The phenomenon of technological hazards, whose existence is only revealed many years after they were initially produced, shows that the question of our responsibilities toward future generations is of urgent importance. However, the nature of technological societies means that they are caught in a condition of structural irresponsibility: the…

This article explores the social and historical conditions under which "people changing technology" overshadows that of "technology changing people" through its influence on human life, society, and the biosphere. Social construction and determinism are thus two sides of the same coin. However, both ignore the inseparability of thoughts and action…

Family Medicine first formally confronted systems thinking with the adoption of the biopsychosocial model for understanding disease in a holistic manner; this is a description of a natural system. More recently, Family Medicine has been consciously engaged in developing itself as a system for delivering health care, an artificial system. We make…

The ideas of technological determinism and the autonomy of technology are long-standing and widespread. This article explores why the use of certain technologies is perceived to be obligatory, thus fueling the fatalism of technological determinism and undermining our sense of freedom vis-a-vis the use of technologies. Three main mechanisms that…

Traditionally, the management of technology has focused on the stages before or after development of technology. In this approach the technology itself is conceived as the result of a deterministic enterprise; a result that is to be either rejected or embraced. However, recent insights from Science and Technology Studies (STS) have shown that…

The hypothesis of an antieconomy developed in part 1 is incommensurate with mainstream economics. This article explores three reasons for this situation: the limits of discipline-based scholarship in general and of mainstream economics in particular, the status of economists in contemporary societies, and the failure of economists to accept any…

Technological growth in developed and developing countries in the 20th century has lent a great deal of importance to scientific reasoning in the management of human affairs. An important outgrowth has been the development of systems thinking to organize the workplace. The business reengineering process and the enterprise resource planning system…

Although science and law employ different methods to gather and weigh evidence, their conclusions are remarkably convergent with regard to the effect that workplace stress has on the health of employees. Science, using the language of probability, affirms that certain stressors predict adverse health outcomes such as disabling anxiety and…

A model of job socialization based on the joint effect of decision latitude and psychological demands are developed to predict how behaviors learned on the job would carry over to leisure and political activities out-side of work. The model is tested with a longitudinal national random sample of the Swedish male work force (1:1,000) in 1968 and…