Richard E. Sclove is Executive Director of The Loka Institute in Amherst, MA, and the founder of FASTnet (the Federation of Activists on Science & Technology Network). A recipient of a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, he is also a research fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies.
"This is an important book, one for which the community of science
and technology studies scholars has been waiting. In clear prose,
using numerous salient examples, Richard Sclove provides a
philosophic and practical foundation for participatory technology.
I am looking forward to using this book in several of my courses
(undergraduate and adult education) because I think it teaches the
vital lesson that all citizens are experts at understanding the
impact of technological change and that all citizens can become
experts at affecting technological development." --Ruth Schwartz
Cowan, Ph.D., Past President of the Society for the History of
Technology, author of More Work for Mother: The Ironies of
Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave,
Professor of History and Director of Women's Studies, State
University of New York at Stonybrook "No more intimidation! We
citizens don't have to stand aside and leave it to the experts'
when it comes to complex technological questions, argues Richard
Sclove. His rich examples permit each of us to imagine a rewarding
role in shaping the technologies that can serve our values. In the
quiet citizen-led revolution of hope now transforming communities
across America, this book will be an essential tool to strengthen
democratic public problem-solving. Sclove gives us a compelling
moral argument and a practical guide to shaping our future. Bravo!"
--Frances Moore Lappe and Paul Martin DuBois, Ph.D., Co-Directors
of the Center for Living Democracy and Coauthors of The Quickening
of America: Rebuilding Our Nation, Remaking Our Lives "Democracy
and Technology is remarkably ambitious, superbly accessible, and
urgently needed--a gold mine of fundamental insights and suggestive
provocations concerning the reckless global rush to technological
deliverance. At a time when democracy has eroded not only in
practice, but also in imagination, Richard Sclove compels us to
envision a different world. This is the most far-reaching work I
have seen on the political nature of technological change." --David
F. Noble, author of Forces of Production: A Social History of
Machine Tool Automation and America by Design: Science, Technology,
and the Rise of Corporate Capitalism, York University, Toronto
"Richard Sclove's arguments for making technology more responsive
to democratically decided social concerns are at once hopeful and
tough-minded. Those alarmed--as I am--by global capitalism's
potential for ecological, social, and political damage will find
here the seeds for a humane, alternative social order, as well as a
plausible strategy for getting there. A much needed book!" --Robert
L. Heilbroner, Norman Thomas Professor Emeritus of Economics at The
New School for Social Research; author of Visions of the Future
"Democracy and Technology is a compelling and comprehensive case
for a democratic politics of technology. Drawing on political
theory, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, and the history of
technology, Richard Sclove shows the importance of extending our
political attention to the technological setting of our common
lives. The argument is lucid, the sensibilities are humane, and the
conclusions are important. I strongly recommend this book to anyone
interested in the theory and practice of democracy." --Joshua
Cohen, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy and Politics Science at MIT
"A welcome addition to the essential debate on how technology and
democracy can flourish together, the book provides a provocative
and thorough analysis of the challenges facing us on the threshold
of the 21st Century." --U.S. Congressman George E. Brown, Jr.,
Ranking Democratic Member and Former Chairman, House Science
Committee "Democracy and technology, and the way these two
institutions affect each other, is perhaps the most pressing
problem of the coming decade. Neither Luddite nor Technophile,
Sclove takes a close and analytical look at possible solutions.
