could tell me about the many ways that technology is changing
your social patterns. When new technology comes, we must adapt to it, but we make it
fit our particular life situation. The process of change is a two-way street.
The microchip is transforming our Computers in Education. Because of computers, students can take courses in
lives—the way we shop, spend our Russian, German, and Spanish—even when their schools have no teachers who speak
leisure, relate to one another, and, these languages. If their school also lacks sociology instructors, they can still study the
as shown here, the way we learn.
With a computer projecting a three sociology of gender, race, social class, or even sex, and sports. (The comma is important.
dmensional image of the inside of a It isn’t sex and sports. That course isn’t offered—yet.)
frog, students don’t have to dissect We’ve barely begun to harness the power of computers, but I
real frogs. imagine that the day will come when you will be able to key in the
terms social interaction and gender, select your preference of his-
torical period, geographical site, age, and ethnic group—and the
computer will spew out text, maps, moving images, and sounds.
You will be able to compare sexual discrimination in the military in
1985 and today, or the price of marijuana in Los Angeles and New
Orleans. If you wish, the computer will give you a test—geared to
the level of difficulty you choose—so that you can check your mas-
tery of the material.
Distance learning, courses taught to students who are not phys-
ically present with their instructor, will integrate students around
the world. Using apps and their laptop cameras, everyone in the
class will be able to see everyone else, even though the students
live in different countries. Imagine this—and likely it soon will
be a reality: Your fellow students in a course on human culture
will be living in Thailand, South Africa, Latvia, Egypt, China,
and Australia. With zero-cost conference calls and e-mail and file