APS301 Quiz #3 Study Questions

You are strongly encouraged to plan your answers to questions on your quizzes and final
exam. This may be accomplished by answering the following questions:
What are the principal points you need to make in order to build a complete answer to
the question?
Is each point relevant to the question or am I adding unnecessary details?
Are the essential points arranged in a logical order so that each point builds on the
previous ones and prepares for the points that follow? (If necessary you can rearrange
them using arrows or by renumbering the points.)
Do the points jointly provide a coherent and complete answer to the question?
Once you have planned your answer, write it out and check it over.
Week 7: The Transformation of Technological Knowledge (Liv. Lab. Ch. 4, Our
War first two subsection Ch. 4)
Week 8 and 9: The Transformation of the First Generation of Industrial Societies as
a Consequence of Knowledge Separating from Experience (Liv. Lab. Ch.6)
1. Explain how the process of industrialization created a growing awareness of the
limitations of technological knowing and doing embedded in experience and culture.
Explain how these limitations were overcome by the separation of this knowing and
doing from experience and culture.
The traditional technical knowing and doing was embedded in experience and culture by
means of symbolization. Industrialization brought four limitations to this approach to
knowing and doing.

A range of phenomena associated with industrial technologies either were not

available to the senses or became so over time, limiting access by means of
experience and culture. Example of chemistry and electricity
Redirection of the process of symbolization towards different ends. Human beings
evolved the symbolization of experience and the building of cultures to make sense
of and live good lives in the world. In the technological and economical orders,
people had to think in terms of balancing flows of matter, energy and making
profitable transformations of inputs into outputs. What mattered now with the
technical division of labor was not putting the workers job into context of a culture
based connectedness but rather the technical 'value' and 'meaning' of flows and
transformations within the local technology-based-connectedness of a technically
divided activity.
Culture based reasoning became inefficient. Before industrialization, new
experiences were symbolized by comparing them to similar analogous previous
experiences. Industrialization created many situations that were unlike anything that
had gone before and which could not be dealt with by further internal differentiation

of a cultural order. This created too many new situations that were without
precedents
Competition resulted in diminishing returns: At first, firms stayed competitive by
making obvious improvements to their machines. They also reorganized their
factories to increase efficiency.
Ex: Arranging the machines in a more efficient manner. Eventually, it became
harder to find areas of improvement. Led to diminishing returns, as more people
were spending more time making smaller and smaller improvements

To overcome this limitations, the technical doing went from being embedded in experience
and culture to being separated from experience and culture, relying now on knowledge
separated in domains, separating knowers from doers and controllers, and separating
experiences from context. This way, phenomena not seen by the senses could be understood
by analyzing the physical and chemical theory that lied behind, workers could now focus
on their job even if it was separated from any context, as they were now trained to do so,
and new experiences were no longer learned by symbolization but rather were taught in
schools.
2. Why did the separation of technological knowing and doing from experience and
culture undermine and eventually destroy all technological traditions?
Technological traditions before industrialization relied on a skill acquisition model based
on experience. (NACPE)
1. Novice
Apprentice is taught basic rules to follow
Apprentice deals with all situations by applying these basic rules
2. Advanced beginner
The apprentice differentiates his experiences, and notices that there are many
situations in which the basic rules dont seem adequate
The apprentice is taught more complex rules
3. Competent
As the apprentice continues to differentiate his experiences and builds his
metaconscious knowledge, he develops two distinct reactions to situations
o He applies the rules to simple situations
o For more complex situations, he has to stop and analyze the situation,
and apply his problem solving skills to determine the correct course of
action for dealing with a situation
This is marked by a greater emotional involvement, as the apprentice is proud
when he takes the correct course of action, and disappointed when he made the
wrong decision