Instead of attacks and counterattacks, Sclove directs our attention
to solutions that might actually work." --Howard Rheingold, author
of The Virtual Community "The panoramic sweep of Sclove's proposed
reforms... make the book useful for contemporary social issues
classes where students are exposed to these ideas for the first
time." --D.L. Feldman, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
..".timely and valuable...highly original....Tightly reasoned and
far-ranging in examples and erudition, this book requires and
rewards a close reading. Such relevant matters as community,
education, energy, politics, and work earn cogent and illuminating
discussion....he insists that we have no healthy option but to
struggle for a more democratic technological order. If we are soon
or ever to achieve this, much credit will be owed his seminal work
and a publisher civic-minded enough to bring out an inexpensive
edition." --Arthur B. Shostak, Drexel University, Annals of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science "Democracy and
Technology is one book whose context I knew would be of profound
interest to me. After reading it, I was not disappointed....It is a
book that should be read by those people who desire to understand
the subtle and not so subtle relationships that exist between not
only technology and democracy, but economics and technology,
economics and society, society and technology." --Michael Kreek,
President, Geosoft: The Company; Founder and Director, Institute
for Vernacular Philosophy in Human Economy .."..The detail of
Sclove's critique of conventional economic reasoning and of his
strategy for democratizing technology makes this book original and
gives it an importance of its own...." --Kenneth Westhues,
Sociology Prof. associated with The Working Centre, Kitchener,
Ontario in Catholic New Times "Sclove's unifying--and to me,
incontrovertible--premise is that a democratic society worthy of
the name does not passively allow technological innovation to erode
democratic processes and institutions. The fact that we
persistently, if often resignedly, allow this erosion to occur
underscores the significance of his message." --Daniel Sarewitz,
director of Geological Society of America's Institute for
Environmental Education in Science and Technology
..". the book is a call for renewed activism towards more
democratic, egalitarian, and ecological social/technological
structures - the idea of having government in our hands rather than
simply 'off our backs'. As such, it is recommended for activists
and citizens concerned about technology, environment and society,
and for policy-makers." Thomas C. Hilde, Texas A& M University.
Canadian Philosophical Review ..".Democracy and Technology is a
book of Whitmanesque exuberance, with Sclove's enthusiasm tor
democracy as a way of life cascading forth on every page. Sclove's
treatment of them (familiar themes) is as creative and artful as
the society that he would like to see, filled with empirical
evidence to show, in detail, that the possibilities as well as the
problems are real." --Bart Schultz, University of Chicago. "The
great value of this book is the organization of...familiar thoughts
into a coherent philosophical structure, a structure that can be
used as the basis for evaluating actions proposed for the solutions
to specific problems. It would be interesting to use them to
develop an evaluation spreadsheet to rate Vice President Gore's
proposal for reinvention of government, Speaker Gingrich's
'Contract with America, ' or the North American Free Trade
Agreement....Sclove's book, Democracy and Technology, considers a
question of national importance. It is especially useful since it
gives a conceptual format with which to consider a set of complex
and interconnected issues. I hope that it will be widely read and
debated." --Keith Jones in The Journal of Urban Technology "Much to
be admired, in addition to his coming to terms with multiple
literatures, is Sclove's generally fair-minded search for common
ground among all those--social activists, social thinker,
academics--who share a broad commitment to democratic technology."
--David Hakken, Dept. Of Sociology and Anthropology, SUNY Institute
for Technology in Science as Culture
"This search for a 'democratic politics of technology' represents a
serious attempt to apply 'strong democracy' concepts to decision
making about technological innovation." -- "Booklist"
"Modern views of technology and its benefits contrasts with
production systems, economics and notions of democracy to provide a
scholarly yet accessible college-level discussion. DEMOCRACY AND
TECHNOLOGY's examples from societies around the world provide a
solid foundation for understanding the politics and rountines of
work, technological advancement, and its impact on societies."
--"The Bookwatch"
"Richard Sclove argues convincingly that the two most powerful
forces of the past two centuries--democracy and technology--are on
a collision course....If democracy is to survive, communities,
corporations, and governments must work together to broaden
decision making." --"Wired"
"Modern views of technology and its benefits contrast with
production systems, economics and notions of democracy to provide a
scholarly yet accessible college-level discussion." Democracy and
Technology"'s examples for societies around the world provide a
solid foundation for understanding the politics and routines of
work, technological advancement, and its impact on societies."
--"The Midwest Book Review"
"Scholarly yet accessible... "Democracy and Technology"'s examples
from societies around the world provide a solid foundation for
understanding the politics and routines of work, technological
advancement, and its impact on societies." --"The Bookwatch"
"Would make an excellent text for many STS cources." --"Science,
Technology and Society"
.,."Sclove offers readers a set of analytical tools to use toguide
our efforts to reclaim social control of our technological future."
--"The Year's Work in English Studies"
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