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Technology and American Political Thought: The Hidden Variable and the Coming Crisis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Victor Ferkiss
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Extract

Technology does not, at first glance, appear to have been a subject of importance in American political thought. One can peruse the writings of American political thinkers — from lofty philosophers to campaign agitators — and find few references to technology as such, even in the contemporary period. Political writings concentrate on other, apparently more “political” topics — liberty, equality, and justice, states' rights, civil liberties, and the distribution of powers. To argue that technology constitutes a hidden but centrally important variable in American political thought might seem to many to be elevating an esoteric personal interest into a central concern, to be rewriting the history of ideas in order to provide a track on which one's own personal hobbyhorse can be ridden.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 42 , Issue 3 , July 1980 , pp. 349 - 387
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1980

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References

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59 Kasson writes of the period ending at the turn of the century as witnessing “the difficulty — ultimately leading to failure — of achieving a technological society consonant with republican ideals” (Civilizing the Machine, p. ix)Google Scholar. Perhaps his judgment is harsh or premature.

60 See du Plessix Gray, Francine, Divine Disobedience: Profiles in Catholic Radicalism (New York, 1970)Google Scholar; Segers, Mary C., “Equality and Christian Anarchism: The Political and Social Ideas of the Catholic Worker Movement,” Review of Politics, 40 (1978), pp. 196–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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63 See Ferkiss, , “Post-industrial Society.”Google Scholar

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65 For a critical view of contemporary liberalism see Dolbeare, , Directions, pp. 340–60.Google Scholar

66 On contemporary conservatism and its origins see Rossiter, Clinton, Conservatism in America (New York, 1962)Google Scholar; Nash, , Conservative Intellectual Movement, passim.Google Scholar; Young, James P., The Politics of Affluence: Ideology in the U.S. Since World War II (Scranton, Pennsylvania, 1968), pp. 85–144Google Scholar; and Zoll, Donald Atwell, Twentieth Century Political Philosophy (Engelwood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1974), pp. 118–35Google Scholar. For an authoritative collection of conservative writings see Buckley, William F. Jr., ed., American Conservative Thought in the Twentieth Century (Indianapolis, 1978)Google Scholar. For a critique see Newman, William J., The Futilitarian Society (New York, 1961).Google Scholar

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71 Kariel, , The Promise of Politics (Engelwood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1966), pp. 62–65Google Scholar. Later Kariel moved away from liberalism toward a romantic political aestheticism, in part because of liberalism's inability to confront technology. See his Beyond Liberalism: Where Relations Grow (New York, 1978), esp. pp. 18–19Google Scholar; 27–28.

72 Schlesinger, , The Vital Center (Boston, 1949).Google Scholar

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74 See Kaufman, , The Radical Liberal (New York, 1968).Google Scholar

75 See Harris, , The New Populism (New York, 1972).Google Scholar

76 Galbraith, , New Industrial State (Boston, 1972).Google Scholar

77 Galbraith, , The Affluent Society (Boston, 1958)Google Scholar; and American Capitalism: The Concept of Countervailing Power (Boston, 1956).Google Scholar

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79 See Rawls, , A Theory of Justice (Cambridge, 1971).Google Scholar On Rawls see Daniels, Norman, ed., Reading Rawls (New York, 1973)Google Scholar; de Crespigny, Anthony and Minogue, Kenneth, eds., Contemporary Political Philosophies (New York, 1974), pp. 272–89Google Scholar; and Chapman, John W., Harsanyi, John C., Van Dyke, Vernon, Fishkin, James, Rae, Douglas, Bloom, Allan, and Barber, Benjamin R., “Justice: A Spectrum of Responses to John Rawls's Theory,” American Political Science Review, 69 (1975), 588–674.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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81 See on this issue Dolbeare, , Dolbeare, , and Hadley, , American Ideologies, pp. 107–128Google Scholar, and Nash, , Conservative Intellectual Movement, passim.Google Scholar

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84 See Anarchy, Nozick, State and Utopia (New York, 1974).Google Scholar On libertarian ideas see also Hospers, John, Libertarianism: A Political Philosophy for Our Time (Santa Barbara, California, 1971).Google Scholar

