Abstract

In this inquiry I illustrate the ways in which a broad range of social and political theorists have used the theme of technology to approach questions of power, domination, and liberation. I am primarily concerned with demonstrating how Marxist and postmodern theories can be applied to an analysis of the dominating effects and liberating prospects of emerging interactive communication technologies. Accordingly, I identify and explicate three perspectives regarding the relationship between technology, domination, and liberation. The first is a more traditional Marxist perspective which sees recent developments in communication technologies as essentially liberating. The second perspective is a Marxist/postmodern hybrid which does not completely abandon Marxist theory, nor completely embrace the more extreme tendencies of postmodern theory. This perspective also sees new communication technologies as essentially liberating. The third perspective embraces the more extreme arguments of postmodern theory, rejects Marxist and Enlightenment conceptions of domination and liberation, and suggests that electronically-mediated, computer-generated images are simulations that no longer correspond to any organic reality