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Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose mit vorsprung durch technik: the concept of progress in relation to design and technology curriculum

‘You can’t stop progress’; ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’; ‘progress through technology’… ‘Progress’ is both the stuff of everyday conversation and the catchcry of ideologies. Historians, sociologists, authors, philosophers, politicians and advertisers engage with the term. Pr...

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Main Author: Steve Keirl
Format: Default Text
Published: 2003
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2134/2793
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author Steve Keirl
author_facet Steve Keirl
author_sort Steve Keirl (7151171)
collection Figshare
description ‘You can’t stop progress’; ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’; ‘progress through technology’… ‘Progress’ is both the stuff of everyday conversation and the catchcry of ideologies. Historians, sociologists, authors, philosophers, politicians and advertisers engage with the term. Progress, at least in its determinist sense, seems neither stoppable nor a suitable candidate for interrogation. For some, progress is technology, or, technology is progress. Against such a background, much design and technology curriculum tries to ‘keep up’ with technological trends and innovations but can do so through little more than technical mimicry. This paper sets out to clarify a variety of understandings of the concept of progress and to use these to inform design and technology education. Thus, in looking at progress, it presents: • discussion of common and elaborated understandings of the term • a history of the concept (as it has distinct historical contexts) – for example ‘The Idea of Progress’ and its roots in the Enlightenment and the 20th century erosion of faith in the notion • exploration of the relationships between progress and concepts such as technological determinism, technicism, optimism, pessimism, morals and happiness • political and ideological contexts of progress. In the light of the above, the paper shows the contestable nature of progress and that this need not be a reason for its exclusion from design and technology curriculum. It is argued that a rich and ethically defensible concept of progress has a legitimate place in a democratic curriculum and that holistic, rather than technocratic, design and technology can accommodate such a concept.
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spelling rr-article-93451582003-01-01T00:00:00Z Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose mit vorsprung durch technik: the concept of progress in relation to design and technology curriculum Steve Keirl (7151171) Design not elsewhere classified progress design and technology technological determinism optimism enlightenment pessimism democratic Design Practice and Management not elsewhere classified ‘You can’t stop progress’; ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’; ‘progress through technology’… ‘Progress’ is both the stuff of everyday conversation and the catchcry of ideologies. Historians, sociologists, authors, philosophers, politicians and advertisers engage with the term. Progress, at least in its determinist sense, seems neither stoppable nor a suitable candidate for interrogation. For some, progress is technology, or, technology is progress. Against such a background, much design and technology curriculum tries to ‘keep up’ with technological trends and innovations but can do so through little more than technical mimicry. This paper sets out to clarify a variety of understandings of the concept of progress and to use these to inform design and technology education. Thus, in looking at progress, it presents: • discussion of common and elaborated understandings of the term • a history of the concept (as it has distinct historical contexts) – for example ‘The Idea of Progress’ and its roots in the Enlightenment and the 20th century erosion of faith in the notion • exploration of the relationships between progress and concepts such as technological determinism, technicism, optimism, pessimism, morals and happiness • political and ideological contexts of progress. In the light of the above, the paper shows the contestable nature of progress and that this need not be a reason for its exclusion from design and technology curriculum. It is argued that a rich and ethically defensible concept of progress has a legitimate place in a democratic curriculum and that holistic, rather than technocratic, design and technology can accommodate such a concept. 2003-01-01T00:00:00Z Text Online resource 2134/2793 https://figshare.com/articles/online_resource/Plus_a_change_plus_c_est_la_m_me_chose_mit_vorsprung_durch_technik_the_concept_of_progress_in_relation_to_design_and_technology_curriculum/9345158 CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
spellingShingle Design not elsewhere classified
progress
design and technology
technological determinism
optimism
enlightenment
pessimism
democratic
Design Practice and Management not elsewhere classified
Steve Keirl
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose mit vorsprung durch technik: the concept of progress in relation to design and technology curriculum
title Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose mit vorsprung durch technik: the concept of progress in relation to design and technology curriculum
title_full Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose mit vorsprung durch technik: the concept of progress in relation to design and technology curriculum
title_fullStr Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose mit vorsprung durch technik: the concept of progress in relation to design and technology curriculum
title_full_unstemmed Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose mit vorsprung durch technik: the concept of progress in relation to design and technology curriculum
title_short Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose mit vorsprung durch technik: the concept of progress in relation to design and technology curriculum
title_sort plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose mit vorsprung durch technik: the concept of progress in relation to design and technology curriculum
topic Design not elsewhere classified
progress
design and technology
technological determinism
optimism
enlightenment
pessimism
democratic
Design Practice and Management not elsewhere classified
url https://hdl.handle.net/2134/2793