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Title: Technologies of Power: (Communication and Information Science) by Majid Tehranian ISBN: 0-89391-280-8 Publisher: Ablex Publishing Pub. Date: 01 January, 1990 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $77.00

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)

Rating: 5
Summary: Technologies: a double edge sword
Comment:
Who should benefit from information technologies? Majid Tehranian's "Technologies of Power" makes a critical distinction between: information technologies that serve the decision-making demands of the technocratic elite and totalitarian authority on one hand, and information technologies that assist in developing political decentralization, participatory democracy, and sustainable development based on democracy on the other hand. This is the trade off between the promises and the perils of information technologies. To ensure that the information technologies will serves good cause he proposes the perspective of their "technostructures" and contextualist view.

People have different perspectives on who should manage technology and who should benefit from technological analysis. "Technologies of Power" calls for the de-professionalization of socio-technical decision making in favor of promoting participatory and democratic processes for technology management in order to challenge forces of totalitarian and technocratic domination. As a result, the book challenges the central assumptions of some academic and governmental perceptions of the role of governments and private corporations in policy making.

Tehranian's case is strengthened and made more engaging by the inclusion of a variety of case studies such as the deregulation and privatization of telecommunication industry in United States, Japan and Britain, Indonesia's adoption of satellites, and rural radio programs in Peru. In illustrating democratic empowerment strategies he critically and thoroughly examines the history and context of both the Green movement in West Germany and the Sarvodaya movement in Sri Lanka.

I believe that "Technologies of Power" is a good and inspiring read. It makes an excellent discussion text for advanced studies in communication because of its theoretical positions are well integrated with rich empirical case studies. The author's skillful use of tables and diagrams and informative writing style increase the accessibility of the text. The book challenges readers to engage in active thoughts, which may lead to the realization of democratic potentials within information technologies.

Finally, I like Tehranian's concept of democracy as a human ideal and should be viewed as a process not an end in itself. This concept gives more hope for developing countries, which are currently in a very different stage of democratic process from those of advanced countries.