Thorsten Veblen is usually credited with coining the term "technological determinism" which Charles Beard described as:
Technology marches in seven-league boots from one ruthless, revolutionary conquest to another, tearing down old factories and industries, flinging up new processes with terrifying rapidity.Today, of course, few people will claim outright that any technology truly has a determining hand. Instead they'll attempt to show how within a certain social and/or economic framework a certain technology will influence a society in a particular manner.