Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology

Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology is a 1992 nonfiction book by Neil Postman, a professor of education and communication. The book examines the influence of technology in society, particularly its rapid spread, far-reaching effects, and unquestioned acceptance. The last point is significant: Postman is not unequivocally opposed to technology but worries that it is not sufficiently scrutinized.

The author begins with an overview of technology and how it works culturally. He reviews the history of cultures as they relate to technology from basic tool-using, to a technocracy, to what he calls a “Technopoly” in which technology dominates the culture. In this last stage, technology overwhelms a culture’s attempts to control it. The society turns to technology itself to aid in their efforts, only to solidify technology’s dominance.

From this point on, Postman focuses on the United States, the world’s only Technopoly (Postman capitalizes the word throughout) at the time the book was written, and explains what made it so amenable to the spread of technology. For instance, the early European settlers’ focus on dominating nature led to their acceptance of technology that eventually dominates human progress. An extended example he uses is medical technology; he shows us why its use in America is more prevalent than in Europe. He also traces the rise of computers in modern society and how they have been accepted virtually without criticism.

In addition, Postman discusses what he calls “invisible technologies.” These are means of controlling and manipulating information that are not electronic or machine-like in form. Two examples are statistics and fill-in forms. These and other techniques have created “Scientism”—a worldview that puts its faith in the power of science not only to research social issues but to provide meaning and moral guidance to people. Postman disputes the ability of technology to accomplish these things.

He concludes by describing how technology has drained our culture’s symbols and narrative of any meaning—not by attacking them but by trivializing them. This is done in the name of commerce with the aid of technology. The final chapter consists of Postman’s prescriptions for dealing with this phenomenon. While there are different ways to resist it, he chooses education, presenting a curriculum he thinks would be most effective. Harboring no illusions that this can actually bring an end to the current US Technopoly, he hopes it will at least get people to think harder about the choices we face with technology and regard it more critically.