Apparatgeist

English

Etymology

Pseudo-Germanism, derived from Apparat (“apparatus, device, machine”) +‎ Geist (“spirit”). Perhaps influenced by zeitgeist. Coined by American academic James E Katz.

Noun

Apparatgeist (uncountable)

1. (technology, sociology) The inherent properties of a device which affect the way it is used by individuals across cultures.
   • 2009 December 30, James E. Katz, quotee, “The Apparatgeist calls”, in The Economist‎^[1], London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-03-26:

     A few years ago such questions provoked academic controversy. Not everybody agrees with Ms Ito's argument that technology is always socially constructed. James Katz, a professor of communication at Rutgers University in New Jersey, argues that there is an Apparatgeist (German for "spirit of the machine"). For personal communication technologies, he argues, people react in pretty much the same way, a few national variations notwithstanding. "Regardless of culture," he suggests, "when people interact with personal communication technologies, they tend to standardise infrastructure and gravitate towards consistent tastes and universal features."

   • 2012, Imar O. de Vries, Tantalisingly Close: An Archaeology of Communication Desires in Discourses of Mobile Wireless Media, Amsterdam University Press, →ISBN, page 95:

     In constructing such a multiscalar approach, I want to draw upon the same insight that informed the theory of Apparatgeist, which James E. Katz and Mark Aakhus proposed to define as referring to 'the common set of strategies or principles of reasoning about technology evident in the identifiable, consistent, and generalized patterns of technological advancement throughout history' (Katz & Aakhus 2002: 307).

References

• Paul McFedries (1996–2024) “Apparatgeist”, in Word Spy, Logophilia Limited.