Utopia and technocracy: towards a theoretical foundation for information technology

Abstract

This article deals with two conceptions of communication which cut across research in this field, examining their roots and discussing their ideological origins. The argumentative, civic and universalist conception of communication, formulated by the first two generations of the Chicago school of sociology, is shown to be relatively weak when compared to a different conception based on a technological and scientific model which sees the technical means for transmitting signals as being independent of the logical processes of social mediation, and which is suited to current developments in information technology, to modern persuasions and to the culture industry.