Sociologists have, until recently, tended to avoid technology. This began to change significantly in the late 1980s with the growth and development of both (physical) IT and the (social) debate surrounding it. In a broad sense, sociologists of technology are concerned with explaining how social processes, actions and structures relate to technology; and in this are concerned with developing critiques of notions of technological determinism. The theories and concepts which have been developed are increasingly recognised as of value to technologists, notably in the area of information system design.
Technological determinism is the notion that technological development is autonomous of society; it shapes society, but is not reciprocally influenced. Rather, it exists outside society, but at the same time influences social change. In more extreme varieties of technological determinism, the technology is seen as the most significant determinant of the nature of a society. What is remarkable about the notion of technological determinism is neither its theoretical sophistication nor its explanatory utility. It is important because it is “the single most influential theory of the relationship between technology and society”, according to MacKenzie and Wajcman (1985).
The reality, of course, is that technologies do not, in practice, follow some pre-determined course of development. Research and development decisions, for example, are significant determinants of the sorts of technologies which are developed. Also, although technologies clearly have impacts, the nature of these is not built into the technology, but varies from one culture to another, depending on a broad range of social, political and economic factors.
Hughie Mackay. Theorising the IT/Society Relationship. In: HEAP, N. et al. (eds) Information technology and society: a reader. London: Sage Publications, 1996 (adapted)