4. Proficient
The apprentice has now built up his metaconscious knowledge so that he has
now developed models of different situations that he can compare new
situations to, however, he still must think about how to solve these problems
5. Expert
The apprentice has now built up his metaconscious knowledge based on his
experiences that he can now intuitively (metaconsciously) take the correct
course of action to solve any situation
The system undermined this model because Culture based reasoning became inefficient.
Before industrialization, new experiences were symbolized by comparing them to similar
analogous previous experiences. Industrialization created many situations that were unlike
anything that had gone before and which could not be dealt with by further internal
differentiation of a cultural order. This created too many new situations that were without
precedents
3. Explain how the entrepreneurial firms of the 19th century experienced the
limitations of technological knowing and doing embedded in experience and culture,
and how they overcame these limitations.
This can be explained by understanding the learning curve.
Phase 1: Have a few textile factories to compete with put out systems, to stay in business
they had to mechanize
Phase 2: textile factories vs textile factories, compete by improving machines.
improvements were easily made, almost everyone could think of how to improve.
Phase 3: improvements get really hard to make, machines are really complicated (you need
to make inductions about what's happening) to deal with it, economies of scale had to be
used: this means that scale operation is important (small improvements are expensive, the
fixed cost per machine to improve competitive advantage drops as the size of the factory
increases) larger companies get a competitive advantage
4. Scientific disciplines, much like technological specialties, depend on a knowing and
doing separated from experience and culture. However, this form of knowing and
doing does not replace the knowing and doing embedded in experience. Explain why
this is the case, using the example of learning physics in high school. Explain why
physicists continue to rely on parallel modes of knowing and doing (one embedded in,
and the other separated from, experience and culture).
The one separated from experience and culture is not real, it just exits in a domain where all
other category of phenomena are ignored, and will never be a complete picture of real
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world. Knowing embedded in experience and culture is developed through metaconscious

knowledge and thus is related to the real world and correlates several category of
phenomena, thus allowing us to understand experiences in relation to others.
EXAMPLE: High school physics are not intuitive, we can't develop Newtonian physics
based on our experience or use them to learn how to ride a bike. Physicists still rely on
parallel models because, in order to use the separated model, they need boundary
conditions and this can only be determined by the embedded model.
5. Compare the strengths and weaknesses of evolving a technology on the basis of
technological tradition with doing so on the basis of modern technical specialties.
Basis of technological traditions:
Strengths: since its embedded in experience, when you get to the proficiency level,
you do not need problem solving skills, you can just make a conclusion based on an
observation
Weaknesses: can't use knowledge of one field into other (shipbuilder doesn't know
about mines)
Basis of modern technical specialties:
Strengths: you can use knowledge in different fields (material properties can be
applied into different fields), etc
Weaknesses: it can only deal with situations where there is only one category of
phenomena, recall the triple abstraction of the worker. It is not intuitive, learn it in
school, not by experience. Can't look at a beam and say if its safe or not, cant
determine boundary conditions.
6. How did the separation of technological knowledge from experience and culture
transform the technological cycle?
-cycle went from being linear to being cyclical
-linear: model T example. invention, innovation, application, diffusion, displacement
-completely planned and cyclical: mustang example: extrapolate trends in society, design to
optimize several components by means of teams based on a techno structure. Also, this
process takes time and thus market has to be monitored constantly, and whatever is
observed affects the design.
7. The transformation of the technological cycle as a result of technological knowing
and doing separating themselves from experience and culture was accompanied by
major changes in the entrepreneurial firms of the 19th century, transforming them into
the modern corporation. Briefly explain the principal changes.

Incorporation of techno structure:

o Many people with highly specialized knowledge contribute knowledge.
o Dependence on knowing and doing separated from experience and culture
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o Organization was function based before. People are now evaluated based on
skills and specialization instead of experience. There are a lot of people now
with complementary skills. There are committees.

Change in operating capital:

o There were a few families owning small entrepreneurial firms but when
corporations came around, more capital was needed so there were more
shareholders.

Change in structure of ownership: There are battles over who has how much
control. There are more than one shareholders. This is done to bring in more
operating capital.

