The Technological Society: Social Theory, McDonaldization and the Prosumer

This volume gives me the welcome and highly useful opportunity to address Jacques Ellul’s (1964 [1954]) classic work, The Technological Society, from the context of my work on social theory, the McDonaldization of society, and the age of the prosumer. I have found much of utility in the book and also much to criticize. On the positive side, Ellul’s work on technique is very useful in thinking about the principles of McDonaldization and in speculating on the coming age of the prosumer. While the key idea of technique continues to be quite useful, Ellul’s theoretical approach has its weaknesses and it has not worn well as a general theory.

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