In April 2015, the Society of Economic Anthropology held its annual conference, hosted at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, to discuss the theme “Technologies and the Transformation of Economies.” The articles in this volume examine the multifaceted relationship between people and technology across different societies and at different periods in the history of social and economic transformations. This introduction to the volume (1) contextualizes the conference and frames the discussion of social transformations and technology within the larger debates on people and technology, (2) introduces the different articles from archaeology and ethnography that may potentially contribute to the scholarly debates on people and technology within anthropology and related social sciences, and (3) suggests new areas for future research on people and technology.