THE SOCIAL IMPERATIVE: CONTRADICTIONS OF SOCIALIST STATE TECHNOLOGICAL POLICY

In: International sociology: the journal of the International Sociological Association, Band 5, Heft 1, S. 27-38

Abstract

This article examines the limits of the present technological policy of state socialism. Problems of guided social and technological change in a highly centralised society are critically discussed. The lines of argument developed in this paper touch on highly sociological substantive areas: on state policy on new technologies, on welfare provisions, on education and occupations, on industrial relations and on the environment. It also identifies several dilemmas of statist technological policy which, in a socialist society, must follow social imperatives. It arrives at the conclusion that the crucial condition for keeping the social promises given by the state and party authorities is at present participatory democracy on a micro as well as macro-level of society that is shaped by the technological revolution.