top of page

Jacques Ellul

By: Ares Marlonsson

Attention spans are decreasing while hours spent in front of screens are increasing, and humans are growing more dependent on technology every day. There is a growing problem in modern society that so many are seemingly oblivious to. One of the earliest to realize and critique humans growing enslavement to technology was Jacques Ellul. Long before the first iPhone was ever sold, he noticed that the society was giving up long-standing traditions in favor of a world where algorithms, propaganda, administrative systems, genetic modification and technology created a world of maximal productivity and order. He warned against were the sacrifices society and humans would have to make in order to achieve social efficiency.


Ellul excelled throughout his younger years in subjects such as Latin, French, German, History and obtained his doctorate from the University of Bordeaux in 1936.[1] He would later return to the university to teach history of law as well as social law from 1946 to 1980, after joining the French resistance during WWII and serving as the deputy mayor of Bordeaux for a brief stint. During his time teaching, the French historian, sociologist, and theologian argued that the term he coined “Technique,” includes not merely machines and other technical devices but the whole complex of rationally ordered methods for making any human activity more efficient. [2] Ellul would also argue that Technique has outgrown human control and even if we were able to govern the technology we produce, the complex as a whole has taken on a life of its own, and threatens human freedom while also suppressing any means to a solution. Jacques Ellul also believed that “the technology phenomenon has become detached from the machine,” and that “in the past, technology was

a means of achieving a certain aim,” whereas now Technique is merely the automatic inclusion in all that we do. Summed up, Ellul makes the case that “People often have not given it a moment's thought that they are in fact, completely determined by technology and the life they lead. That in fact they form a mass, a coherent whole,” and “that these systems are so deeply embedded into modern society that they’re essentially the artificial blood of modern civilization.”[3]

​

Passing away due to illness in 1994, Jacques Ellul leaves behind a significant legacy. The accuracy of his predictions for what mass exposure to Technique would mean for the public, is a testament to his understanding of how deeply ingrained our technological dependencies are. In addition to inspiring hundreds of students over the course of his career as a professor, he produced a considerable amount of writing: almost a thousand articles and over fifty books that have been translated into more than twelve languages.[4] His beliefs and quotes such as have shaped many views of many modern leaders in technological reform and the concerns he raised throughout the nineties are just as prevalent today as they were when he first described them. Ellul found inspiration in Marx and he himself was often referred to as the Marx of the 20th century, as prestigious a comparison as any. He’ll always be known for his strong opinions and raising the question of whether our creation of this sociobiological machine is enhancing our freedom, or taking it away.

 

Source: bostonglobe.com

References

[1] Chastenet, Patrick. “Short Biography.” International Jacques Ellul Society, ellul.org/life/ biography/. N.d. (No Date)

​

[2] Matlack, Samuel. “Confronting the Technological Society.” The New Atlantis, 2014, www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/confronting-the-technological-society.

​

[3] Nikiforuk, Andrew. “Jacques Ellul: A Prophet for Our Tech-Saturated Times.” Resilience, 16 Nov. 2018, www.resilience.org/stories/2018-11-16/jacques-ellul-a-prophet-for-our-tech-saturated-times/.

​

[4] Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Jacques Ellul.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2 Jan. 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/Jacques-Cesar-Ellul.

Jacques Ellul.jpg
bottom of page