A Social History of American Technology
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A Social History of American Technology by Ruth Schwartz Cowan
A Social History of American Technology is a textbook survey of American technology from the early seventeenth century to the present. The concept of technological systems is used as a unifying theme to demonstrate the notion that technological change is neither sudden nor discontinuous, but is always closely related to social developments which determine both the kinds of tools developed and the ways in which they are utilized. Cowan demonstrates that the way in which Americans have viewed technology has been as important as the scientific developments themselves, and in a fascinating final chapter she examines the vast social implications of recent technological developments such as atomic energy, birth control, genetic engineering and personal computers, and the ways in which they are causing changes in America's political, social and economic structure.
In brief, American historians of technology have focused on the social and economic contexts and implications of technology and this book is a very useful summary of their endeavours/david J. Jeremy Manchester Metropolitan University/Labour History Review vol 64/31 1999. Cowan offers a reliable and thoughtfully selected review of the dynamics of invention and innovation which generated an increasing pace of technical change and the constitution of vast technological systems in the United States ... Professor Cowan has met the challenge of synthesis with a sure hand, fashioning a text that will have lasting value for students and scholars alike. Philip Scranton, Business History
Ruth Schwartz Cowan is a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Science History and Sociology.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780195046052 |
| ISBN 10 | 0195046056 |
| Title | A Social History of American Technology |
| Author | Ruth Schwartz Cowan |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press Inc |
| Year published | 1997-01-30 |
| Number of pages | 352 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |