Abstract: As a representative personage of the British New Marxism， Eric Hobsbawm regarded technology as one of the human practices， which is not neutral but must reside in the goal of human society in a certain historical condition while it can’t wander outside of human values in that technology is value loaded. He constantly held the standpoint of historical materialism all alone， and researched the microcosmic historical facts of social underclass and human practices by adopting the historical “bottom up” approach. To Hobsbawm， technological value should be reset to the “total history” covering both industrial history and human history， whose emphasis should be based on the practical experience of the mankind's activities as well as the ultimate aim of human beings' free and comprehensive development. Technological value should include productivity value， social revolution value， cultural value and human-oriented value.

Key words: Eric Hobsbawm, historical materialism, technology value, freedom and liberation of humankind