Change in control: change in ownership due to multiple shareholders. Decisions are

no longer made by one owner. There is a committee (board of directors) that has
representatives of the owners. They present progress reports etc to the owners
before decisions are made but if owners are still dissatisfied, they can choose to vote
themselves.

New goals: changing the structure of the organization changes the goals. The goal is
no longer profit maximization but to
1. protect the autonomy of the techno structure from banks, and shareholders
2. encourage growth (there is internal pressure and external pressure. internal
has to do with employees wanting more salaries and external has to do with
the public wanting the company to grow)
3. technical virtuosity: wanting the latest and greatest technology to push
boundaries
4. other aspects of the firm (i.e. management wants to stay in control)

Planned obsolescence: taking things out of the market so you can introduce new
products (structural feature of technological cycle: decommissioning). Planned
obsolescence no longer corresponds to human needs.
Planning: planning become essential for corporations to exist
Diversification: product diversification allows you to minimize risk

8. Is the separation of knowing and doing from experience and culture limited to
technology and the economy? Explain, using several examples.
No, it also affects the society and the politics.
Society was affected:
Social mobility is enabled. In traditional knowing and doing, you would likely do
what your parents did. Now, there was a need for specialized people and thus more
people accessed education (through public education) and were hired for high
positions.

The personality of people shifted from tradition directed (use past experiences as a
map) to inner directed (use them as gyroscope) to other directed (use it as radar and
do what others do). this leads to mass societies which have lots of implications
o role of culture is weakened
o weakened cultural unity replaced by integration propaganda
o statistical morality became a key component
o rise in public opinion

Politics were affected:

Political revised sequence:
Government bureaucracies adopted techno structure
o bureaucracies determined most policy decisions as they, instead of the
elected officials, possessed the required knowledge
o people no longer take decisions through their elected officials
Emergence of a mass society required role of the state to expand, thus everything
became politicized
9. The present intellectual and professional division of labour and the knowledge bases
built up with it suspend specialists in a triple abstraction that represents their domain
of specialization. Explain the ways in which such domains correspond to a portion of
the technology-based connectedness of a society and in which ways they do not. (Hint:
For the purpose of this question, you may think of technology as using flows of matter
and energy to accomplish a goal).

The domains represent a portion of the TBC because they are steps in the
process of technology (i.e. each domain analyzes one part of the flow of matter
and energy through the technology based connectedness)

These domains are not a portion of the TBC because they do not necessarily
pursue the same goal that other domains are looking, so they are not always just
steps in the flow: one domain may want to pull in one direction, other in other
direction, thus not fitting as a portion of the TBC

10. Explain what is meant by an analytical exemplar and a design exemplar. Explain
the different roles design exemplars and analytical exemplars play in the design of any
modern product.
Design exemplar is a concept for the design of a product based on the real world experience
and knowledge. It is a way of designing a product from the outside in. Used to form the
bases of a design upon which designers can adjust and modify the purpose and use cases of
the product.
Analytical exemplars are focused on particular details of a design, where knowledge is
separated from experience as a basis for design. Looks at a product from the inside out,

using inputs and outputs as variables. We can move from a design exemplar to an
analytical, but not the other way around.
11. Using one or two examples, explain why knowing and doing embedded in
experience and culture cannot grow into knowing and doing separated from
experience and culture.

High school physics: We have an intuitive knowledge of physics since we are kids,
but in high school they teach us to learn physics in perfect domains.

Knowing and doing separated from experience and culture begins in an abstract
world mapped in a different frame of reference by a disembodied observer who can
only be present in his technological imagination. Therefore, if you already have
knowledge based on experience and culture, you will already know how things
really work in the real world, so when a real world problem comes up, you will
obviously use your real world knowledge and not knowledge based upon an
imaginary abstraction.