85 Indeed, “The fashionable attack on technology and affluence is palpably an attack by comfortable, contented upper-class liberals” (For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, rev. ed. [New York, 1978], p. 244).Google Scholar But many Libertarians may be having second thoughts about the party's tendency to endorse new technology per se. See Libertarian Review, 8 (07–08 1979) and 8 (October, 1979).Google Scholar

86 Rand, , The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution (New York, 1971).Google Scholar

87 Kirk's most important works are The Conservative Mind (Chicago, 1953)Google Scholar, and A Program for Conservatives (Chicago, 1954).Google Scholar For a sympathetic analysis of his ideas see Nash, , Conservative Intellectual Movement, passim.Google Scholar

88 Belloc, 's The Servile StateGoogle Scholar, originally published in 1913, was recently reissued with an introduction by the conservative sociologist Robert A. Nisbet by the conservative publishers Liberty House of Indianapolis (1977). See also McCarthy, James P., Hilaire Belloc: Edwardian Radical (Indianapolis, 1978).Google Scholar However, Belloc and Chesterton were also major influences on Catholic anarchist Dorothy Day and are discussed as liberals in Lawson, , Independent Liberalism, pp. 135–47.Google Scholar

89 Quoted in Nash, , Conservative Intellectual Movement, p. 204.Google Scholar

90 Strauss, , Thoughts on Machiavelli (Seattle, 1969), p. 298.Google Scholar See also his What Is Political Philosophy? (Glencoe, Illinois, 1959), pp. 310–11.Google Scholar

91 Former Conservative United States Senator James Buckley of New York, brother of William F. Buckley, Jr., is a notable exception.

92 This paper deliberately slights the impact of foreign affairs upon the technologizing of America. But just as Jefferson's perceptions of the relationship of industry to national security led him to abandon his pastoral ideals, the upsurge of imperialism in the late nineteenth century helped create a centralized state in America and speed the abandonment of republican ideals. William Graham Sumner had seen clearly the contradiction between the Lockean laissez-faire society and imperialism in his essay, “The Conquest of the U.S. by Spain”; and one historian sums up the situation by saying that “The anti-imperialist debate provides a final footnote in the story of the years from 1877 to 1900. Many of the most outspoken opponents of annexation came from the ranks of the intellectuals and reformers who were past fifty, and had been birthright republicans … But the republic of which they were dreaming had been disappearing for years. 1896 was its funeral rite” (Weisberger, New Industrial Society, pp. 136–37).Google Scholar On Sumner generally see Minar, , Ideas and Politics, pp. 293–303.Google Scholar Useful excerpts from his “conquest” essay are accessible in Dolbeare, , Directions, pp. 244–48.Google Scholar

93 Nash, , Conservative Intellectual Movement, pp. 255, 397.Google Scholar

94 An exception to conservative ignoring of the importance of technology is the essay, “The Impact of Technology on Ethical Decision Making,” in Nisbet, Robert A., Tradition and Revolt: Historical and Sociological Essays (New York, 1970), pp. 183–202.Google Scholar

95 See especially her The Human Condition (Garden City, New York, 1959), esp. pp. 129–33, 262–63.Google Scholar On Arendt see de Crespigny, and Minogue, , Contemporary Political Philosophies, pp. 228–52.Google Scholar

96 See Harrington, Michael, Socialism (New York, 1972)Google Scholar and The Twilight of Capitalism (New York, 1976)Google Scholar; and Baran, Paul A. and Sweezy, Paul M., Monopoly Capitalism (New York, 1966).Google Scholar See also Dolbeare, , Dolbeare, and Hadley, , American Ideologies, pp. 217–54.Google Scholar

97 On the theory of the scientific technological revolution in the USSR see Ferkiss, , “Post-Industrial Society.” For an example of European Marxist thinking see Mathilde Noel, “The Phenomenon of Technology: Liberation or Alienation of Man?” in Socialist Humanism, ed. Fromm, E. (Garden City, New York, 1966), pp. 334–46.Google Scholar There is of course a voluminous European Marxist-oriented literature on the concept of a technologically conditioned “new working class” by writers such as Alain Touraine, Andre Gorz, etc.

