Gender and Technology in the Making by Cynthia Cockburn

Gender and Technology in the Making by Cynthia Cockburn

This innovative book demonstrates the making of gender and technology as comparable social processes, one helping shape the other. The authors take as an example the microwave oven, a recent innovation in domestic technology that neatly encapsulates the technology/gender relation. In the microwave, masculine engineering encounters an age old woman′s technology: cooking. The authors show how the microwave begins as a state-of-the-art masculine technology, is translated in the retail trade into a `family′ commodity, one of a range of domestic white goods, and eventually settles into the kitchen alongside other humble feminine appliances; unlike the old cooker, however, the microwave retains just a whiff of aftershave. The authors show how technology relations contribute to the disadvantage of women. This book breaks new ground by building theory out of meticulous observation of lived relations - both comic and painful - between real men and women and the machines they make and sell, buy and use.

`It really is quite fascinating to see how Cynthia Cockburn and Susan Ormrod have produced such an interesting and multi-layered text from a study concerned with the apparently unremarkable and seemingly politically neutral microwave oven... The authors have produced a work which will come to be seen as one of the most significant of the field in that they not only interweave the theories and practices of feminism with organizational, technological and cultural studies but also reflect upon and redefine our understanding of gender and technology relations.... The fast moving narrative, enhanced by useful diagrams, provides a comprehensive account of the complex network of participating organizations, individuals and groups involved, highlighting their interrelations and indicating the wide-ranging effects of the microwave oven as it becomes embedded as both a social product and a social process.... One of the most compelling features of this book is the inclusion of black and white photographs taken by Cynthia Cockburn of people involved with various aspects of the microwave oven, ranging from engineers, food technologists, assembly line workers, shop assistants, packers and transport workers to prospective customers and families at home actually using the oven. These photographs are interspersed throughout the book and function as a parallel narrative to the text. But more than this, they serve as a powerful and haunting evocation of the women, men and children whose lives have been touched by the impact of new technology; their silent imagery a powerful reminder of the world outside academia′s ivory tower. Perhaps it is this original and thoughtful combination of text and image which lifts this book above many other similar studies, offering the reader not just an absorbing theoretical analysis but also closely observed instances of people′s everyday lives.′ - New Technology, Work and Employment

`This is an important book, a further landmark in the research on gender and technology pioneered by Cynthia Cockburn. Rich empirical detail recounts the fascinating journey of the microwave, made more vivid by photographs that capture a sense of the awe and involvement of people working with the artefact. Theoretical understanding of the mutual shaping of the relations of gender and technology is moved on several notches, providing a major contribution to the analysis of gender as involved in all social process′ - Work, Employment and Society

`Cockburn and Ormrod draw out with clarity and enthusiasm the distinctive roles of men and women whose job it is to develop domestic microwave technology.... This is a valuable contribution to the literature in this field, addressing simultaneously gender issues both within the workplace and within the domestic setting′ - Organization

`This is a valuable account of the interrelationship of gender and contemporary material culture, cast within an essentially sociological analysis.... the resonances of gender are at times beautifully captured here. While the use of photographic images provides an additional dimension, Cockburn′s prose alone is often a powerful vehicle for the charting of difference and its material representation′ - British Journal of Sociology

Cynthia Cockburn is a research professor in the Department of Sociology, City University London. She is the author of a number of highly acclaimed books, including In the Way of Women: Men's Resistance to Sex Equality in Organizations (1991) and Machinery of Dominance: Women, Men and Technical Know-how (1985).
Cynthia Cockburn is a research professor in the Department of Sociology, City University London. She is the author of a number of highly acclaimed books, including In the Way of Women: Men's Resistance to Sex Equality in Organizations (1991) and Machinery of Dominance: Women, Men and Technical Know-how (1985).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780803988118
ISBN 10	0803988117
Title	Gender and Technology in the Making
Author	Cynthia Cockburn
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Sage Publications Ltd
Year published	1993-10-11
Number of pages	200
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.