Durkheim and Weber on the Social Implications of New Information and Communication Technologies

Max Weber and Emile Durkheim made an important contribution to our understanding of new information and communication technologies (ICTs). While they did not discuss ICTs in their work, they provided conceptual tools at the macro-, meso- and micro-social levels that help us understand the use of ICTs. We examine how Weber's iron cage and Durkheim's mechanical solidarity and ritual present a coherent account of how ICTs sustain cohesion and also enmesh us in mediated interactions in complex societies. Thus, they directly address the question of the implications of increasingly mediated relationships, which is overlooked by theories that focus only on the relation between individuals and technology. Unlike other theorists who do focus on the societal level, Weber and Durkheim are more concerned with their routine workings, providing a more grounded, everyday, and in this sense realistic understanding of ICTs and social change.