MARCUS, A. I., & SEGAL, H. P. (1989). TECH-
NOLOGY IN AMERICA: A BRIEF HISTORY. SAN
DIEGO: HARCOURT BRACE JOVANOVICH, $10, 380
PP. (ISBN 0-15-589762-4)
Reviewed by John R. Pannabecker
This book on the development of technol-
ogy in America by Alan I. Marcus and Howard
P. Segal should be of special interest to
those who teach technology education and its
educational heritage, the history of technol-
ogy, and the history of industrial education.
The organizational approach of the authors is
conventional by intent, based on the iden-
tification of "specific, dominant cultural
notions and social themes for different eras
in the American past" (p. iv), such as colo-
nial manufacturing America or the development
of America as a social unit from the 1830s to
1870s. The authors affirm the importance of
the history of technical and organizational
aspects but they concentrate on the "impact
of American society and culture on technol-
ogy, rather than vice versa" (p. iv).
The book is organized into three major
parts: (a) From the Old World to the New:
1607 to the 1870s; (b) Systematizing America:
The 1870s to the 1920s; and (c) From Indus-
trial America to Postindustrial America: The
1920s to the Present. Each part is approxi-
mately the same length, however, the first
part covers a relatively long time period.
This compression of such a long period is un-
fortunate, but is consistent with the au-
thors' intent to emphasize the years after
1830.
In the first part, a variety of topics
are covered such as mills, master-apprentice
system, arms manufacture, printing, textile
production, transportation systems, photogra-
phy, and agricultural change. This book is,
however, more than a simple account of tech-
nological themes. The emphasis on American
social patterns is especially evident when
the authors show how certain technologies de-
veloped differently in America than in
Europe, for example, road design and con-
struction (p. 58), rail transportation (p.
68), and factory design (p. 107). The influ-
ence of major ideological or social aspects
such as mercantilism, colonial governance,
the Constitution, and Jeffersonian and
Hamiltonian perspectives are interwoven into
the analysis without being overemphasized.
The second part (1870s-1920s) is the
most detailed period of American history cov-
ered in the book. This part corresponds
closely to the period covered by Charles
Bennett (1937) in his second volume on the
history of industrial education and thus may
be especially useful to teachers of profes-
sional courses in technology education. The
authors concentrate on technological systems,
not only in the physical sense but also as a
conceptual framework. The Centennial Exhibi-
tion of 1876 in Philadelphia serves as a sym-
bol for the developing concept of systems.
The notion of systems is further illustrated
through traditional themes such as
electrification, communications, and factory
organization.
It is in the first chapter of this sec-
ond part that Marcus and Segal mention the
Russian System of tool instruction and its
introduction to America (p. 170). It is only
later in the second part (chapter six) that
the development of industrial education is
discussed, and then primarily from a voca-
tional perspective and in the context of sys-
tematizing factory work. The teaching of
technology (e.g., through industrial arts)
for the purposes of general education is
overlooked. The authors are to be commended
for having included educational aspects, but
the coverage is heavily oriented to engineer-
ing education and organizations and thus does
not reflect a very broad view of
technologists in general.
The breadth of themes covered in this
second section would, however, compensate for
the scant attention to the heritage of tech-
nology education if the book is being used as
a supplementary text. Topics range from the
changing urban environment and leisure tech-
nology (sports, bicycles, automobiles, and
motion pictures) to domestic technology and
military technology. Domestic technology,
for example, is treated as part of the sys-
tematizing of workers and the workplace and
includes women and their work. The system-
atizing of spectator sports and the pro-
duction and marketing of sporting goods are
interpreted in the context of the rise of the
middle class. Marcus and Segal conclude the
second part with a summary of the period's
static and hierarchical notion of systems.
The final part of the book consists of
two chapters: the period from the 1920s to
the 1950s when technology was generally per-
ceived as a social solution and, in contrast,
the period from the 1950s to the present when
technology has usually been viewed as a so-
cial question. Part three begins with the
emergence of a new concept of systems for
which the Hawthorne experiments serve as the
initial illustration. This new notion of
systems is characterized by complex interre-
lationships, flexibility, and integration and
is illustrated by such topics as the govern-
ment and social engineering (Hoover and na-
tional planning; Roosevelt and the New Deal),
revitalizing rural America, production tech-
niques, new marketing and delivery technolo-
gies, mid-century high tech (computers;
transistors), and military technology.
In the 1950s, criticism of technology,
professionalism, and expertise increased as
Americans acknowledged both the positive and
negative aspects of technology. Chapter top-
ics are varied but tend to focus on high-
profile technologies that have often been the
center of social controversy such as nuclear
power, space flight, high-tech electronics,
agriculture, and biotechnology. Divergent
perspectives reinforce the authors' emphasis
on how technology reflects dominant social
patterns.
The book ends with a concise summary of
the authors' philosophical perspective in-
cluding a critique of technological
determinism in which technology is viewed as
a cause or a solution for social problems.
Technological determinism "reduces society
and culture to objects upon which technology
acts" (p. 359). In contrast, the authors
emphasize that technology has been a "man-
ifestation or reflection of cultural and so-
cial perceptions; it is a human product" (p.
360).
Certain aspects of the book are, how-
ever, inadequately covered or integrated into
the text. Visual illustrations are few in
number and do not illustrate either the com-
plexity of technology or its relationship to
society and culture. The authors' attempt to
contrast systems in the second and third
parts is not as convincing as it might have
been, for example, through the use of illus-
trations, schematics, or line drawings in the
discussion of specific technologies. The
interaction of non-Caucasian groups in the
development of the social and cultural fabric
of America is virtually absent.
In a survey text, it is difficult to
communicate the complex nature of decision-
making and the uniqueness of patterns of
technological development. Although the au-
thors contrast the American experience with
that of Europe in the first few chapters, the
distinguishing features of the American expe-
rience are less clear in later chapters.
This lack of continuity is disappointing, es-
pecially when some major systems such as con-
temporary nuclear power generation and public
rail transportation in America and Europe
could have served as contrasting reflections
of differing social patterns. Despite these
shortcomings, this book should be considered
seriously as a supplementary text in profes-
sional courses and main text in other courses
where the history of technology is a central
part of the course. The book's conventional
organization and thematic approach coupled
with its emphasis on social and cultural pat-
terns make it very accessible as a beginning
text. Not only will the text help technology
educators to reinterpret the development of
their field, it will stimulate them to re-
flect on how they perceive technology, commu-
nities of technologists, and their part in
the American experience.
----------------
John Pannabecker is Professor, Department of
Industrial Education, McPherson College,
McPherson, Kansas.
REFERENCE
Bennett, C. A. (1937). A HISTORY OF MANUAL
AND INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION, 1870 TO 1917.
Peoria: Manual Arts Press.
Permission is given to copy any
article or graphic provided credit is given and
the copies are not intended for sale.
Journal of Technology Education Volume 2, Number 1 Fall 1990
