ABSTRACT
The postindustrial period of social work practice has transformed much of the more mundane everyday practice wisdom into scientific knowledge. Commercial interests now direct and govern the hypertechnology landscape in every arena, including social work education. This chapter considers a range of possible consequences that this commercial technological assemblage may be having for social work. As Wise points out, purely market-based profit motives are dominating the technological assemblage worldwide, which is restricting access to a relatively privileged few. There are reports that the manufacture of hypertechnology is exploiting workers and their families in the third world, and that the environment is being despoiled during production. A host of mechanical and technical troubles have been identified by Tenner, which educators need to anticipate as technology begins to bite back. The authors summarize a number of issues concerning hyper-modern technology in social work education and offer suggestions for educational policy and practice.
