TECHNOLOGY and SOCIETY in the 20th CENTURY

By Peter F. Drucker

Technological activity during the 20th century has changed in its structure, methods
and scope. This over-all change in the nature of technological work during this century has
three separate though closely related aspects: (1) structural changes – the
professionalization, specialization and institutionalization of technological work; (2) changes
in methods – the new relationship between technology and science, the emergence of
systematic research and the new concept of innovation; and (3) the ‘systems approach’.
Before, the structure of technological work was based on experiences – a craft. Individuals
usually working alone and without much formal education practiced it. Today, it has become
a profession, requiring thorough grounding in scientific knowledge than just natural genius.
Technology is further improved through field specialization and institutionalization of work in
research laboratories.
Today technological work is, for the most part, consciously based on scientific effort.
In short, it is not just a simple application of science to products and processes. At best this
is a gross over-simplification. Science, even where most relevant, provides only the starting
point for technological efforts. The greatest improvements in technological work would be the
development of organized and systematic study and the management of research teams.
Technological research has not only a different methodology from technological
invention; it leads to a different approach, known as innovation – or the purposeful and
deliberate attempt to bring about, through technological means, a distinct change in the way
man lives and in his environment.
The systems approach is a host of formerly unrelated activities and processes as all
parts of a larger, integrated whole such as the emergence of automation concept and mass
production. It has tremendously increased the power of technology. We increasingly decide
first what end use we want before choosing the materials and processes to be used.
Advancement became not just a mere accident such as the Newton’s apple but a need.
At the beginning of the 20 th century, modern technology barely existed for the great
majority of people. In terms of geography, the fruits of Industrial Revolution were largely
confined in the West. It was indeed, almost an axiom – for Westerner and Asian alike – that
modern technology was, for better or worse, the birthright of the white man and restricted to
him. Even in the most highly developed countries, modern technology played only a minor
role in the lives of most people, majority of who are still farmers or artisans living either in the
countryside or in small towns.
The geographical explosion of technology has created the first worldwide civilization;
and it is indeed a technological civilization. Modern technology in this century has made men
consider old concepts, (1) position of women in the society; (2) remade basic
institutions – organization of work, education and change in warfare; (3) changed the
physical environment of man from one of nature to the man-made big city; and (4)
changed man’s horizon – offering both the utopia of a world without poverty and the threat
of the final destruction of humanity.
Technology remakes social institutions. Women are no longer trapped inside their
homes but are now given the chance to explore their capabilities through education and
equal rights of employment. It also started to replace manual work with large machinery and
different systems innovation. It dramatically cut in the cost of production, thus, costs of
manufactured goods. Also, education has become a central economic resource of
technological society. Education is therefore rapidly becoming a center of spending and
investment in the industrially developed society. In a completely technological civilization
education replaces money and rank as the index of status and opportunities. In the darker
side, it also changed the nature of warfare and the character of war as an institution.

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 Urbanization has come to be considered the index of economic and social
development. Modern society requires that an almost infinite number of specialists in diverse
field of knowledge be easy to find, easily accessible and quickly and economically available
for new and changing work. Technology has also made the earth so small that travel and
information can be done in just a glimpse. Above all these, men are becoming more aware
that the major questions regarding technology are not technical but human questions. We
are coming to understand that knowledge of the history and evolution of technology is
essential to an understanding of human history.

Summary of “Industrialization in the West, 1930s to the 1970s”

By G.N. von Tunzelmann

I. GROWTH 1930-1970
The USA has become the leader in economy and industrial productivity. Prior to the
war, its leadership was based primarily on managerial capacity (i.e. competences in the
organization of production and in marketing). Its leadership, on the other hand, was
strengthened by the two world wars and was evident in its market size, wealth, skillful labor
force, technology, and management. Consequently, the USA had a dominant role in
reconstructing the world economy and had considerable power to open markets on the war-
stricken countries to trade and to impose norms of capitalist America. At the same time, the
“Iron Curtain” came down; thus, forming First World, Second World, and Third World
countries.
In explaining growth, economists dealt with the laws of supply and demand. Most
explanations can be classified as cost-oriented and demand-oriented. Moreover, growth at
the national (macroeconomic) level heavily depended on the sectored level. Hence,
industries were pressured to be more productive. Growth in this period is characterized by
its fluctuations. For example, the Great Slump occurred in the 1930s while the postwar
boom followed during the 1950s and 1960s. In these period also key institutions such as
the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, GATT, OEEC (later the OECD) were formed.
Problems like tariff barriers were encountered in the 1930s while the postwar boom can be
accounted from the long waves (innovation-led, investment-led, labor-oriented, materials-
oriented) that had occurred.

