Sushchestvuet znachitel'noe kolichestvo opredeleniy tekhniki kak sotsial'nogo yavleniya, odnako ni odno iz nikh ne okhvatyvaet tekhniku v ee vazhneyshikh kharakteristikakh. V nastoyashchey rabote tekhnika rassmatrivaetsya kak osobaya sotsial'naya sistema (tochnee, podsistema sotsiuma kak sistemy), imeyushchaya dve storony - material'nuyu i ideal'nuyu. V chastnosti, pokazano znachenie tekhnicheskogo myshleniya kak ideal'noy sostavlyayushchey tekhniki i opredeleny ego osobennosti, v tom chisle kharakternye osobennosti tekhnicheskikh nauk. Rassmotrena rol' tekhniki v stanovlenii i funktsionirovanii obshchestvennogo organizma. S dannoy tochki zreniya rassmotrena rol' tekhniki kak sotsial'nogo yavleniya v ee ekstravertnykh (vzaimodeystvie s okruzhayushchey sredoy) i intravertnykh (obespechenie tselostnosti obshchestvennogo organizma) funktsiyakh. Issledovana funktsional'naya struktura tekhniki v ee istoricheskom razvitii, proanalizirovany ee sostavlyayushchie s ikh spetsificheskimi obshchestvennymi funktsiyami, a takzhe genezis i razvitie tekhnicheskikh sistem, vklyuchaya voprosy ikh zakonov i periodizatsii.