Technique as a sociological concept exceeds machine technology in scope

Evidence

This concept of technique has a much broader sociological foundation than the concept of machine technology. Hence, it is also firstly much more loosely defined, as far as correlations with other variables in the societal structure are concerned. It does not carry the immediate suggestion that the way work is organized, environment control, conditions for production, the state of the economy, and class domination are primary factors in social change, although it does not exclude such factors. It thereby attains a comprehensiveness which is adequate for the societal system as a whole. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 725

Categorization

• DEFINE: Key definitional anchor: Luhmann’s expanded concept of technique is not machine technology but general sociotechnical structuring — the lens through which media and power are technical.