technology

Definitions of Technology

1. (noun) The application of knowledge, techniques, and tools to adapt and control physical environments and material resources to satisfy wants and needs.
2. (noun) The accumulated technologies of a society or culture.

Examples of Technology

• A computer.
• How to build a fire.
• The techniques involved in making steel.
• The wheel.

Technology Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: tech·nol·o·gy

Audio Pronunciation

International Phonetic Alphabet

• American English – /tɛkˈnɑlədʒi/
• British English – /tɛkˈnɒlədʒi/

Usage Notes

• Plural: technologies
• A technophile embraces technology and a technophobe is against technology.
• A (noun) technologist is (adverb) technologically skilled in (adjective) technological applications.

Related Quotation

• “About 5000 years ago, people developed plow agriculture. By attaching oxen and other large animals to plows, farmers could increase the amount they produced. Again thanks to technological innovation, surpluses grew. With more wealth came still sharper social stratification. Agrarian societies developed religious beliefs justifying steeper inequality. People came to believe that kings and queens ruled by ‘divine right.’ They viewed large landowners as ‘lords.’ Moreover, if you were born a peasant, you and your children were likely to remain peasants. If you were born a lord, you and your children were likely to remain lords. In the vocabulary of modern sociology, we say that stratification in agrarian societies was based more on ascription than achievement” (Brym and Lie 2007:225).

Related Videos

Additional Information

• Word origin of “technology” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
• Bijker, Wiebe E., Thomas Parke Hughes, and T. J. Pinch, eds. 1987. The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Blauner, Bob. 1964. Alienation and Freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Braverman, Harry. 1974. Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the 20th Century. New York: Monthly Review Press.
• Edge, David. 1988. The Social Shaping of Technology. Edinburgh, Scotland: University of Edinburgh.
• Feenberg, Andrew. 2002. Transforming Technology: A Critical Theory Revisited. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Grint, Keith, and Steve Woolgar. 1997. The Machine at Work: Technology, Work and Organization. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• MacKenzie, Donald, and Judy Wajcman, eds. 1999. The Social Shaping of Technology. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Open University Press.
• McClellan, James Edward, III, and Harold Dorn. 2015. Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction. 3rd ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Murphie, Andrew, and John Potts. 2003. Culture and Technology. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Rose, Michael. 1988. Industrial Behaviour: Research and Control. 2nd ed. London: Penguin.
• Slack, Jennifer Daryl, and J. Macgregor Wise. 2005. Culture + Technology: A Primer. New York: Peter Lang.
• HowStuffWorks.com
• MIT – Technology Review: technologyreview.co

Related Terms

• automation
• digital divide
• culture lag
• economic system
• e-readiness
• knowledge gap
• neo-Luddite
• planned obsolescence
• technology
• technological diffusion
• technophile

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Reference

Brym, Robert J., and John Lie. 2007. Sociology: Your Compass for a New World. 3rd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Works Consulted

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Cite the Definition of Technology

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “technology.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved January 16, 2025 (https://sociologydictionary.org/technology/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

technology. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/technology/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “technology.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed January 16, 2025. https://sociologydictionary.org/technology/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“technology.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 16 Jan. 2025. <https://sociologydictionary.org/technology/>.