--- title: "Technology definition and change in culture" subject: "Technology, Environment and Society" chapter: 1 key: "semester_7/technology_environment_and_society:define-tech-culture-traditions" source: https://www.bctengineer.com/q/semester_7/technology_environment_and_society/define-tech-culture-traditions site: BCT Engineering --- # Technology definition and change in culture Technology, Environment and Society · Chapter 1: Technology - Asked in: 2075 Asoj, 8 marks - Answer checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (high effort) on 2026-10-14 - Page: https://www.bctengineer.com/q/semester_7/technology_environment_and_society/define-tech-culture-traditions - Whole chapter: https://www.bctengineer.com/md/semester_7/technology_environment_and_society/chapter-1 ## Question What do you understand by the term technology? How it changes culture and traditions of a society? ## Short answer Technology is the systematic application of scientific knowledge, tools, and skills to solve problems and produce goods. It transforms culture by weakening traditional joint families, replacing local customs with globalised communication, altering festivals, eroding caste-based occupations, empowering women, and shifting values towards individualism and consumerism, though it can also preserve culture digitally. ## Answer **Technology** is the systematic application of scientific knowledge, tools, techniques, skills and organisation to produce goods and services and to solve practical human problems. It includes not only machines (hardware) but also methods, know-how (software) and the organisation needed to use them. Examples: plough, wheel, electricity, mobile phone, vaccine. Technology has four elements: **technique** (tools/machines), **knowledge**, **organisation** and **product**. #### How technology changes culture and tradition 1. **Family and social structure:** Industrial and urban jobs, vehicles and foreign employment break joint families into nuclear ones. Mutual help systems like *parma* and *guthi* are weakening. 2. **Communication:** Mobile phones and social media replace letters and village gatherings; people stay connected globally but face-to-face interaction falls. 3. **Language, dress and food:** TV, internet and travel spread Western clothing, fast food and English words; local languages and dresses are used less, especially by youths. 4. **Festivals and rituals:** Greetings are sent online, weddings happen in party palaces with DJs, and rituals are shortened. Relatives abroad join ceremonies by video call. 5. **Occupation and caste:** Factory goods displace traditional crafts of potters, tailors (*damai*), blacksmiths (*kami*), weakening caste-based occupations and the hereditary link between caste and work. 6. **Status of women:** Education, household appliances, birth control and jobs give women independence and change gender roles. 7. **Health beliefs:** Modern medicine reduces faith in *dhami-jhankri* and superstitions; average life expectancy rises. 8. **Agriculture and festivals:** Tractors and threshers replace oxen and communal planting/harvesting songs (e.g. *ropain* songs in Asar). 9. **Values:** Money, time, speed, education and individual success become more valued than community, religion and inherited status. 10. **Entertainment:** Folk music, *dohori* and local games give way to TV, films, YouTube and mobile games. #### Assessment | Positive | Negative | |---|---| | Reduces superstition and discrimination | Erosion of indigenous culture, language | | Wider knowledge and global outlook | Consumerism, imitation of foreign culture | | Gender equality | Generation gap, loneliness of elderly | Technology can also **preserve** culture: digital archives of old scripts, recording of folk songs, online promotion of festivals and tourism. A society should adopt technology selectively so that development does not destroy its identity. ## Check yourself The answer's key points as multiple-choice questions, with the correct option and why. 1. How does the answer define technology? A. Only machines and hardware B. Only computers and the internet C. Only scientific theory D. Systematic application of scientific knowledge, tools, techniques, skills and organisation to produce goods and services and solve problems Answer: D. Technology includes hardware, know-how (software) and organisation, not only machines. (Key point: Definition) 2. Which are the four elements of technology? A. Technique, knowledge, organisation and product B. Capital, labour, land and enterprise C. Input, process, output and feedback D. Design, build, test and sell Answer: A. The answer lists technique (tools/machines), knowledge, organisation and product. (Key point: Four elements) 3. How does technology affect caste-based occupations? A. It strengthens the link between caste and work B. Factory goods displace crafts of potters, tailors and blacksmiths, weakening the hereditary link between caste and work C. It makes caste occupations compulsory D. It has no effect Answer: B. Factory goods displace traditional crafts, weakening caste-based occupations. (Key point: Occupation and caste) 4. How can technology also preserve culture? A. By stopping all change B. By banning foreign media C. Through digital archives of old scripts, recording folk songs and online promotion of festivals D. By replacing local languages Answer: C. Technology can preserve culture, so a society should adopt it selectively to protect its identity. 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