Influences On Society Essay Research Paper Influences

Influences On Society- Essay, Research Paper

Influences on Society-

Michael Novak stated that there were three influences on any

society: Political influences, Economic influences, and MoralCultural

influences. The political influences consist of the governmental body

of that society and the laws and regulations set by this governing

group. The moralcultural influences consist of the “voluntary

associations” of a society: the churches, media, education systems,

the people in this society. The final influence being the economic

influence, which is the rate of employment, GDP, incidence of poverty,

and structure of economic activity. Novak made this theory into an

object, a “triangle” of sorts, with each influence being a point on

this “triangle.” Novak goes on later in his theory to deal with other

influences, but as other dimensions. What Novak appears to have missed

in his theory is another very important influence on society that

influences, and is influenced by the other points of this “triangle,”

technology. The Middle Ages did come up with a few inventions, such as

windmills and horseshoes, but technological process was imperceptible

compared with what is happening now. Very soon, a fiber the diameter

of a human hair will be able to transmit, in less than a second, the

contents of every issue of The Economist magazine that was ever

printed (Economy Survey 4). Since Adam Smith, economists have

recognized that technology is important for growth, but only in the

past two decades have they been studying this subject in earnest (7).

There pioneer was Joseph Schumpeter, one of the few economists who

tried to explain growth mainly in terms of technological innovation.

In the 1930’s, he presented a model that postulated growth through the

interaction of bursts of technological development and competition

between companies (8). His evidence pointed to history. First, the

1780s to the 1840s, which brought the steam power and drove the

industrial revolution. Second, the 1850s to 1890! s introducing the

railways. Third, the 1890s to 1930s with electrical power. The fourth,

the 1930s to 1980s with cheap oil and the car. Now, today it is argued

that Schumpeterians’ would label this period of history as being

powered by technology in all areas (9). Then there was “new” growth

theory, hatched in the mid 1980’s by the work of Paul Romer, an

economists at Stanford University. His theory attempted to incorporate

technology directly into models of economic growth by explaining how

knowledge in the shape of both technology and human capital is created

and spread through the economy (8). This essay will attempt to use

evidence created by economic research and show how technology is

influencing and influenced by political, economic, and social/moral

issues; creating a fourth point on Novak’s triangle. Technology

throughout history has been a major influence on governments in many

different societies. It has caused wars, and prevented them too. The

invention of the cotton gin played a major factor in leading to the

Civil War. Because of the cotton gin, production of cotton rose and

the export of cotton from the United States to other countries rose

too. The need for more workers, slaves at the time, rose too. This

influenced the government by pushing the need for slavery, and look

what happened as a result. Sputnik help lead a governmental race

between two countries to see who could reach the Moon first. The

invention of the A-bomb led to the end of a real war and the start of

a cold one. Just recently, technology has been a major factor in the

fall of several Communist governments. With the invention of the

television and satellite dishes, as well as the Internet, many people

could have access to media, propaganda, and information not available

in their own society! and learn how their governments really were not

all that great, leading to a fall for those governments. Just

recently, the Chinese government was influenced by technology and

decided that many Western ideas could cause the same result of

government failure via the Internet. They banned over 100 sites or

links on the Internet to prevent this (Chen 1). The idea of terrorism

has been around for many years, but the idea of cyber-terrorism has

not. With the technological advances in communication lines overseas.

Terrorist hackers could cause more damage on a governmental body’s

computer system than could a nuclear missile and at a cheaper price.

This has forced many governments to spend money and create protection

from these types of attacks. Technology has also been influenced by

governments as well. With the railroad movement in the late 1800s,

governmental rules and regulations helped technology to be used as a

catalyst for competition. Technology, in the

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