Computerization and Social Transformations

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between the use of computer-based systems and transformations in parts of the social order. Answers to this question rest heavily on the way computer-based systems are consumed -not just produced or dissemtnated. The discourse about computerezation advanced in many professional magazines and the mass media is saturated with talk about "revolution, " and yet substantial social changes are often difficult to cdentcfy in carefully designed empirical studies. The article examines qualitative case studies of computerization in welfare agencies, urban planning, accounting, marketing, and manufacturing to examine the ways that computerization alters social life in varced ways: sometemes restructuring relationships and in other cases reinforcing existing social relationships. The article also examines some of the theoret ical issues in studies of computerization, such as drawing boundaries. It concludes with some observations about the sociology of computer sctence as an academic discipline.