Category:Appropriate Technology
From Eurêka
Appropriate Technology
Technological dominance Access to new technological knowledge is highly unequal and it conveys tremendous power to those who control it.
Modernization theory Important analytical paradigm in American sociology for the explanation of the global process by which traditional societies achieved modernity. Modernization theory has been criticized on two counts:
- Ethnocentric model Modernization is based on development in the western industrial countries and is thus an ethnocentric model of development.
- Uneven process model Modernization does not necessarily lead to industrial growth and equal distribution of social benefits, since it is an essentially uneven process resulting in underdevelopment and dependency.
Technology transfer Transfer of technological knowledge to Third World countries. The climate for technology transfer has been shaped by major structural changes in world industry since the 1960s. These changes include the move of industries out of the industrialized world to some parts of the Third World, especially those involved in products and processes needing cheap, versatile unskilled labor - making clothes, shoes, consumer electronics and microelectronic assemblies. In addition, some basic industries with heavy energy requirements or high pollution levels have been involved, together with some attempts to move downstream processing of raw materials - particularly basic petro-chemicals, steel, bauxite and aluminum, and pulp and paper production.
Appropriate technology Technology that takes into account the skills, culture and resources of a particular community within its own local environment which will contribute to the quality of life of that community. The term gained acceptance in the 1970s when it was realized that many aid projects using technologies from the industrialized world did not fully benefit the local people. Since this term was first used by E. F. Schumacher at a conference at Oxford in 1968, and then with its subsequent popularization through the publication of Schumacher’s book, Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People mattered, many related terms have come into widespread use.
Intermediate technology Technological and commercial activities of intermediate economic scale as defined by E. F. Schumacher. The concepts are closely related to the ideas of self-sufficiency, the use of local resources, renewable energy and a range of alternative economic policies that challenge the large-scale centralized policies of traditional industrialization.
Infant technology Industry that is new to a particular country and which has little chance of success unless it is protected from competition. Such industries, often in underdeveloped countries, have difficulty in competing with imports of similar industries abroad during their early years because the latter enjoy benefits of economies of scale. As a consequence governments usually impose tariffs and quotas on the competitive imports in order to protect the infant industry.
Global sourcing Process of shopping freely among several nations, usually for the lowest-cost source, of numerous components.
Global assembly lines Workers in developing countries employed doing light assembly work in multinational plants, usually women.
Appropriate Technology Lexicon
(alphabetical listing)
Alternative technology Synonym for appropriate technology.
Community technology Synonym for appropriate technology.
Convivial tools Synonym for appropriate technology.
Eco-technology Synonym for appropriate technology.
Humanized technology Synonym for appropriate technology.
Liberatory technology Synonym for appropriate technology.
Light-capital technology Synonym for appropriate technology.
Modest technology Synonym for appropriate technology.
Participatory technology Synonym for appropriate technology.
Progressive technology Synonym for appropriate technology.
Radical technology Synonym for appropriate technology.
Soft technology Synonym for appropriate technology.
Technology with a human face Synonym for appropriate technology.
Utopian technology Synonym for appropriate technology.
Vernacular technology Synonym for appropriate technology.
Village level technology Synonym for appropriate technology.
