The key concepts through which technology and culture are understood will be established and defined as part of a contextual foundation. This will be accomplished by examining both concepts through the idea of conceptual narratives (progress, convenience, determinism and control), and to take a closer look at the ways in which technology is integrated and embedded in our culture. Technology as a concept will be evaluated through applying the four phases of the theory of simulacrum in order to illustrate the ways in which it simulates the role of religion in a technologically driven era. Baudrillard created four levels of reproduction. These will be discussed in more detail later, but are:
1. The basic reflection …show more content…
Chapter One will serve as an introduction to the theoretical basis and contextual framework of the study. In addition, the problem statement, research questions, and central theoretical statement will be introduced. Chapter Two will be comprised of a theoretical framework consisting of the four steps to Jean Baudrillard’s, Simulacra and Simulation. This will serve as a means to construct a platform through which to explore the role of technology as a new religion. Chapter Three will involve a reading and interpretation of The Second Coming through the lens of Jean Baudrillard’s theory of Simulacra and Simulation. Chapter Four, in closing, will consist of a summary and concluding …show more content…
Simulacra as an observable phenomenon in the world today
1. Modern-day media, including the web, books, television, and films. According to Braudillard these mediums are all making it hard for us to distinguish between those products we might need to live meaningful lives, and those products that have merely come into being for commercial purposes. An example would be studies that increasingly show a millennial generation to be dependent on social media platforms like Facebook, and that accessing Facebook on a regular basis is considered essential to personal wellbeing and happiness (Kuss & Griffiths, 2011).
2. Exchange value, in which a thing’s weight or value is based only on how much it is “worth” in money. Thus its purpose becomes quantified and it is defined in financial terms only. An example of this would be looking for a job online, and not reading job descriptions but only focusing on salary expectations. Applying for jobs become not so much about whether or not a job can be meaningful in a personal way, but completely about how the job is defined in monetary terms.
3. Multinational capitalism, a system that divorces products from the plants and other materials, also persons and social context, which were originally used to create them. For example, ordering fashionable clothes online that were handmade by young children in