Examples:
Physics At school, Newtonian physics is taught which consists of a variety of
assumptions that cannot be applied to real life, such as weightless strings, frictionless
pulleys, no air resistance, continuum, etc. It is difficult to develop metaconscious
knowledge of Newtonian physics because it does not correlate with our real life
experiences (intuitive physics)
Beam A construction worker with years of real world experience may be able to eyeball a
beam and tell that its not strong enough, while the engineer may not know this because he
designed the beam based on the mathematical equations that he was taught in school, which
may not be able to fit the real world situation
12. Using concepts developed in the course, explain why you agree or disagree with the
following statement:
Human intelligence is essentially a question of problem-solving.
This process of skill acquisition was characterized by 5 stages:
1. Novice

Apprentice is taught basic rules to follow

Apprentice deals with all situations by applying these basic rules

2. Advanced beginner
The apprentice differentiates his experiences, and notices that there
are many situations in which the basic rules dont seem adequate
The apprentice is taught more complex rules
3. Competent
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4. Proficient

As the apprentice continues to differentiate his experiences and

builds his metaconscious knowledge, he develops two distinct
reactions to situations
o He applies the rules to simple situations
o For more complex situations, he has to stop and analyze the
situation, and apply his problem solving skills to determine
the correct course of action for dealing with a situation
This is marked by a greater emotional involvement, as the apprentice
is proud when he takes the correct course of action, and disappointed
when he made the wrong decision
The apprentice has now built up his metaconscious knowledge so
that he has now developed models of different situations that he can
compare new situations to, however, he still must think about how to
solve these problems

5. Expert

The apprentice has now built up his metaconscious knowledge based

on his experiences that he can now intuitively (metaconsciously) take
the correct course of action to solve any situation
At the expert level, the apprentice no longer needs to solve problems
This demonstrates that human intelligence is ultimately based on
making sense of and living in reality by giving everything a place in
our life in relation to everything else, and not based on conscious
problem solving analysis

13. Explain how the techno structure makes use of the latest specialized knowledge to
design, produce and market a new product.

Divide corporation into comities of highly specialized people

Look at market
Extrapolate people's needs and design based on that
Improve all components of the design based on performance
Design the entire technological cycle from the beginning
Update the design with current market conditions (because all this is a long process)

14. Explain why the modern corporation, making use of specialized knowledge
separated from experience and culture, cannot rely on the Market to supply it with
the necessary inputs.
The Market can no longer meet material input demands.
There may not be a market for a very specific technical part
The Market cannot be depended upon to deliver the right number of parts on the
right dates
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Large corporations utilize 3 strategies for dealing with these problems by getting
around the Market (see next page):
o Vertical integration: The corporation acquires suppliers, so that the suppliers
are now part of the corporation, and will therefore meet the corporations
demands.
o Partnership agreements: The corporation makes partnership agreements with
suppliers, so that the suppliers have to meet the corporations demands
o The corporation essentially controls the Market because of its size; a
supplier has to get the corporations contract or it will go out of business

The Market can no longer meet labour demands

The Market cannot provide the requisite number of workers who have technical
knowledge separated from experience
The problem is solved by the state and industry developing education planning,
whereby the universities will offer programs that teach knowledge separated from
experience which are in demand in industry

15. Explain why the modern corporation, making use of specialized knowledge
separated from experience and culture, must plan the entire technological cycle of its
products and how this is incompatible with relying on the Market.
Same as question 13
16. The relationships between the modern corporation and the Market are governed
by what John Kenneth Galbraith called the accepted sequence and the revised
sequence. Explain what he meant by these, and how this development has undermined
economic democracy.

