BIBLIO is the largest independent book marketplace in the world, with over 100 million books.

Skip to content

The Technological Society
Stock photo: cover may vary

The Technological Society Mass market paperbound - 1967

by Jacques Ellul

Add to wish list

Reader reviews for The Technological Society

From the publisher

As insightful and wise today as it was when originally published in 1954, Jacques Ellul's The Technological Society has become a classic in its field, laying the groundwork for all other studies of technology and society that have followed.

Ellul offers a penetrating analysis of our technological civilization, showing how technology--which began innocuously enough as a servant of humankind--threatens to overthrow humanity itself in its ongoing creation of an environment that meets its own ends. No conversation about the dangers of technology and its unavoidable effects on society can begin without a careful reading of this book.

"A magnificent book . . . He goes through one human activity after another and shows how it has been technicized, rendered efficient, and diminished in the process."--Harper's

"One of the most important books of the second half of the twentieth-century. In it, Jacques Ellul convincingly demonstrates that technology, which we continue to conceptualize as the servant of man, will overthrow everything that prevents the internal logic of its development, including humanity itself--unless we take necessary steps to move human society out of the environment that 'technique' is creating to meet its own needs."--The Nation

"A description of the way in which technology has become completely autonomous and is in the process of taking over the traditional values of every society without exception, subverting and suppressing these values to produce at last a monolithic world culture in which all non-technological difference and variety are mere appearance."--Los Angeles Free Press

First line

No social, human, or spiritual fact is so important as the fact of technique in the modern world.

From the rear cover

A penetrating analysis of our technical civilization and of the effect of an increasingly standardized culture on the future of man.

Details

  • Title The Technological Society
  • Author Jacques Ellul
  • Binding Mass Market Paperbound
  • Edition Reprint
  • Pages 512
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Vintage, New York
  • Publication date 1967-10-12
  • Features Index
  • ISBN 9780394703909 / 0394703901
  • Weight 0.6 lbs (0.27 kg)
  • Dimensions 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.5 in (17.27 x 10.67 x 3.81 cm)
  • Category Sociology
  • Library of Congress subjects Technology and civilization, Technology - Philosophy
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 00000000
  • Dewey Decimal Code 303.483

Media reviews

"Jacques EIlul is a French sociologist, a Catholic layman active in the ecumenical movement, a leader of the French resistance in the war, and -- one is tempted to add, after reading his book -a great man. Certainly he has written a magnificent book. ... The translation by John Wilkinson is excellent.

"With monumental calm and maddening thoroughness he goes through one human activity after another and shows how it has been technicized -- rendered efficient -- and diminished in the process.... "

-- Paul Pickrel, Harper's

"The Technological Society is one of the most important books of the second half of the twentieth century. In it, Jacques Ellul convincingly demonstrates that technology, which we continue to conceptualize as the servant of man, will overthrow everything that prevents the internal logic of its development, including humanity itself -- unless we take the necessary steps to move human society out of the environment that 'technique' is creating to meet its own needs."

-- Robert Theobald, The Nation

"...The effect is a contained intellectual explosion, a heated recognition of a tragic complication that has overtaken contemporary society."

-- Scott Buchanan, George Washington Law Review

About the author

Jacques Ellul was a French philosopher and Christian anarchist. He served as professor of history and the sociology of institutions on the Faculty of Law and Economic Sciences at the University of Bordeaux for many years. Although he was trained as a sociologist, Ellul is considered a philosopher with a particular interest in technology and the possibility of technological tyranny. He is said to have coined the phrase "Think globally, act locally." Among his books are Propaganda, The Political Illusion, The Theological Foundation of Law, The Meaning of the City, and many others. Jacques Ellul passed away in 1994 at the age of 82.

