Democratizing technology without democratizing the economy?

TA and the question of democratic relations in the economic sphere

Abstract

In light of the current dominance of economic actors in the development and application of technology, this paper discusses whether the commitment of technology assessment (TA) to democratizing technological change could or should be extended to include a commitment to economic democracy. Subsequently, we present some principles of contemporary theoretical approaches to economic democracy and finally ask how these could inform and orient the work of TA in concrete terms.