JTE v3n2 - Book Review- The History and Influence of Technology
Volume 3, Number 2
Spring 1992
Book Reviews
The History and Influence of Technology
Hughes, Thomas P. (1989). American genesis:
A century of invention and technological enthusiasm,
1870 - 1970. New York: Penguin Books, $10.95 (paperback),
529 pp. (ISBN 0-14-00-9741-4).
Marcus, Alan I., Howard P. Segal (1989). Technology in
America: A brief history. New York: Harcourt, Brace
Jovanovich, Publishers, $14.95 (paperback), 380 pp.
(ISBN 0-15- 589762-4).
McGinn, Robert E. (1991). Science, technology, and society.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, $19.40 (paperback),
302 pp., (ISBN 0-13-794736-4).
Pacey, Arnold (1990). Technology in world civilization.
Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, $9.95 (paperback), 238 pp.
(ISBN 0-262-66072-5).
Pursell, Carroll W. Jr., Ed. (1990). Technology in
America: A history of individuals and ideas. Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press, 2nd ed., $11.95 (paperback), 319 pp.
(ISBN 0-262-66049-0).
Reviewed by Dennis W. Cheek
These five books, all available in paperback, are part
of a growing and intersecting corpus of scholarship that
will enlighten technology educators at all levels -
elementary through post-doctoral studies. Two books provide
a very broad base from which to consider the other
contributions, which focus on the history of technology in
America. The five volumes as a set, make a wonderful
resource library for any technology teacher seeking to
understand technology within the contexts of American
history and global interdependence.
McGinn's contribution to the well-known and highly
acclaimed Prentice Hall Foundations of Modern Sociology
Series, is the best introductory sociology of science and
technology textbook in English. The author is department
chair of the Values, Technology, Science and Society (VTSS)
Program at Stanford University. The nature, contexts, and
relationships between science and technology are briefly
explained. Modern theories of science and technology in
society are presented to form a context for topics in the
remainder of the book. The final two sections consider the
influence of science and technology on modern society and
the impact of modern society on science and technology. An
appendix briefly introduces the reader to the growing STS
movement.
The sociological approach of McGinn is nicely
complimented by Pacey's historical tour de force which looks
at technology over a thousand year period of world
civilization. A singular contribution is his emphasis upon
the adaption of technology to particular cultures and
peoples. Pacey presents many examples of the diffusion and
transformation of technology from Asia and Africa to Europe
and cases where the diffusion occurred in the reverse
direction. His informed criticism of naive technology
transfer from industrialized to nonindustrialized nations is
well-founded.
What then of technology in America? The reviewer knows
of no better starting point to pursue general studies in
this arena than the recent works by Hughes, Marcus and
Segal, and Pursell. The broadest perspective is that of
Marcus and Segal who deliver just what the book's subtitle
promises - a brief history. Within this handy tome, the
reader will find a concise yet encyclopedic account of
technology in America. The authors skillfully link
technologies to their underlying political, social, and
economic contexts, and establish systematization as a major
theme in American technological development. The technology
teacher will gain a new appreciation of how interwoven
technologies are with one another in both their origins and
subsequent evolution.
More detail about specific individuals instrumental in
the development of technology in America can be gleaned from
the very useful second edition of Pursell's edited volume. A
group of 22 eminent historians of American technology
present biographical vignettes of 21 key individuals and
their ideas. Instead of merely cataloguing of achievements,
each essay helps the reader see the individual within an
appropriate social and historical context. The essays are
non-technical in nature and many would be suitable for high
school technology students to read and consider.
For in-depth treatment of technology in America during
the last one hundred years, there is probably no better
treatment on the present market than American Genesis from
the pen of the noted University of Pennsylvania historian of
technology, Thomas P. Hughes. Taking "the world as artifact"
as his metaphor, Hughes tries to explain historically how we
have come to live and accept life in a technologically
fabricated world. He admirably succeeds in his goal to
produce not simply another history of technology in America
but a rich social history that considers technology's broad
impacts and pervasive influence on the culture, behavior,
and mores of modern America. The book breaks new ground with
bold new explanations and like all books of this type,
causes an informed reader to part company with the author at
certain points. Yet, that is one of the hallmarks of a
worthwhile book.
All five books enable the technology teacher to see
technology in a broader and deeper context than is often the
case. Each contributes worthwhile perspectives to anyone
seeking to think in fuller ways about technology and its
role in the modern world. All of these works are accompanied
by lists of additional readings, subject and author indices,
and period B & W photographs. Some also include diagrams
from the period under discussion. If you've been teaching
technology without much sense of its history or impact,
these books are sure guides that will enrich your teaching
and your thinking.
_____________________________________________________________
Dennis W. Cheek is Book Review Editor for the Journal of
Technology Education and Coordinator of Curriculum
Development, New York Science, Technology and Society
Education
Journal of Technology Education Volume 3, Number 2 Spring 1992