A Critical Review of the Prominent Media Technology Theories

Criticizing and discussing media technology theories which are predominant in Para-Communicational literature, would help media scholars to better understand the nature of modern media. Although instrumentalism is an outdated approach in epistemological studies of media, it is still applied in communication theories. Determinism in different forms such as technological autonomy, technological necessity, technical evolutionism, and media technologies as the only cause of all social changes has simply remained as a claim. However, there are some determinists who reject the ultimate importance and influence of media technologies and do consider some roles for media spaces, too. Social structuralism as the latest post-determinism theory, tries to shed light on ambiguities and exaggerations which were presented by instrumentalism and determinism supporters, during the last century; moreover, it confirms the influence of technology on society and asserts that media technologies have emerged from a social historical context. This paper criticizes two main paradigms in communication studies and emphasizes on social structuralism as an alternative theory.