More Copies for Sale

The Technological Society
Stock photo: cover may vary

The Technological Society

by Jacques Ellul

  • Used
  • Good
Condition
Good
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780394703909 / 0394703901
Quantity available
1
Seller
Item price
A$12.81
A$5.72 Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
Vintage Books, 1964T. mass_market. Good. 1.5354 in x 6.8504 in x 4.1339 in.
Add to wish list
Item price
A$12.81
A$5.72 Delivery to USA
The Technological Society
Stock photo: cover may vary

The Technological Society

by Ellul, Jacques,

  • New
Condition
New
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780394703909 / 0394703901
Quantity available
5
Seller
Item price
A$15.51
A$5.72 Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
new.
Add to wish list
Item price
A$15.51
A$5.72 Delivery to USA
The Technological Society
Stock photo: cover may vary

The Technological Society

by Jacques Ellul

  • New
Condition
New
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780394703909 / 0394703901
Quantity available
25
Seller
Item price
A$15.52
A$5.72 Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
Vintage Books. New. BRAND NEW, GIFT QUALITY! NOT OVERSTOCKS OR MARKED UP REMAINDERS! DIRECT FROM THE PUBLISHER!
Add to wish list
Item price
A$15.52
A$5.72 Delivery to USA
The Technological Society
Stock photo: cover may vary

The Technological Society

by Ellul, Jacques,

  • Used
Condition
New
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780394703909 / 0394703901
Quantity available
5
Seller
Item price
A$15.65
A$5.72 Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
like new.
Add to wish list
Item price
A$15.65
A$5.72 Delivery to USA
The Technological Society
Stock photo: cover may vary

The Technological Society

by Jacques Ellul

  • Used
Condition
Used
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780394703909 / 0394703901
Quantity available
1
Seller
Item price
A$20.76
Free Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
Jb International, 0000-00-00. mass_market. Used: Good. 4.10x1.24x6.90. Buy with confidence. Excellent Customer Service & Return policy.
Add to wish list
Item price
A$20.76
Free Delivery to USA
The Technological Society
Stock photo: cover may vary

The Technological Society

by Ellul, Jacques, Ellul, Jacques

  • Used
Condition
Used
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780394703909 / 0394703901
Quantity available
1
Seller
Item price
A$21.23
Free Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Used - Good. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.
Add to wish list
Item price
A$21.23
Free Delivery to USA
Technological Society
Stock photo: cover may vary

Technological Society

by JACQUES ELLUL

  • New
  • Paperback
Condition
New
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780394703909 / 0394703901
Quantity available
2
Seller
Item price
A$22.88
A$8.53 Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
Random House Inc, October 1967. Mass Market Paperback. New.
Add to wish list
Item price
A$22.88
A$8.53 Delivery to USA
TECHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Stock photo: cover may vary

TECHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY

by ELLUL,JACQUES

  • New
  • Paperback
Condition
New
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780394703909 / 0394703901
Quantity available
1
Seller
Item price
A$22.88
A$8.18 Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
pb. New. Brand New. Ships from an indie bookstore in NYC.
Add to wish list
Item price
A$22.88
A$8.18 Delivery to USA
The Technological Society
Stock photo: cover may vary

The Technological Society

by Jacques Ellul

  • Used
  • Good
  • Paperback
Condition
Good
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780394703909 / 0394703901
Quantity available
1
Seller
Item price
A$23.02
Free Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
Vintage Books. mass market paperback. Good. 9.5X6.5X1.5. Buy with confidence. Excellent Customer Service & Return policy.
Add to wish list
Item price
A$23.02
Free Delivery to USA
The Technological Society
Stock photo: cover may vary

The Technological Society

by Jacques Ellul

  • New
Condition
New
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780394703909 / 0394703901
Quantity available
6
Seller
Item price
A$28.73
Free Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
Jb International, 0000-00-00. mass_market. New. 4.10x1.24x6.90. Buy with confidence. Excellent Customer Service & Return policy.
Add to wish list
Item price
A$28.73
Free Delivery to USA