The Market can no longer be used in the selling of goods

Accepted sequence: The consumer is king as consumers use economic democracy
to choose which products they want, and the invisible hand of the Market causes the
companies to make more of what the consumers want
However, the accepted sequence can no longer be used by corporations
The corporation has put huge sums of money into the product, and the corporation
has to ensure that consumers buy the product
There was a lot of uncertainty in the Market when a new product was released
This leads to the revised sequence
Revised sequence: As consumers influence corporations (invisible hand of the
Market accepted sequence), corporations also influence consumers (revised
sequence)
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The corporation influences the consumer to ensure the consumer purchases the
product
The corporation influences the consumer primarily through advertising
Advertising influences the consumer by associating non-material metaconscious
symbols with material goods
Example: A hot young blonde is posing next to a car; male car-buyers in turn start to
view the car as sexy
In summary, the corporation relies less on the Market and more on technical
planning by utilizing such techniques as vertical integration, partnership
agreements, and advertising

17. In essence, John Kenneth Galbraith showed that when industry began to make use
of highly-specialized knowledge (separated from experience and culture), it began to
constitute a planning system within the economies of the industrially advanced nations
of that time. Explain why this was the case, and how this development violates the
popular conceptions regarding the role of the Market in the economies of the
industrially advanced nations.
1. The large corporation
2. ns can no longer rely on the Market to acquire the necessary inputs and sell the
goods and services they produce; instead they use technical planning to complement
the Market

The Market can no longer meet material input demands

There may not be a market for a very specific technical part
The Market cannot be depended upon to deliver the right number of parts on the
right dates
Large corporations utilize 3 strategies for dealing with these problems by getting
around the Market

1. Vertical integration: The corporation acquires suppliers, so that the suppliers are
now part of the corporation, and will therefore meet the corporations demands
2. Partnership agreements: The corporation makes partnership agreements with
suppliers, so that the suppliers have to meet the corporations demands
3. The corporation essentially controls the Market because of its size; a supplier has to
get the corporations contract or it will go out of business

The Market can no longer meet labour demands

The Market cannot provide the requisite number of workers who have technical
knowledge separated from experience
The problem is solved by the state and industry developing education planning,
whereby the universities will offer programs that teach knowledge separated from
experience which are in demand in industry
10

The Market can no longer be used in the selling of goods

Accepted sequence: The consumer is king as consumers use economic democracy

to choose which products they want, and the invisible hand of the Market causes the
companies to make more of what the consumers want
However, the accepted sequence can no longer be used by corporations
The corporation has put huge sums of money into the product, and the corporation
has to ensure that consumers buy the product
There was a lot of uncertainty in the Market when a new product was released
This leads to the revised sequence

Revised sequence: As consumers influence corporations (invisible hand of the

Market accepted sequence), corporations also influence consumers (revised
sequence)
The corporation influences the consumer to ensure the consumer purchases the
product
The corporation influences the consumer primarily through advertising
Advertising influences the consumer by associating non-material metaconscious
symbols with material goods
Ex. A hot young blonde is posing next to a car; male car-buyers in turn start to view
the car as sexy
In summary, the corporation relies less on the Market and more on technical
planning by utilizing such techniques as vertical integration, partnership
agreements, and advertising. The image of the market as the biggest controlling
force is thus changed.

18. Explain the role advertising plays in the revised sequence. Although modern
economics would have us believe that advertising informs the consumer, the
information content is actually very low. Hence, alternative explanations of the
effectiveness of advertising have been suggested. Explain how the advertisements of
the decades following World War II were structured, and why this was very effective
in creating the revised sequence and a planning system.

Integration propaganda was the information flow that was transmitted to individuals
by way of the media, corporations, and the state, which would help the lonely
crowd individuals make sense of and live a good life in the world
Integration propaganda would let individuals know how they could fit in in a mass
society
Integration propaganda would let individuals know what all of the trends are in their
society, so that the individual could follow these trends and fit in
Advertising was a key integration propaganda technique that was used to play on
individuals insecurities in order to sell products
Ex. If you want to fit in and make a good first impression, buy this shirt
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Ex. If you want to meet a hot girl, buy this beer

Ex. If you want to impress people, buy this car
o Statistical morality was a key component of a mass society
If everybody else is doing something, it must be right
o Mass societies also included the rise of public opinion
Other-directed personalities would have an opinion on everything, not because they
knew anything about these events, but because they would hear what everybody
else was saying about something
It affects the planning system because now, planning is done according to market
studies and advertisement is done to persuade not all possible consumers but enough
consumers to close the gap between what it was planned to be sold and what was
actually sold

19. When government departments or ministries began to make use of the latest
specialized knowledge (separated from experience and culture), their relationships
with elected officials and citizens were fundamentally changed. Explain why this is the
case for a minister responsible for a department, and for a political party which has
been elected to form a government.

