Technology and Alienation in Modern-Day Societies

Abstract

Technology as a major social form has been heavily structured into societies and has tremendously affected and continues to affect all aspects of peoples’ life, particularly interacting and communicating with one another. The goal of this qualitative study is to comprehend the impact of technology on human interaction, utilizing the Social conflict perspective. Social conflict perspective perceives and faults many societal problems on capitalism. Capitalists have created technology and continue to create mass production of new technology to suit their imagination and maximize their profits. For this study, a qualitative research; secondary analysis of data is used to see how technology affect human social interaction and social structure.

Analysis of data reveals that technology has benefited human society, particularly in revolutionizing the medical field and playing a major role in scientific research. However, it has its own drawbacks for individuals and the society as a whole. Nowadays, technology has serious social cost, most notably, “mass alienation.”  It has already weakened our “collective conscious”, has become opiate of the masses and a source of disintegration, deviance, strain, and divisiveness. If the progression of technology continues at the current pace, we are likely to witness more class conflict, war, environmental degradation, poverty, and more internal and external alienation.