Women, Technology, and the Myth of Progress

by Leonard, Eileen B.

• ISBN13: 9780130985958
• ISBN10: 0130985953
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-04-08
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

This book explores reproductive, household, and office technology in order to challenge popular notions of technology as progressive for women. It argues that technology gives its benefits differentially, depending on such critical social issues as race, gender, and class.Topics in this provocative analysis include the social construction of technology, the status of women, reproductive technology, office technology, household technology, the myth of progress, and implications for social change.A provocative read for anyone interested in women's issues with regard to household, workplace, and reproductive technological breakthroughs.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction	1	(12)
Notes	12	(1)
The Social Construction of Technology	13	(14)
Determinism and Choice Revisited	14	(1)
Theorizing Technology	15	(1)
Feminist Frameworks	16	(3)
Gender Inequality	19	(1)
Race and Ethnicity	20	(2)
Class Divisions	22	(1)
Conclusion	23	(1)
Notes	24	(3)
The Wonders of Technology	27	(24)
Optimistic Visions	29	(1)
Smart Houses	30	(4)
Control of Reproduction	34	(1)
And in the Office	35	(2)
Computer Networks	37	(1)
The Standard Formula	38	(3)
The Experts	41	(3)
Indicators of Structural Constraints	44	(2)
Conclusion	46	(1)
Notes	47	(4)
Broken Promises: A Look at the Status of Women	51	(24)
Women and Paid Labor	52	(3)
Occupational Segregation	55	(4)
Women in the Professions	59	(2)
Women and Poverty	61	(1)
Children and Poverty	62	(1)
Unpaid Labor	63	(1)
Women's Health	64	(3)
Reproductive Issues	67	(1)
Social Integration	68	(2)
Education	70	(1)
Conclusion	70	(1)
Notes	71	(4)
Reproductive Technology and the Politics of Social Control	75	(41)
Artificial Insemination	77	(1)
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)	78	(4)
Embryos: To Sell, Transfer, or Freeze	82	(2)
Sex Selection	84	(1)
Commercialization	85	(2)
Contraceptive Technologies	87	(5)
Technology and Social Control	92	(7)
Commodification of Reproduction	99	(3)
Prenatal Screening	102	(2)
Gender, Race, and Class Inequalities	104	(4)
Conclusion	108	(1)
Notes	109	(7)
The Electronic Office: A Counterfeit Revolution	116	(32)
The Electronic Revolution	117	(2)
Job Loss	119	(2)
Deskilling vs. Job Enhancement	121	(3)
Computer Monitoring	124	(2)
Health Concerns	126	(3)
Work Location	129	(6)
International Division of Labor	135	(4)
Gender, Race, and Class in the Office	139	(4)
Conclusion	143	(1)
Notes	143	(5)
Household Labor and Technology in a Consumer Culture	148	(26)
The More Things Change...	148	(5)
Consumerism	153	(3)
Paid Domestic Labor	156	(9)
Gender, Race and Class Inequalities	165	(4)
Conclusion	169	(1)
Notes	169	(5)
The Myth of Progress	174	(18)
Historical Perspectives Regarding Progress	175	(1)
Public Attitudes Toward Technology	176	(2)
Cracks in the Armor	178	(1)
On Criticizing ``Progress''	179	(2)
The Disenchantment of the World	181	(6)
Toward a Reconsideration of Progress	187	(1)
Conclusion	188	(1)
Notes	189	(3)
Demands and Promises: Implications for Social Change	192	(14)
The Implications of Social Theory	193	(1)
Needs and Possibilities	194	(2)
Co-opting Technology	196	(1)
Grass-Roots Organizing	197	(1)
Coalition Building	198	(1)
Organizing for Social Change	199	(1)
Women's Health Movement	200	(2)
Conclusion	202	(1)
Notes	203	(3)
Bibliography	206	(31)
Index	237

Excerpts

We live in a time of rapid technological development and, while most assessments of this are decidedly optimistic, some have voiced concern that these changes--as varied as test-tube babies, intelligent robots, smart irons, and genetic engineering--are outstripping our ability to understand or control them. Few would deny that technology has brought improvements in the way many of us live. My own family history offers undeniable evidence of its benefits. As a boy, my father would comb the Brooklyn waterfront for bits of coal to warm his family's small apartment, which lacked centralized heating, while my mother spent years of her childhood bedridden with . diseases that my children, given modern antibiotics, wouldn't even know by name. But the belief that technology is purely beneficial needs to be reexamined, not to condemn technology, but to understand more clearly the stereotypical images we have of it, as opposed to its many realities.This book is an effort to contribute to a critical analysis of technology, offering ways to think about it, make sense of it, and even challenge the direction of technological development. I have been able to draw on a rich and diverse academic literature, bringing together elements that have not been combined previously. I challenge the association of technology and progress by looking at a range of technologies (reproductive, household, and office technologies) and their development and implementation in terms of diverse groups of women. I resist the assessment of technology as either "good" or "bad," perspectives that characterize much public debate about technology and that predominate in media reporting. I insist instead that technology be understood in social terms, as a product of society, developed and utilized in ways that defy such dichotomies. My training as a sociologist has taught me the value of a focus on social inequality and its impact on all dimensions of society, thus including technological development. When viewing technology through a lens of social inequality, it becomes vividly evident that it bestows its benefits differentially, depending on crucial social categories including gender, race, and class. A focus on diverse groups of women and a range of technologies often associated with them, offers one way of demonstrating the oaring impacts of technology.In addition to an emphasis on inequality, the book also offers an analysis of the myth of progress, the pervasive Western belief that connects technological development with continual improvement for all. Reflection on the experiences of women encourages us not only to question the veracity of such claims, but to ask more specifically who benefits from technology and indeed how we define progress. I use the profound insights of sociologist Max Weber, with his concerns about the very meaning of modern technological society, in order to illuminate these issues.I hope this book will add to a more critical understanding of the role of technology in our society, a rethinking of the myths we hold about it and, more specifically, a keener recognition of the intersections of social inequality and the development and uses of technology. Finally, the book intends to signal that social change is both necessary and possible, but that it will not emerge through a technological fix. If our problems with technology are rooted in social inequality and mythical ideas about technological development, then these must be the targets of social change. ACKNOWLEDGMENTSI wish to thank many friends, relatives, and colleagues who encouraged me and provided valuable suggestions throughout this project. In particular, Mona Harrington offered her enthusiasm and her keen insights at an early stage of my writing, and this assistance sustained me throughout. Ben Harris initially got me interested in the significance of issues regarding workplace technology and women, and the project seemed to gr