Government bureaucracies developed into techno structures that had lots of highly
specialized knowledge in knowing and doing separated from experience and culture
The result was that these bureaucracies (techno structures) decided most policy
decisions, as they, and not elected officials, possessed the requisite highly
specialized technical knowledge on an issue
Ex. An energy minister may campaign on no more nuclear power, but the
government bureaucracy may investigate the issue and determine using its
specialized knowledge that more nuclear power is the only technically sound course
of action
The result is that instead of the people, through their elected officials, determining
the policies of the government, the government is instead determining the policies
itself and imposing them on the people through political advertising and public
relations campaigns

20. Explain the political revised sequence.

Culture can no longer help us make sense of our place in this world
We rely on integration propaganda to do so
Government can now advertise people of the problems that must be confronted and
the solutions that they wanted all along, because they affirm the direction and order
of the world
This undermines economy
Related to techno structure: a government official proposes a new plan with no
nuclear energy. He gets there and his cabinet says its not possible. He now
convinces his voters that nuclear energy is good, in other words, act in the complete
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opposite way in which he promised and people elected him to act. no longer serve
the purpose of representing electors interest
21. Why did social mobility become necessary when knowing and doing separated
from experience and culture? How did this affect people who struggled for social
equality and womens rights?

However, with knowing and doing becoming separated from experience and
culture, social mobility was now needed
There were so many highly-skilled positions on techno structures that needed to be
filled, and not enough people to fill those positions in a traditional society
This problem was solved with the development of the universal, state-run public
education system
By giving everybody a chance to get an education, society was able to pick out
those students who had superior skills in knowing and doing separated from
experience
These students were encouraged to continue on to higher education, so that they
could eventually fill elite positions (techno structures)
The students who did not excel in knowing and doing separated from experience
and culture were directed towards positions such as trades that relied primarily on
knowing and doing embedded in experience and culture
Therefore, society had essentially become divided in two between those with skills
in knowing and doing separated from experience and culture and those without
those skills
o This also resulted in a progression in womens rights and human rights
Society was now desperately looking for people skilled in knowing and doing
separated from experience and culture, with the result that old prejudices were
forgotten, as society was primarily concerned about a persons skills in knowing and
doing separated from experience and culture, and not their race or gender
These changes were primarily made out of necessity, and not real human goodness
Unfortunately, in times when there was a surplus of workers skilled in knowing and
doing separated from experience and culture, the old prejudices usually returned and
it tended to be women and minorities who were not given the techno structure
positions

22. Why did the separation of knowing and doing from experience and culture require
a mass education system? How does such an educational system affect the social
hierarchy of a society?
Same as 21
23. Using concepts developed in the course, comment on the following statement:
Thanks to the news, the citizens of modern nations are much more informed about
our world; hence, they can make more informed choices during elections.

13

The mass media newscasts do not provide enough information in order for an
individual to become informed about an event or issue
Most stories on newscasts are just 2 or 3 minutes long, and then the story will not be
mentioned again on the newscast for months
An individual cannot possibly become informed about an issue based on such a
short story
If an individual truly wants to become informed about an issue, he must read books
and documents on an issue to gain an understanding of the issue
Therefore, the news does not make the citizens of modern nations informed about
their world
In fact, the news just provides quick snapshots of issues without describing any
context or background information
Worse, these short news clips give rise to public opinion, as members of the public
see the news clip and then decide that they know everything about that issue and
develop an opinion on the issue based solely on that newscast
They ignore the biases and the simplification of the newscast
Therefore, the news and public opinion undermine democracy as the news presents
an biased oversimplification of an issue that ignores background information and
context, and then individuals develop public opinions from these newscasts, and
base their votes during elections on their uninformed public opinions

24. Explain how the rise of public opinion undermined democracy.

Government can no longer rule against public opinion

Therefore, the news and public opinion undermine democracy as the news presents
a biased oversimplification of an issue that ignores background information and
context, and then individuals develop public opinions from these newscasts, and
base their votes during elections on their uninformed public opinions

25. What is the role of integration propaganda in a mass society, and how does it make
up for the weakened role of culture?

