Democracy and Technology
by Richard E. Sclove
 |
![[Democracy and Technology cover]](../images/dmtechbg.jpg) |
The Loka Institute is pleased to announce the publication of Loka Founder/Executive Director, Richard Sclove's book, Democracy and Technology. The book develops a constructive agenda for democratizing all domains of technology -- ranging from household to workplace, government, urban infrastructure, medicine, farming, etc. Click here for ordering information.
Democracy and Technology won the 1996 Don K. Price Award of the American Political Science Association for "best book in the field of science, technology, and politics."
- Table
of Contents and Chapter One
- Excerpt from Chapter 6, explores limitations of virtual communities.
Some comments on Democracy and Technology
"Democracy and Technology, that's a good book!"
--Consumer Advocate Ralph Nader, quoted in the New York Times' Sunday Magazine, 1996"A welcome addition to an essential debate....This book provides a provocative and thorough analysis of the challenges facing us on the threshold of the 21st Century."
--U.S. Congressman George E. Brown, Jr., Ranking Democratic Member and Former Chairman, House Science Committee"Mr. Sclove is refreshing in the way he rejects ideas so nearly universally held that most people have never thought to question them."
--New York Times Book Review"Tightly reasoned and far-ranging in examples and erudition...cogent and illuminating...seminal....Sclove writes in the hallowed and constructive tradition of Paul Goodman, Ivan Illich, Paulo Freire, Lewis Mumford, [and] E. F. Schumacher."
--Annals of the American Academy of Political & Social Science, July 1996."Sclove's treatment...is as creative and artful as the society that he would like to see, filled with empirical evidence to show, in detail, that the possibilities as well as the problems are real."
--Ethics, January 1997."Democracy and technology, and the way these two institutions affect each other, is perhaps the most pressing problem of the coming decade. Neither Luddite nor Technophile...Sclove directs our attention to solutions that might actually work."
--Howard Rheingold, author of Virtual Community"Remarkably ambitious, superbly accessible, and urgently needed--a gold mine of fundamental insights and suggestive provocations....This is the most far-reaching work I have seen on the political nature of technological change."
--David F. Noble, author of Forces of Production"Sclove's unifying--and, to me, incontrovertible--premise is that a democratic society worthy of the name does not allow technological innovation to erode democratic processes and institutions....That we persistently...allow this erosion to occur underscores the significance of his message."
--Daniel Sarewitz in Issues in Science & Technology, Summer 1996."An important book, one for which the community of science and technology studies scholars has been waiting. In clear prose, using numerous salient examples, Richard Sclove provides a philosophic and practical foundation for participatory technology. I am looking forward to using this book in several of my courses."
--Ruth Schwartz Cowan, author of More Work for Mother and Past President, Society for the History of Technology"Three recent books renew my hopes for a robust dialog about technology and its impacts....Democracy and Technology is the most ambitious in scope."
--Wired Magazine, November 1996."The seeds for a humane, alternative social order, as well as a plausible strategy for getting there. A much needed book!"
--Robert L. Heilbroner, author of Visions of the Future"This book will be an essential tool to strengthen democratic public problem-solving. Sclove gives us a compelling moral argument _and_ a practical guide to shaping our future. Bravo!"
--Frances Moore Lappe & Paul Martin Dubois, Co- Directors of the Center for Living Democracy
Distribution
Democracy and Technology can be ordered from your local bookseller, or it is available in paperback for U.S. $17.00 (plus shipping cost) from Guilford Press, 72 Spring St., New York, NY 10012, USA. Tel. +(212) 431-9800; Tel. toll free (800) 365-7006; Fax +(212) 966-6708. E-mail: info@guilford.com or via the World Wide Web
Democracy and Technology can also be ordered on the web through Amazon Books.
Paperback ISBN 0-89862-861-X; hardcover ISBN 0-89862-860-1.
Non-U.S. Distributors
Canada: Copp Clark Longman, Ltd., 2775 Matheson Blvd. OBE., Mississauga, ON, Canada, L4W 4P7. Tel. (905) 238-6074. Fax (905) 238-6075.
Europe and the United Kingdom: Afterhurst, 27 Church Rd., Hove, E Sussex, BN3 2FA UK. Tel. (01273) 207-411. Fax. (01273) 205-612. E-mail: dirdist@psypress.co.uk
Australia & New Zealand: Astam Books, 57-61 John Street, Leichhardt, NSW 2040, Australia. Tel. (02) 566 4400. Fax (02) 566 4411. E-mail: astam@interconnect.com.au.
Southern Africa: Horizon Books/Book Promotions, Croy House, 110 Main Rd., Diep River 7800, South Africa. Tel. (021) 720-332. Fax. (021) 720-383. E-mail: bookpro@aztec.co.za
Singapore and Malaysia: APAC Publisher Services, 35 Tannery Rd., Tannery Block #10-06, Ruby Industrial Complex, Singapore, 1334. Tel. (65) 747-8662. Fax. (65) 747-8916. E-mail: sgohapac@singner.com.sg
Taiwan: Unifacmanu Trading Company, PO Box 22032, Taipei, Taiwan. Tel. (886) 2-396-1981. Fax. (886) 2-394-3103.
For other non-U.S. distributors contact Guilford Press in New York (see above)
