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Based on the criticisms for both functionalist and structuralist approaches in studying the usage patterns/processes and meanings of communication technologies, Katz and Aakhus (2002) proposed a new theoretical framework called Apparatgeist. Functionalist approach emphasizes instrumental, goal-oriented rationality at the expense of the symbolic aspects of technology usage and structuralist approach emphasizes process at the expense of the values and contents of the technology usage (p. 315). Drawing on Giddens' "structuration", Orlikowski (1992) and Pool and DeSanctis (1990, 1992) seemed to have overcame technological deterministic way of explaining the technology usage and its (sometimes recursive) interactions with human beings and their organizations; however, critics said that those approaches have not been successful to produce predictions that are viable to be tested. Katz and Aakhus suggested there is a social logic associated with communication technology, which comes before the particular technologies we are using now, but is unable to be expressed without the medium itself (p. 305). This logic of "perpetual contact" that is "grounded in broader ideologies rooted in historical, materialistic, religious, and ideational ontologies has dominated humans' attempts to contextualize and make their life experiences meaningful" (p. 305).

The logic of perpetual contact, according to Katz and Aakhus (2002), influences the judgments people make about the utility or value of personal technologies in their environment and also informs the predictions that scientists and technology producers make about those technologies. A socio-logic (Goodwin & Wenzel, 1979) is neither a formal logic nor the natural cognitive processes of an individual, but is located in the "socially developed sense of practical reasoning" that results from communities of people "thinking and acting together over time" (p. 289). The dominant image of perpetual contact is "pure communication (Peters, 1999) " which is an idealization of communication committed in the hope of sharing one's mind with another, like the talk of angels that transcends the limitations of physical bodies. Because this image of pure communication is deeply embedded in the logic of perpetual contact, it influences greatly how we judge, invent, and use certain communication technologies (p. 307).

In order to convey the logic of perpetual contact more effectively, Katz and Aakhus (2002) developed the new term, Apparatgeist. The word Apparatgeist has its origin in Latin and is derived in the German and Slavic word, apparat, meaning machine, and the geist also came from German meaning spirit or mind. Thus together, apparatgeist refers "the spirit of machine that influences both the design of the technology as well as the initial and subsequent meanings attributed by users, non-users, and anti-users" (p. 305). The term apparatgeist brings together between the individual and the collective aspects of of social behaviors. In other words, the cultural situation and the constraints of existing technology determine individual behaviors, which also takes place within a group or collective. (p. 307). Katz and Aakhus acknowledged that "historically bound technology offers us a flexible menu of extensive, but not infinite, choices" (p. 307). The Apparatgeist means the "common set of strategies or principles of reasoning about technology" shown by "the identifiable, consistent, and generalized patterns of technological advancement throughout history" (p. 307).

Drawing on Merton's differentiation between manifest and latent functions, Katz and Aakhus (2002) suggested both manifest and latent points in people's reasoning about personal communication technologies' roles in their lives. They further broke them down into technological and social aspects of personal communication technologies. The following table shows the examples of premises that can be used to make empirical predictions about communication technology and also to formulate normative judgments about uses and users of communication technologies.

The main point of Apparatgeist theory lies in universal features of personal communication technologies that exist across all cultures. Technology itself tends to assume certain standard features regardless of place and time (Katz & Aakhus, 2002, p. 310). When interacting with personal communication technologies, people tend to "standardize infrastructures and gravitate towards consistent tastes and universal features" (p. 310). Katz and Aakhus asserted that the major trend of technological advancement throughout the history is for users to operate by identifiable, consistent, and generalized patterns, and to depend on a common set of strategies or principles of reasoning despite individual creativity and vast cultural diversity.

Premises supporting the drive toward perpetual contact
References