This book provides a critical perspective on technology, answering the questions of why technologies often disappoint. It takes a sociotechnical and historical perspective on technology, as developed by an engineer-anthropologist and a design anthropologist, to answer questions not only about why modern societies have great expectations of technology, but also of why these technologies often fail to meet expectations. Modern societies often search for technological solutions ("technofixes") to what are institutional ...
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This book provides a critical perspective on technology, answering the questions of why technologies often disappoint. It takes a sociotechnical and historical perspective on technology, as developed by an engineer-anthropologist and a design anthropologist, to answer questions not only about why modern societies have great expectations of technology, but also of why these technologies often fail to meet expectations. Modern societies often search for technological solutions ("technofixes") to what are institutional problems, which include border crossings or urban mobility, or improvements in productivity or improved communication. It is disappointing when technofixes, whether border walls or driverless cars or social media, fail to live up to their promises of greater personal autonomy (such as afforded by driverless cars) or improved social harmony through social media. Examining technology from the perspectives of instrumentality ("tools"), identity ("totems"), and world-defining systems ("totalities") develops a comprehensive perspective that is at once historically informed and cross-culturally accurate. Although instrumentality is obvious and is at the core of any understanding of technology, identity is less so; yet many modern "tribes" create their identity in terms of technological objects and systems, whether transport systems (cars and airplanes) or social media or weapons (guns). Further, modern technologies span the globe, so that they exert imperative coordination over distant populations; the use of cell phones around the world is testimony to this fact. Such a critical perspective on technology can be useful in policy discussions of numerous issues affecting contemporary institutions.
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Many people, particularly people old enough to remember a different sort of life, feel that something is wrong. Our society is unwell. Of Americans, 24% eat nearly all their meals alone. Our food is bad, our work week is too long, we�re lonely, and not entering into meaningful relationships like marriage and parenthood at historically normal rates. Authors Allen Batteau and Christine Z. Miller, with clear, logical steps, present an alternative society in which technology serves the populace rather than the other way around in Tools, Totems, and Totalities: The Modern Construction of Hegemonic Technology.
Most Americans recoil at the thought of living in a Chinese-style surveillance state, in which your movements and your social connections are tracked by the government. Yet we willingly allow private companies to monitor our behavior with little accountability about how they use the information they�ve collected.
Does it have to be this way?
The society that we see evolving beyond one dominated by hegemonic technology will reorient technology to embrace personal relationships, rather than screen relationships. Face-to-face conversation will surpass virtual life on the screen, and technology will be put in its proper place, not as the master but the servant of humanity, argue the authors (p. 138).
In this book, historical trends are unpacked. The authors show how the freedoms intended for individual Americans have been usurped by tech companies. While the benefits offered by the Internet and cellphones are real, so are the social costs. The belief that you can�t have one without the other, say the authors, is simply wrong. We can work our way back from tribalism to patriotism and instill the idea that a functional society is better than what has overcome us in recent decades.
Before discussing the future, though, itââ?¬â?¢s important to understand the past. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first recorded use of the word ââ?¬Ë?technologyââ?¬â?¢ was in 1621, and it didnââ?¬â?¢t come into widespread use until the 1829 publication of a book called Elements of Technology by Jacob Bigelow. Before that, a common word was techne, which meant ââ?¬Ë?skill at creating something.ââ?¬â?¢ If your job was making horseshoes, odds were good that your daddy also made horseshoes, and his father before him. But as the objects being created became more complicated, manufacturing tricks started getting written down, codified and taught. This combination of techne and logos, or writing, started taking off with the Industrial Revolution and was the birth of technology as we currently understand the word.
In England, the impact was immediate. Small farmers were being forced off their land by royalty and moved in their millions to the cities of the English Midlands, where heavy industry was gearing up. The technology of coal mining and iron smelting led to the mass production of steam engines, which allowed everything from deeper mines to railways. Industrialists and inventors were the primary beneficiaries of technical progress, while the displaced farmers saw their quality of life significantly degrade.
Batteau and Miller point to a few recurring themes here. First, we think of technology as something that happens in factories and server farms, but it�s much broader than that. A technology cannot spread across a population without an enormous, state-recognized or state-supported infrastructure. Laws must be written or changed and enforced. A labor force needs to be trained and housed where the jobs are. In many cases, standards need to be agreed upon. If public safety or money is at risk, agencies will be formed to monitor and control the industry.
Itâ��s easy to believe that the advancements in technology weâ��ve seen have changed our lives forever â�" the Internet, cell phones, online gambling, spam calls, and endless doom-scrolling are genies that will not be stuffed back into the bottle, to say nothing of AI. The authors point out that the populace has a choice, though, in how technology is used in our lives, and provide a lot of examples from history of technology being tamed by social will. Europeans are not bombed by online ads because companies like Google and Apple are forbidden from collecting information about them without their specific consent.
