The Technological Society by Jacques Ellul
"The Technological Society," written by Jacques Ellul between 1952 and 1954, examines the pervasive influence of "technique" in modern life, a term Ellul uses to encompass more than just machinery, defining it as a comprehensive system of methods that optimize efficiency across all human activities. Through a sociopolitical lens, Ellul explores the implications of technique in economics, politics, and interpersonal dynamics, arguing that it transforms human behavior into mechanical patterns, rendering individuals increasingly powerless in the face of its demands. The book is part of a trilogy that also includes "Propaganda" and "The Political Illusion," where Ellul delves into the intersections of technology, society, and morality.
Ellul's analysis presents a critical view of how modern industrial society's reliance on technique undermines traditional values and moral frameworks, leading to a loss of agency and a diminished human experience. While some readers may find his perspective excessively pessimistic or deterministic, others appreciate his nuanced critique of modernity's relationship with nature and technology. Ellul's work has sparked significant discourse in the fields of sociology, environmental studies, and philosophy, and is situated among other critical examinations of technological civilization. Ultimately, "The Technological Society" invites reflection on the consequences of our technological advancements and the values that should guide their development.
The Technological Society by Jacques Ellul
First published:La Technique: Ou, L’Enjeu du siecle, 1954 (English translation, 1964; revised, 1967)
Type of work: Cultural criticism/sociology
Form and Content
Jacques Ellul, a professor of history and sociology of institutions at the University of Bordeaux and the author of forty books, wrote The Technological Society between 1952 and 1954. Little known until it was published in its English translation in the United States in 1964, the book reflects the twin paths of the author’s life. First, he had a productive scholarly career, with specialities in history, sociology, and law. For a time, he tried to marry his academic interests to political activities. During World War II he was active in the French resistance to Nazi rule. After the war he began a promising political career as deputy mayor of Bordeaux, but he abandoned that to devote his time more fully to teaching and writing. Second, Ellul was an active lay ecclesiastic. Converted to Christianity when he was twenty-two, he became a leader of the Protestant Reformed Church of France. A third of his books have theological themes, as he focuses on the two ideologies that inform his intellectual worldview, Christianity and Marxism. He seeks no synthesis between these two, but instead tries to place them face to face, in order to determine what is real socially and spiritually.
The Technological Society is the first part of Ellul’s sociopolitical trilogy about contemporary Western society. It was followed by Propagandes (1962; Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes, 1965) and L’Illusion politique (1964; The Political Illusion, 1967). In all three of these books, but particularly in The Technological Society, Ellul offered a powerful, if gloomy, analysis of the influence of “technique” in modern society. Ellul’s work, largely an elaboration of his original philosophical and sociological insights, interprets the modern age in terms of a single phenomenon, technique. Technique, according to Ellul, is more than machine technology; it is “the totality of methods arrived at and having absolute efficiency . . . in every field of human activity.” The machine is merely symptomatic of technique. Everything touched by technique, however, assumes a machinelike quality. Thus, technique is exemplified in the General Motors assembly line but also in such varied aspects of human behavior as psychological counseling, dietetics, and media manipulation in American presidential politics.
The Technological Society investigates the phenomenon in three areas: economics, politics (the technique of organization), and human affairs (manipulation of humans through brainwashing, propaganda, advertising, and the like). Basically, Ellul contends that the predominant characteristic of the contemporary human condition is the technique developed by modern industrial society. Unlike premodern technology, technique has pervaded all aspects of life, becoming an autonomous force, independent of the humans who have collectively created it. Technique builds on itself, ceaselessly requiring more technique. Before its force, people are powerless; they cannot choose to ignore technique, let alone reverse it. Their only choice is to go ahead. As a consequence of this technological imperative, the traditional moral content of all societies is overwhelmed.
Not surprisingly, some critics often characterize Ellul’s works as extreme and accept them only with caution. He is not simply a prophet of the apocalypse, for his thought is complex, subtle, and insightful. His profound pessimism, however, has led some critics to see him as a technological determinist, who underestimates the capacity of the human mind to comprehend and surmount the problems of technique.
