In the thorough, vivid, and historically contextualized ideas of STS and infrastructures discussed in our last reading, I found discussions of our internal mental infrastructures surprisingly absent (1). The study of the social and mental worlds are inextricably linked and indeed both the academic disciplines of sociology and psychology draw from the same well. It’s curious that absent in the discussion are the technologies of language and thought born from the studies of society and the mind. There are distinct developments in the 20th century in these fields that have been mobilised and used to dominate and maintain a power dynamic.
Perhaps the most influential on modern history is the work of Edward Bernays who is often credited to be the “father of public relations” (2). Bernays was heavily influenced by his uncle Sigmund Freud’s ideas from psychoanalysis and introspection (2). He used ideas from psychology and sociology to engineer behaviour in the masses who are “irrational” and capitalize on the group mind (2).
“If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, is it not possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing about it? The recent practice of propaganda has proved that it is possible, at least up to a certain point and within certain limits.” (3).
Bernay’s philosophy and values necessitate a domination of an educated elite over and irrational mass of humans who are subject to their own primal instincts (2). His work, and I argue technological inventions, in public relations has been foundational to modern advertising and propaganda (2). His ideas were highly influential in the propaganda apparatus of the Nazi regime (2).
Central to all of these discussions is the role of language and mind. Why are cognitive and linguistic theories of mind and their subsequent mobilisations absent from the discussion of technological infrastructure? The ideas of object agency that are central tenets of ANT and Material Semiotics are closely related to the ideas of embodied cognition, enactivism, extended mind, and situated cognition. It is more than likely that the scholars developing the technologies of these concepts and their applications were aware of each other. Why is this discussion absent?
An interesting avenue to explore for STS scholars is the the use of behavioural research teams in shaping government policy (4). The UK based Behavioural Insights Team uses experimental data to shape government policy that “nudges” or influences people to performing desired behaviours (4). The strategies include using things like employing social norms or attentional shifts to increase political participation, increase tax payment rates, reduce errors medical prescription errors, and encourage charitable donations among other things (4). It is true, these policies and the subsequent behaviours may fall in line with the desires of most involved actors, but it is nevertheless an example of a psychosocially-bounded technological invention that capitalizes on the infrastructure of social and psychological world to create a power dynamic.
In the current political climate which is driven by a combination of computational technologies, social technologies, and psycho-linguistic technologies where public relations lay down the infrastructure of society, I posit that STS should integrate and acknowledge the existence of mental and cognitive infrastructures in their working analytical models of society and power dynamics. I may be naive in saying this, but if this integration has or is taking place, I am surprised that it is absent in central accounts of infrastructures within STS.
Bibliography
(1) “Chapter 4: STS and Power in the Postmodern World.” Science, Technology and Society: A Sociological Approach .
(2) Edward Bernays. (2018). En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 13 March 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays
(3) Bernays, Edward (2005) [1928]. Propaganda. Brooklyn, N.Y: Ig Pub. p. 47. ISBN 0970312598.
(4) Behavioural Insights Team. (2018). En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 13 March 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioural_Insights_Team
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