The purpose of this study is to stimulate a reflection on the relationship between culture and technology, and the role of culture in technological development. It also seeks to raise issues pertaining to culture and technology against the background of the World Decade for Cultural Development, which was launched by UNESCO (1988-1997) with the principal objective of promoting cultural awareness and cultural development.
Analysis of the relationship between culture and technology have in recent years examined how cultural factors affect the level and mastery of technological development. Increasingly though, there has been considerable emphasis on other concerns as well: for instance, the issue of appropriate technology and the culture of maintenance, the importance of which have been amply demonstrated in recent literature, the question of technology and management cultures in various societies, and the relationship between technological awareness and technological choice. This study thus attempts to provide a systematic and comprehensive general treatment of culture and technology and their role in development. The themes examined in this study include the nature and actual practice of culture and technology, the issues surrounding appropriate technology and the culture of maintenance. the examination of culture and technology in selected countries of the world, and what lessons we might learn from the experiences of these countries.
The examples and illustrations given in this study were drawn from a wide range of cultures and societies in order to help lead to a rethinking, especially in the developing world of the role of technology in development and the significance of the cultural context in which technology is developed.
Other issues related to the role of technology and the importance of the environment were also examined in order to understand the nature of cultural changes taking place in a particular societies. Especially important in this context is a reconsideration of the extent to which traditional cultural values affect the transfer of technology and the development of indigenous technology as well as how cultural factors affect the proper exercise of technological choice. and the implantation of a technological culture.