The authors explain that a pendulum swing is inevitable. Entrepreneurs will figure out ways to profit from peopleââ?¬â?¢s loneliness, and the impact of ââ?¬Å"anti-social media,ââ?¬Â? as the authors call it, will be diminished. Some practical tips:
-Change what we measure. When a company decides that itââ?¬â?¢s more efficient to replace its customer service department with chatbots, they are considering only half of the interaction ââ?¬" their own half. If the total efficiency of the system is considered (ââ?¬Å"externalityââ?¬Â?), and the time spent by customers sitting on hold or going in circles trying to get an answer, then these systems can be demonstrated to be less efficient.
-Understand that a nation�s wealth is more than the value of the objects it produces and the services it provides. A healthy, literate, and engaged population surely contributes to a nation�s well-being, and yet economists do not consider these metrics as part of the standard economic dashboard. Only when things go wrong and they start looking for root causes do they start to care about the common good of the citizens, and by then, it is too late.
-Be aware of increasing ââ?¬Å"brittleness,ââ?¬Â? or lack of resilience, in the society weââ?¬â?¢re creating. Our economy was devastated by nineteen men with box cutters on Sept. 11, 2001. A fire in a plastics plant caused severe disruption to the global semiconductor industry a few years back. ââ?¬Å"Just in timeââ?¬Â? manufacturing ââ?¬" the assumption that required components will be available exactly when theyââ?¬â?¢re needed ââ?¬" pleases accountants but not risk managers. ââ?¬Å"Just in caseââ?¬Â? planning is a more resilient system.
Any attempt to further summarize the work these authors have already done an excellent job of summarizing will just weaken the work. Those with an interest in how society can overcome its current systemic issues will feel more optimistic after reading Tools, Totems, and Totalities by Allen Batteau and Christine Z. Miller.
L.T.
Apr 15, 2025
Literary Titan
Tools, Totems, and Totalities is a striking and expansive critique of modern technology and its pervasive role in shaping culture, institutions, and identities. Allen Batteau and Christine Z. Miller craft an ethnographic and philosophical journey through the social ecosystems technology inhabits, evolves within, and often dominates. Rather than viewing technology as a neutral tool, the authors challenge us to see it as a deeply embedded hegemonic forceâ�"one that organizes power, redefines human interaction, and reshapes meaning in the modern world. The book blends anthropology, design theory, engineering insight, and cultural criticism to show how tools become totems, and how both can culminate in totalizing systems of control.
What grabbed me right away was the authorsââ?¬â?¢ raw honesty in grappling with our blind trust in ââ?¬Å"progress.ââ?¬Â? The opening chapter sets the tone, arguing that our imagination of technologyââ?¬"our deep faith in itââ?¬"is more fantasy than fact. We treat smartphones, space probes, and electric grids as if they magically better our lives, when in truth, many of these devices mask deeper social problems or even create them. The idea that technology acts as a form of modern magic, filling the spiritual and communal voids of contemporary life really resonated with me. We reach for the newest device like itââ?¬â?¢s a talisman against chaos, and in doing so, we lose sight of the human behind the machine. That sense of disillusionment is something Iââ?¬â?¢ve felt before, but the book gave me the language and history to make sense of it.
But itââ?¬â?¢s not all doom and gloom. I found myself surprisingly moved by Chapter 6, where the authors introduce ââ?¬Å"convivial technology.ââ?¬Â? Here, they offer a hopeful, even beautiful vision of tools designed to enhance human relationships and community life, not just productivity. It was a breath of fresh air. They celebrate thinkers like Ivan Illich and Victor Papanek, who envisioned technology thatââ?¬â?¢s adaptable, human-centered, and a little slower. Their critique of modern design cultureââ?¬"its obsession with speed, efficiency, and controlââ?¬"felt deeply personal. As someone whoââ?¬â?¢s worked in tech, it made me pause. Maybe the point of innovation isnââ?¬â?¢t always to push forward, but to step back and ask, ââ?¬Å"Who is this really serving?ââ?¬Â?
Tools, Totems, and Totalities is a mirror held up to our techno-utopian fantasies. It doesnâ��t offer easy answers, but it does offer clarity. The writing is at times dense but always thoughtful, weaving scholarly insight with a conversational rhythm that kept me engaged. The authors donâ��t pretend to speak with a single voiceâ�"they embrace their differences, and it works. The book doesnâ��t preach. It pokes, it nudges, and sometimes it throws cold water on our comfort zones. But I appreciated that. I finished the final chapter with a weird mix of dread and inspiration. I wanted to change something. Or at least think differently.
This book is for people who arenâ��t satisfied with buzzwords. If youâ��re curious about the social and cultural consequences of technologyâ�"and especially if youâ��ve ever felt unsettled by your own reliance on itâ�"this book will challenge and reward you. Scholars, designers, engineers, sociologists, and everyday readers who are just plain tired of the hype will find something meaningful here.
