“Culture circulates through science no less than science circulates through culture” (Hayles, 1999, p21)
The key themes of my readings this week have been resistance and pragmatism. Sterne’s (2006) assertion that history shapes our actions on the present stage lead to go off in search of evidence for how we might resist or adapt to change. I’ve reflected greatly on my previous career in a corporate environment and on the type of competency-based interviewing that we conducted where past behaviour was conducted a decent indicator of future. This has brought me to considering the term “culture” in a wider sense.
Juma’s (2016) research into why certain innovations have been resisted or embraced historically highlighted some key trends:
- New technologies have generally been embraced if they have augmented humanity, as opposed to substituting
- Innovation is often distrusted if the risks are short term and the benefits only seen in the long term.
- There is distrust if there is the perception that only a small section of society will benefit
- The wider population is attuned to when there are vested interests and power is concentrated away from the majority.
This, once again, lead me back to my previous career and how often the term “corporate culture” was thrown about, especially when it came to change. The above bullet points rang true when I reflected on times when the organisations I worked for undertook process changes.
I’m often guilty of using the term culture rather narrowly, usually with a particular country. With regard to technological innovations, does a workplace culture influence wider societal culture or the other way around? In terms of education, I’ve often felt that are schools attempt to be too far removed from what’s happening in wider society and that a school’s culture should reflect (aspirationally) the best of what culture the society offers from where it draws its students. This has made me realise that schools have a larger role to play than I’d considered in the acceptance of and preparation for a posthuman world to which its citizens pragmatically adapt.
Juma, C. (2016) Why do people resist new technologies? History might provide the answer, World Economic Forum Agenda. 6 July 2016. Available online: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/07/why-do-people-resist-new-technologies-history-has-answer/ [Accessed 1 February 2020].
Hayles, K. N. (1999) Towards embodied virtuality, in Hayles, K. N. (ed), How we became posthuman : virtual bodies in cybernetics, literature, and informatics. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, 1-25
Sterne, J. (2006) The historiography of cyberculture, in Silver, D. & Massanari, A. (eds), Critical Cyberculture Studies. New York: New York University Press, 17-28.
“Culture circulates through science no less than science circulates through culture” (Hayles, 1999, p21)
Very well chosen quote. This is precisely the rationale for looking at ‘culture’ and cultural production in this course, and trying to understand its role.
‘Innovation is often distrusted if the risks are short term and the benefits only seen in the long term.’
Interesting point, which seems to be one of the ideas Frey explores in his latest book (which Charles was also discussing last week): https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691172798/the-technology-trap – the interesting historical context here is that ‘the Industrial Revolution created unprecedented wealth and prosperity over the long run, but the immediate consequences of mechanization were devastating for large swaths of the population’
‘The wider population is attuned to when there are vested interests and power is concentrated away from the majority’
I wonder if this requires specific events. I’m thinking of the Cambridge Analytica scandal (https://www.theguardian.com/news/series/cambridge-analytica-files) here, in the sense that it took a ‘whistleblower’ to reveal the extent of the power of the ‘vested interests’. There is perhaps something about the sophistication of contemporary technologies that makes mainstream understanding more challenging?
Culture is something I’ve grappled with too Sean. Particularly in trying understand what we mean by culture in this course.
“the term “corporate culture” was thrown about, especially when it came to change.” – That’s true and I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “cultural change” in the corporate and school context as well. It’s a big industry I believe, the industry of changing organisational culture.
What are your thoughts on the idea of ‘culture change’ particularly as it relates to your experience in school and what you’ve written about “that are schools attempt to be too far removed from what’s happening in wider society and that a school’s culture should reflect (aspirationally) the best of what culture the society offers from where it draws its students”?
Would you say that when people talk about cultural change they mean a fundamental rebuilding of culture or simply a change in the ‘climate’ of a culture?