{"title":"Merritt Roe Smith","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"does-technology-drive-history-book-merritt-roe-smith-9780262691673","title":"Does Technology Drive History?","description":"\u003cb\u003eThese 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?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eContributors\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eBruce 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\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49573084659985,"sku":"GOR001965489","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49654158819601,"sku":"GOR007047047","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50316267258129,"sku":"CIN0262691671G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50940482322705,"sku":"CIN0262691671VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52144014983441,"sku":"NLS9780262691673","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53445339840785,"sku":"GOR009133797","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0262691671.jpg?v=1750877563"},{"product_id":"harpers-ferry-armory-and-the-new-technology-book-merritt-roe-smith-9780801491818","title":"Harpers Ferry Armory and the New Technology","description":"Focusing on the day-to-day operations of the U.S. armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, from 1798 to 1861, this book shows what the \"new technology\" of mechanized production meant in terms of organization, management, and worker morale. A local study of much more than local significance, it highlights the major problems of technical innovation and social adaptation in antebellum America. Merritt Roe Smith describes how positions of authority at the armory were tied to a larger network of political and economic influence in the community; how these relationships, in turn, affected managerial behavior; and how local social conditions reinforced the reactions of decision makers. He also demonstrates how craft traditions and variant attitudes toward work vis-à-vis New England created an atmosphere in which the machine was held suspect and inventive activity was hampered.Of central importance is the author's analysis of the drastic differences between Harpers Ferry and its counterpart, the national armory at Springfield, Massachusetts, which played a pivotal role in the emergence of the new technology. The flow of technical information between the two armories, he shows, moved in one direction only— north to south. \"In the end,\" Smith concludes, \"the stamina of local culture is paramount in explaining why the Harpers Ferry armory never really flourished as a center of technological innovation.\"Pointing up the complexities of industrial change, this account of the Harpers Ferry experience challenges the commonly held view that Americans have always been eagerly receptive to new technological advances.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51007290900753,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51007294996753,"sku":"NIN9780801491818","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53005535248657,"sku":"CIN0801491819G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0801491819.jpg?v=1761387575"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-merritt-roe-smith.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}