Mass societies did not collapse, however, because the weakened cultural unity had
been replaced by a phenomenon known as integration propaganda
Integration propaganda was the information flow that was transmitted to individuals
by way of the media, corporations, and the state, which would help the lonely
crowd individuals make sense of and live a good life in the world
Integration propaganda would let individuals know how they could fit in in a mass
society
Integration propaganda would let individuals know what all of the trends are in their
society, so that the individual could follow these trends and fit in
Advertising was a key integration propaganda technique that was used to play on
individuals insecurities in order to sell products
14

Ex. If you want to fit in and make a good first impression, buy this shirt
Ex. If you want to meet a hot girl, buy this beer
Ex. If you want to impress people, buy this car

26. Explain the relationship between a newscast on radio or television and integration
propaganda.

Newscast and television are the infrastructure of mass media

In a mass society, the mass media supports the flow of information from around the
world to the individuals in a society
The mass media is an important tool for integration propaganda to flow through
It is the mass media that simplifies the world for the individual in the lonely crowd
and provides him with information from which he can make sense of the world
Integration propaganda through the mass media fills the role that was once occupied
by culture, which has been gravely weakened in a mass society

27. There is little doubt that the mass media provide us with much more information
about what is happening around the world than ever before. Is there a correlation
between our receiving more information about what is happening in our world and
being better informed? Carefully explain the relationship between knowing more and
knowing better.
Same as 23
28. Today, many people believe that our societies have all but lost their traditional
values and cultures and thus can be regarded as traditional societies in an advanced
stage of deterioration. They call for the restoration of traditional values, morality and
religion as the only way of halting this disintegration. Using what you have learned in
this course, discuss the validity of this interpretation.

Not valid
We can't make those values fit with the current technological systems we live in
Trying to do that will not work because technology changed the way we live and we
cannot just go back to the way we were before
Rather, we need to change we interact with technology in the future

29. Today many people regard our mass societies as the outcome of liberating their
members from the constraints imposed by traditions. Their members are now free to
decide for themselves regarding every aspect of their lives. Based on what you have
learned in the course, what is the validity of this interpretation?
Invalid because:
The myth of progress has constrained the members of industrializing societies to
think that progress can only be achieved through hard work and material progress.
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Therefore, our societies have become materialistic and they cannot look beyond
materialistic things.
Todays mass societies have created problems like poverty, child labor, stress,
alienation and class conflicts that did not exist before and which have not been
resolved.
We are not really free to decide for ourselves because our decisions like where to
live, what career to choose, items to purchase etc. are based on socio-economic
factors that affect us (i.e. these decisions are based on money). This has distorted
our view of happiness.
Despite technological and economic progress, we are able to spend much less time
with people we know, and our lives are more controlled by our careers
People feel alienated because their surroundings have more influence in them than
what they influence their surroundings
Our freedom is impacted by values imposed by mass society

30. How can the obvious weakening of traditional constraints on the members of
contemporary societies be reconciled with a loss of individual freedom as people are
swept up in the currents of public opinion and statistical morality?

Statistical morality was a key component of a mass society

If everybody else is doing something, it must be right
Mass societies also included the rise of public opinion
Other-directed personalities would have an opinion on everything, not because they
knew anything about these events, but because they would hear what everybody
else was saying about something

These two factors ultimately undermine personal freedom because people go with the flow
of the mass society.

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