II. TECHNOLOGY
As the economy grew, so did technology. At this time, product and process
innovations come earliest in the lifecycle of industries, with process innovations appearing
in greater numbers once the basic designs and type of goods became standardized.
Hence, product and process innovation complement each other. These innovations were
commercialized; consequently, it became a major contributor in the growth of national
economies.
The organized research (R & D) and science played a vital role in the advancement
of technology. With funding from governments and industries, new technologies, more
innovations, better products were generated and commercialized. In addition, there had
been advancements in technology in the chemicals-related sector, in the
electromechanical sector, and later the electronics sector. But perhaps the best
contribution of technology to economic growth was with regard to mass production. From
the assembly line (mechanization of transfer) of Ford, it later progressed into
mechanization of control and automation. Hence, machines became integrated to form a
factory system that paved the way for new industries such as motor vehicles, artificial
fibers, chemicals and household durables.

III. ORGANIZATION

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 With the aid of technology, flow processing became faster. Time was saved via
reduced downtime, faster throughput and better machine coordination. The amount of
labor needed was cut down. Furthermore, industrial unions were formed to resolve the
problems of the laborers and to coordinate disputes with management. In Taylor’s
Principles of Scientific Management, he argued that the needs of employers and
employees could be reconciled.
As the market and industry grew, a hierarchical and centralized form of management
evolved. Some types of managerial structure are the U-form (Unitary Form), M-form
(Multidivisional form) and the so-called “family capitalism” (predominantly in UK). It should
be clarified that the nature of production organization is constrained by the institutions or
ideology within which it is located in particular countries. Further growth of the economy
and the industry led to the formation and evolution of multinational companies (MNCs).

IV. FINANCE
Capital and finance are important in industrialization and economic growth. For this
reason, firms played an active role in innovation and production since they are the ones
responsible for giving the funds necessary. Funding, moreover, can be obtained from an
external source. The separation that opened up between ownership and management in
the corporation in the late 19 th century created possibilities for the aggressive introduction
of financial empires into the ownership of the industry. In the postwar period, ownership of
the industrial stocks and shares, especially in the USA and UK, has moved toward large
financial pools; notably insurance companies, pension funds and mutual associations.
Because of the growing importance of finance, banking systems have evolved very
differently across countries.

V. PRODUCTS
The counterpart of mass production is mass consumption. In order to support
consumption, innovative financial and distributional practices and marketing methods must
be done. For example, Henry Ford pioneered the provision of generous customer credit
and establishing networks of dealership. In the marketing aspect, competition based on
pricing was discouraged; and instead became based on the “quality” of the product. To
persuade customers that the differences were of significance was the role of the
advertising industry.
Profits depended partly on expanding sales, raising market share, and reducing cost.
Expanding sales of new products at a fast pace was crucial to their market performance.
To ensure a good market performance, a good understanding of the demand is necessary.
The demand is generated from two markets: one is for the standardized goods and the
other for luxury items. The rising of luxury markets came about when some citizens
became more affluent. As a result, they had less desire for standardized which best suited
the conditions of mass production, and increasingly sought status goods.

VI. GOVERNMENT POLICY

As the economy, industry, and technology grew, it became necessary to legislate new
policies and revise the existing ones. Policies regarding technology (Science and
Technology Policy), organization (Competition Policy), and demand (Macroeconomic
Policy) were formed.

The First, Second and Third Wave

Alvin Toffler
The First Wave civilization is considered to be that whose livelihood centers on
agriculture. The Second Wave civilization, on the other hand, is that which was brought
about by the industrial revolution. In First Wave societies, the energy base was that which
are renewable namely that from the sun, water, wind and even from animals whereas its

