Clem Tisdell and Priyatosh Maitra (eels.). Technological Change, Development and the Environment: Socia-economic Perspective. London: Routledge, 1988. 351 pp.£ 30.00 (Hardbound).

Abstract

This book is a collection of 15 papers presented to the Fourth Congress of Social Economics held at Toronto in 1986, which was organized by the International Institute of Social Economics, Hull, England. The papers relate to the appropriateness, the development and the dissemination of technology, and the effect of technological change on social environment. The book highlights various issues which include, among others, the extent to which socially appropriate technology is being developed and applied in both the developing and the developed countries; the control of developing countries over the application of the most appropriate technology; the impact of information-jntensive technologies on family work, both within the home and at the workplace; changes in service industries in response to the advancement in telecommunications technologies; probable characteristics of future technological developments and their social consequences; the problems encountered by the developing countries in their development process due to their late start; environmental and social problems given rise by technological developments; and new dimensions in the analysis of increases in productivity.