Third world development A modern view on the transfer of technology

W Murphy Technology has had a dramatic effect on society, changing its traditional values. When transferring technology to the third world the same subordination ofpeople and their life style is expected. The only analysis usually undertaken of the usefulness of the technology is on a cost-benefit basis. This should change and technology must be the servant rather than the master. People's social and cultural patterns and their relationship with their environment must be considered and maintained. The technology must be 'appropriate ' and not just introduced because it is possible. TECHNOLOGY IS CERTAINLY a controversial topic, particu-larly when discussing the impact of its transfer to countries not already inundated with it. One merely has to look, for example, to the work of Lynn White to gain some insight into how technology can and does shape the social world.' Nevertheless, most modern theorists are preponderantly concerned with its detrimental effects on an unsuspecting society. For example, White suggests an over-reliance on technology can dull our self-understanding? A recent expositer of the work of Toynbee conveys the idea that technology labours to suppress the creative capacity of the human spirit." Classic theorists like George Foster convincingly ar-gue that the introduction of technology into developing countries is heavily biased by Western values. Subsequently, technology can be extremely disruptive to a society that has not chosen to abandon its indigenous world-view to adopt that promulgated by the West.4 Technology, in short, can subvert the traditional values of a society, demand changes in language and laws, and fragment the labour process. Of course, these consequences of technology have been illustrated by a full range of past theorists, such as Adam Smith, Durkheim, Weber, and Marx. In a well known article, Buchanan maintains tha