98 Ironically, American Marxists have given little attention to the writing of Marx and Engels on the technology-associated problems of the environment, though during the height of popular interest Communist party stalwarts such as Gus Hall published tracts on the subject. For the classic views see Parsons, Harold L., ed., Marx and Engels on Ecology (Westport, Connecticut, 1977).Google Scholar

99 Bookins, , Post Scarcity Anarchism (Berkeley, 1971).Google Scholar

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104 For instance the attention given to technology and “limits to growth” in the critiques of Clecak, Peter, Radical Paradoxes: Dilemmas of the American Left 1945–1970 (New York, 1973)Google Scholar; and Crooked Paths: Reflections on Socialism, Conservatism, and the Welfare State (New York, 1977).Google Scholar

105 On the U.S. Labor party see Dolbeare, , Dolbeare, , and Hadley, , American Ideologies, pp. 256–63Google Scholar and the party periodicals, New Solidarity and The Campaigner. See also “U.S. Labor Party: Cult Surrounded by Controversy,” New York Times, 7 10 1979Google Scholar; and “One Man Leads U.S. Labor Party on Its Erratic Path,” Ibid., 8 October 1979.

106 On the counter-culture see Roszak, Theodore, The Making of a Counter-Culture (New York, 1969)Google Scholar; and, less reliably, Dickstein, Morris, Gates of Eden (New York, 1977).Google Scholar

107 See Reich, 's The Greening of America (New York, 1970)Google Scholar; and Roszak, 's edited volume Sources (New York, 1972).Google Scholar See also his Where the Wasteland Ends (New York, 1972)Google Scholar and Person/Planet (Garden City, New York, 1978).Google Scholar

108 See especially Goodman, 's The New Reformation and Notes of a Neolithic Conservative (New York, 1970).Google Scholar

109 On black liberation see Essien-Odom, E. U., Black Nationalism (Chicago, 1962)Google Scholar; Carmichael, Stokely and Hamilton, Charles V., Black Power (Baltimore, 1967)Google Scholar; Dolbeare, , Dolbeare, , and Hadley, , American Ideologies, pp. 131–63Google Scholar; and Lasch, Christopher, The Agony of the American Left (New York, 1969), pp. 115–68.Google Scholar

110 On the Chicago movement see Rendon, Armando, Chicana Manifesto (New York, 1972)Google Scholar; and Dolbeare, , Dolbeare, , and Hadley, , American Ideologies, pp. 163–68.Google Scholar

111 On the American Indian movement see Dolbeare, , Dolbeare, , and Hadley, , American Ideologies, pp. 168–78.Google Scholar

112 On white ethnicity see Novak, Michael, The Rise of the Unmeltable Ethnics (New York, 1973)Google Scholar; and Krikus, Richard, Pursuing the American Dream: White Ethnics and the New Populism (Bloomington, Indiana, 1976).Google Scholar

113 On feminism see Dolbeare, , Dolbeare, , and Hadley, , American Ideologies, pp. 177–87Google Scholar; Firestone, Shulamith, The Dialectic of Sex (New York, 1970)Google Scholar; Morgan, Robin, ed., Sisterhood Is Powerful (New York, 1970)Google Scholar; and especially Griffin, Susan, Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her (New York, 1977).Google Scholar

114 This issue is touched on in Germino, Dante, “The Contemporary Relevance of the Classics of Political Philosophy,” in Greenstein, Fred L. and Polsby, Nelson W., eds., Handbook of Political Science, vol. 1, Political Science: Scope and Theory (Reading, Massachusetts, 1975), esp. p. 274.Google Scholar A pioneering symposium, not limited to academic political theorists is Thrall, Charles A. and Stokes, Jerold M., eds., Technology, Power and Social Change (Lexington, Massachusetts, 1972).Google Scholar

