A Webinar on ‘The Social Context of Technological Experiences in India,’ was presented by Dr. Anant Kamath, a social scientist based in Bangalore, India. He was Assistant Professor at Azim Premji University, Bangalore, where he taught development, social research, and technological change. The presentation was held over CISCO Webex Meetings on Wednesday the 26th of August, 2020 at 3.30 pm. Professor J. Devika, CDS, was the moderator of the webinar.
Dr Anant spoke about his recent book, released last month, which is about how technological outcomes are contingent on the social context they are set within. This book demonstrates how technology and society shape one another and that there are intrinsic connections between technological experiences and social relationships. It provides evidence of how innovations such as industrial technologies, communication technologies, and workplace technologies are not only about strides in science and engineering but also about politics and sociology on the ground. The book contributes to the growing research in innovation studies and technology policy that establishes how technological processes and outcomes are contingent on complex sociological variables. The author offers an inclusive, holistic, and interdisciplinary approach to understanding the field of innovation and technological change and development by involving various methodologies (network analysis, archival work, oral histories, focus group discussions, interviews). The book employs an array of theoretical concepts and methodological tools to examine the technology–society nexus among three urban groups in India (traditional caste-based handloom weavers, subaltern Dalit communities, and informal female labour). The author also calls for rethinking our ingrained technological determinism, re-formulating the idea of the “digital divide,” and re-assessing popular notions around a “knowledge economy” or “information society” and the policy formulations that incline towards these. He expands the question “what technologies do people encounter?” to include “what kind of people do technologies encounter?” All this only reiterates that technology has always been an integral part of being human, and that we have always been in a “technological era,” a title we attach exclusively to our contemporary era.