Others, however, have defended Ellul as a trenchant critic of modern intellectualism, which has unbalanced the relationship between humanity and nature by its overemphasis upon reductionist science. It was precisely this kind of controversy Ellul hoped to provoke with his book, since his purpose in writing was to preserve values founded upon liberty and hope, which are deeper, more traditional, and more basic than rationalism.
Critical Context
Ellul’s work falls within the genre of studies that criticize the nature of modern technological society. Aldous Huxley, who introduced Ellul to the United States in conversations at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions in Santa Barbara in 1959-1960, said that Ellul’s work made the case he had tried to make in his Brave New World (1932). Ellul’s path-breaking analysis of the impact of technique on all aspects of society spawned a host of related studies in the two decades following the publication of his book in the United States. Fritjof Capra’s The Turning Point: Science, Society, and the Rising Culture (1982) offers a penetrating critique of Cartesian-Newtonian thought, focusing particularly on what he calls the mechanistic view of life. Mihajlo Mesarovic and Eduard Pestel’s Mankind at the Turning Point: The Second Report to the Club of Rome (1974) argues, as does Ellul, that unbridled economic and technological invention are straining the carrying capacity of the world.
Ellul emphasized the threat posed to the natural environment by technique. His warnings in this area have been echoed by countless other authors, including David Ehrenfeld, whose The Arrogance of Humanism (1978) criticizes technique’s confidence that progress is inevitable and that man can surmount any and all natural barriers to technological development. His criticism of technique is based upon his Christian faith. In this respect, E.F. Schumacher, a leading figure in the environmental movement of the 1970’s, closely resembles him. Schumacher’s A Guide for the Perplexed (1977) claims that the mad rush for technological development has reduced humanity to the level of productive machinery, and that modern industrial civilization has lost the meaning of human existence. In his words, contemporary science and education no longer provide social and moral maps that would enable humans to find the answer to life’s most pressing questions.
Ellul’s book is thus centrally situated among works that criticize the nature of technological civilization and call mankind back to values that are broader and more enduring than technique. The two main themes of his writings are the nature and influence of technique and the role of Christianity in civilization and individual existence. His work may be characterized as prophetic, in that he seeks to disturb the status quo, question what is taken as normal, shed new light on old issues, and offer new perspectives. Bringing criticism from outside the normal order of dis course, Ellul challenges the common assumptions of modern technological society.
Like that of all prophets, Ellul’s perspective has its limitations. He does not give a complete, reasoned exploration of all of his arguments. Critics have noted blind spots, overstatements, and contradictions. As “prophecy,” however, Ellul’s work has been heard as a profound critique of technological society.
Bibliography
Christians, Clifford G., and Jay M. Van Hook. Jacques Ellul: Interpretive Essays, 1981.
Ellul, Jacques. In Season, Out of Season, 1981.
Hanks, Joyce M. Jacques Ellul: A Comprehensive Bibliography, 1984.
Holloway, James Y., ed. Introducing Jacques Ellul, 1970.
Lovekin, David. “Giambattista Vico and Jacques Ellul: The Intelligible Universal and the Technical Phenomenon,” in Man and World. XV, no. 4 (1982), pp. 407-416.
Menninger, David C. “Jacques Ellul: A Tempered Profile,” in Review of Politics. XXXVII (April, 1975), pp. 235-246.
Nisbet, Robert A. “The Grand Illusion: An Appreciation of Jacques Ellul,” in Commentary. L (August, 1970), pp. 40-44.
Ransom, H.H. Review in Saturday Review. XLVII (September 26, 1964), p. 48.
Theobald, Robert. Review in The Nation. CXCIX (October 19, 1964), p. 249.
Williams, Raymond. Review in The New York Times Book Review. LXIX (October 18, 1964), p. 32.