Does technology drive history? : the dilemma of technological determinism

Author(s)

• Smith, Merritt Roe
• Marx, Leo

Bibliographic Information

Does technology drive history? : the dilemma of technological determinism

edited by Merritt Roe Smith and Leo Marx

MIT Press, c1994

• : hbk
• : pbk

Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

: hbk ISBN 9780262193474

Description

These thirteen essays explore a crucial historical question that has been notoriously hard to pin down: To what extent, and by what means, does a society's technology determine its political, social, economic, and cultural forms. Karl Marx launched the modern debate on determinism with his provocative remark that "the hand-mill gives you society with the feudal lord; the steam-mill, society with the industrial capitalist," and a classic article by Robert Heilbroner (reprinted here) renewed the debate within the context of the history of technology. This book clarifies the debate and carries it forward. Marx's position has become embedded in our culture, in the form of constant reminders as to how our fast-changing technologies wilt alter our lives. Yet historians who have looked closely at where technologies really come from generally support the proposition that technologies are not -autonomous but are social products, susceptible to democratic controls. The issue is crucial for democratic theory. These essays tackle it head-on, offering a deep look at all the shadings of determinism and assessing determinist models in a wide variety of historical contexts. The contributors are: B

Table of Contents

• Technological determinism in American culture, Merritt Roe Smith
• recourse of empire - landscapes of progress in technological America, Michael L. Smith
• do machines make history?, Robert L. Heilbroner
• technological determinism revisited, Robert L. Heilbroner
• three faces of technological determinism, Bruce Bimber
• technological momentum, Thomas P. Hughes
• retrieving sociotechnical change from technological determinism, Thomas J. Misa
• determinism and indeterminacy in the history of technology, Philip Scranton
• technological determinism in Agrarian societies, Peter C. Perdue
• determinism and pre-industrial technology, Richard W. Bulliet
• the political and feminist dimensions of technological determinism, Rosalind Williams
• the idea of "technology" and postmodern pessimism, Leo Marx
• rationality versus contingency in the history of technology, John M. Staudenmaier.

Volume

: pbk ISBN 9780262691673

Description

These thirteen essays explore a crucial historical questionthat has been notoriously hard to pin down: To what extent,and by what means, does a society's technology determine itspolitical, social, economic, and cultural forms? These thirteen essays explore a crucial historical question that has been notoriously hard to pin down: To what extent, and by what means, does a society's technology determine its political, social, economic, and cultural forms? Karl Marx launched the modern debate on determinism with his provocative remark that "the hand-mill gives you society with the feudal lord; the steam-mill, society with the industrial capitalist," and a classic article by Robert Heilbroner (reprinted here) renewed the debate within the context of the history of technology. This book clarifies the debate and carries it forward.Marx's position has become embedded in our culture, in the form of constant reminders as to how our fast-changing technologies will alter our lives. Yet historians who have looked closely at where technologies really come from generally support the proposition that technologies are not autonomous but are social products, susceptible to democratic controls. The issue is crucial for democratic theory. These essays tackle it head-on, offering a deep look at all the shadings of determinism and assessing determinist models in a wide variety of historical contexts. Contributors Bruce Bimber, Richard W. Bulliet, Robert L. Heilbroner, Thomas P. Hughes, Leo Marx, Thomas J. Misa, Peter C. Perdue, Philip Scranton, Merritt Roe Smith, Michael L. Smith, John M. Staudenmaier, Rosalind Williams

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

• NCID: BA23001447
• ISBN:
  • 9780262193474
  • 9780262691673
• LCCN: 93021422
• Country Code: us
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: Cambridge, Mass.
• Pages/Volumes: xv, 280 p.
• Size: 23 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : T14.5
  • DC20 : 303.48/3
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Technology -- Social aspects