115 See Ferkiss, , “Post-Industrial Society.”Google Scholar

116 Ibid.

117 Skinner, 's ideas are found most notably in his Beyond Freedom and Dignity (New York, 1972).Google Scholar On Skinner see Stillman, Peter J., “The Limits of Behaviorism: A Review Essay on B.F. Skinner's Social and Political Thought,” American Political Science Review, 69 (1973), 202–13CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Watts, Meredith W., “B.F. Skinner and the Technological Control of Social Behavior,”Google ScholarIbid., 214–27; and Skinner, B. F., “Comment,”Google ScholarIbid., 228–29. See Fuller, 's Utopia or Oblivion (New York, 1969)Google Scholar. On Fuller see Kuhns, William, The Post-Industrial Prophets: Interpretations of Technology (New York, 1971), pp. 220–46.Google Scholar

118 Ellul's major work is The Technological Society (New York, 1964).Google Scholar On Ellul see Lasch, Christopher, The World of Nations (New York, 1974), pp. 270–93Google Scholar; and Kuhns, , Post-Industrial Prophets, pp. 82–111.Google Scholar

119 See Stover, Carl F., ed., The Technological Order (Detroit, 1963)Google Scholar, for an early example of Ellul's influence.

120 Winner, , Autonomous Technology: Technics Out Of Control as a Theme in Political Thought (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1977).Google Scholar

121 Ibid., pp. 89–92.

122 For Heilbroner, see his Inquiry into the Human Prospect (New York, 1974)Google Scholar; and “The Human Prospect: Second Thoughts,” Futures, 7 (1975), 31–40.Google Scholar See also Gilkey, Langdon, “Robert L. Heilbroner's View of History,” Zygon, 10 (1975), 215–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Ferkiss, Victor, “Christianity and the Fear of the Future,”Google ScholarIbid., 250–62.

123 See Ophul, 's Ecology and the Politics of Scarcity: Prolegomena to a Political Theory of the Steady State (San Francisco, 1977)Google Scholar; and Allen, William R., “Scarcity and Order: The Hobbesian Problem and the Human Resolution,” Social Science Quarterly, 57 (1976), 263–75.Google Scholar

124 In this general genre are the works of Anderson, Walt, A Place of Power: The American Episode in Human Evolution (Santa Monica, California, 1976)Google Scholar; and Miles, Rufus E. Jr., Awakening from the American Dream: The Social and Political Limits to Growth (New York, 1977).Google Scholar

125 See Ferkiss, Victor, “Technology Assessment and Appropriate Technology,” National Forum, 58 (Fall 1978), 3–7.Google Scholar

126 See Schumacher, 's Small Is Beautiful (New York, 1973)Google Scholar and A Guide to the Perplexed (New York, 1977).Google Scholar Schumacher has had strong influence on the conservatively oriented neodistributist thinker Andrew Greeley. See his No Bigger Than Necessary (New York, 1977).Google Scholar

127 For Kohr see his Breakdown of Nations (New York, 1978)Google Scholar (originally published 1957).

128 See Lovins, Amory, Soft Energy Paths: Toward a Durable Peace (San Francisco, 1977)Google Scholar, and “Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken,” Foreign Affairs, 55 (1976), 65–96.Google Scholar A critical view of Lovins is Perry, Harry and Streiter, Sally H., Multiple Paths for Energy Policy (New York, 1977).Google Scholar

129 See most notably his Poverty of Power (New York, 1976).Google Scholar

130 See his Nature and Civilization, Some Implications for Politics (Itasca, Illinois, 1977).Google Scholar Related literature includes Edmunds, Stahrl W., Alternate U.S. Futures (Santa Monica, California, 1978)Google Scholar; and Moor, Rudolf and Brownstein, Robert, Environment and Utopia: A SynthesisGoogle Scholar (New York, n.d.).

131 See his The Limits of Satisfaction (Toronto, 1976).Google Scholar See also Satin, Mark, New Age Politics (West Vancouver, 1978).Google Scholar

132 See Devall, William B., “Reformist Environmentalism,” Humboldt Journal of Social Science, 6 (1979), 129–58.Google Scholar

133 See The Old Ways (San Francisco, 1977), pp. 57–66.Google Scholar

134 For example see his “The Liberation of Nature?” Inquiry, 20 (1977), 83–131.Google Scholar

135 Callenbach, Ernest, Ecotopia (New York, 1977).Google Scholar

136 Traditional American attitudes toward growth and current changes in attitudes are discussed in Cooper, Chester L., ed., Growth in America (Westport, Connecticut, 1976).Google Scholar