Memo23-Hegemonic+Backdrops

For this memo, you should write a few hundred words describing conventional or hegemonic ideas about your object of concern. See Bruce Pfaffenberger's description of hegemonic ideas about technology in "The Social Anthropology of Technology, "Annual Review of Anthropology. Volume 21, Page 491-516, Oct 1992 (available through Folsom Library).

1. The end consumer must deal with the technologies they purchase, if incapable then state and federal governments will have to pick up the slack. Except under extreme conditions manufacturers and originators of products and services can not be held accountable for their production particularly when the goods and services have distributed harms rather than direct harms on individuals. In the case of plastics in goods and packaging waste collection and the potential harms to individuals and environment must be born by the collective. This is both a legal criteria due to limited liability form most companies but also stems from (at least in the U.S. but changing in places like Germany) a cultural norm of refraining from impeding technological developments, e.g. progress is both good and ineviatable.