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 successor exploited those which are non-renewable mainly the fossil fuels. With regard to
the technology being used, the former made use of that technology which is used to
enhance the human and animal muscles while the latter took advantage of a technology,
which have sensory capabilities far better than that of humans. Lastly was a change in the
manner of production and distribution of goods. In First Wave societies, goods were
produced on a custom basis and were distributed through merchants and caravans while
Second Wave societies created the idea of mass production and through advancements in
transport such as railroads made use of the chain-store system. All these three systems, the
energy system, the production system and the distribution system make up the techno-
sphere.
The change from an agricultural techno-sphere into an industrial one called for
change in the socio-sphere, which centers on the family. Before, families were multi-
generational or termed to in Western Europe as an extended family characterized by the
inclusion of not only the parents and their children but also uncles, aunts or grandparents.
This is because the family is firmly rooted into the agricultural lands but due to the shift into
an industrial techno-sphere, the family stripped off its unnecessary members leaving only the
parents and their children – the nuclear family. This type of family is one of the central
structures of Second Wave societies.
Another central structure was mass education that was formulated to answer the
need for more efficient factory workers. Its covert purpose was to practice the students
punctuality, obedience and repetitive work.
The high amount of capital required to sustain mass production paved the way in
forming the third central structure, the corporation. The concept of limited liability also
enhanced the popularity of this central structure. This states that when a business
experienced bankruptcy, the amount of money the investors are liable of is the same as that
which they have invested in that business. The world’s first billion-dollar corporation is the
United States Steel founded in 1901.
The info-sphere, on the other hand, centers on communication. In the First Wave
civilization, the message sending systems were limited to the rich and the powerful. The
Second Wave required massive movement of information due to its technology and mass
production. The first method introduced was that of the postal system. The long time
required for message transmission gave rise to the telephone and the telegraph. It was
then realized that these two channels were likewise inefficient since only a few can
communicate. This was resolved by the advent of mass media.
Another significant change brought about by the Second Wave was the splitting of
two aspects of humans: production and consumption that was once united during the First
Wave. This led to the production of the market that allowed the site of exchange of goods. It
also made civilization to be based on contractual ties and caused commercial self-
interest within the members of the society.
The Second Wave societies had six underlying principles namely standardization,
specialization, synchronization, concentration, maximization and centralization.
Industrial revolution called for standardization, which was first realized by Theodore Vail as
he applied standardized routing and founded the American Telephone and Telegram
Company. Frederick Winslow Taylor applied standardization in the steps to be done by
factory workers. Standardization was also applied in hiring procedures (standardized IQ tests
by Binet and Terman), in mass media (repression of minority languages), in weights and
measures (the metric system and a new calendar), in the market (standardization of money
and prices – price standardization by AT Stewart in 1825 in his dry-goods store and
repression of non-governmental currencies).
Specialization or the diversification of work eliminated diversity in language, leisure
and life-style and led to professionalization even political agitation.
Synchronization is wholly based on the idea that time is money with the machines as
the basis of time. Factories required punctuality. Length of holidays, coffee breaks and the

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 like was standardized. It even required specialists such as schedulers. Even the daily
activities were synchronized!
Concentration is exemplified in the energy sources (the fossil fuels), the population
(concentrated in the urban areas), work (instead of homes, factories) and in the market
(monopoly of a certain business).
Maximization is demonstrated in generating profit and in mass production with the
latter leading to the creation of the GNP (Gross National Product) which measures the
scale of an economy.
Centralization is illustrated especially in management wherein a central government
is established. Even institutions are centralized such as the central bank. This was based on
the Bank of England founded on 1694 by William Paterson which controlled the
circulation of money.
The fact that the energy bases of Second Wave societies are unsustainable led to
the establishment of the Third Wave Techmologies.
Regarding the energy bases, the following are the potential energy sources: (1)
photovoltaic cells; (2) wind-mill carrying balloons in the tropopause by the Soviet; (3) burning
garbage in New York; (4) plants harnessing electricity from coco waste by the Philippine
Islands; (4) geothermal power in Italy, Iceland and New Zealand; (5) wave power of Honshu,
Japan; (6) solar heating units; (7) hydrogen-powered bus built by Daimler-Benz in Scuttgart,
Germany; (8) hydrogen-powered aircraft under construction at Lockheed, California.
Looking at energy storage, the General Motors invented a more efficient battery for
electric cars and NASA invented the Redox storage system, cheaper than lead batteries.
The Third Wave technologies include (1) quantum electronics, (2) information theory, (3)
molecular biology, (4) oceanics, (5) nucleonics, (6) ecology and (7) space sciences. These
gave rise to the following industries: (1) computers and data processing, (2) aerospace, (3)
sophisticated petrochemicals, (4) semi-conductors, and (5) advanced communications.
The Third Wave gave rise to four clusters of related industries namely: electronics
and computers, space industry, sea explorations and the biological industries
especially genetic engineering.
Advancements in electronics include hand-held calculators, diode watches and TV-screen
games. Today, the market is attacked by more sophisticated devices such as MP3 players,
digital cameras and of course cellular phones. It also exploited the principles of light giving
rise to fiber optics and a shift to solid-state physics.
One significant technology in the space industry was space manufacturing and Dr.
Gerard O’Neill’s idea of space cities. There is a current research on creating transparent
aerogel as an insulating material
(http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/msad26oct98_1.htm).
Aquaculture, extracting mineral deposits and construction of aquavillages and
floating factories are concerns regarding sea explorations. Dr. Lawrence Raymond
demonstrated algae with high oil content due to the need of oil reserves. Devices were
invented for better ways of walking around the sea such as the Oceanic Explorer
(http://www.ise.bc.ca/news.html).
The biological industry focuses on certain microbes that can enhance mineral
extraction, alleviate if not eradicate pollution, cause or cure diseases. It also centers on how
to improve the world’s food supply.
All these technological advancements may also bring about adverse effects not only
to the environment but also to humans themselves. These may lead to pollution, production
of mutants, toxic leakage and others. These are realized by the techno-rebels which believe
that this new technology is bad to everybody.

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