La dimensión social de la tecnología y el principio de precaución

Abstract

Underlying social debates and academic analyses about the social effects of technological change, as well as proposals for the management of technological change, a controversy about the social dimension of technology can be identified. This controversy is related to the capacity of the technology to impose certain social structures, patterns of social organisation or ways of living. This eventually amounts to a controversy about technological autonomy and determinism. We will review here some version of this controversy over the last forty years as well as analyse the contemporary relationship of this controversy with the so-called precautionary principle.