Does Technology Drive History? The Dilemma of Technological Determinism

by Smith, Merritt Roe; Marx, Leo

• ISBN13: 9780262691673
• ISBN10: 0262691671
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-06-02
• Publisher: The MIT Press

Summary

These thirteen essays explore a crucial historical question that has been notoriously hard to pin down: To what extent, and by what means, does a society's technology determine its political, social, economic, and cultural forms? Karl Marx launched the modern debate on determinism with his provocative remark that "the hand-mill gives you society with the feudal lord; the steam-mill, society with the industrial capitalist," and a classic article by Robert Heilbroner (reprinted here) renewed the debate within the context of the history of technology. This book clarifies the debate and carries it forward. Marx's position has become embedded in our culture, in the form of constant reminders as to how our fast-changing technologies will alter our lives. Yet historians who have looked closely at where technologies really come from generally support the proposition that technologies are not autonomous but are social products, susceptible to democratic controls. The issue is crucial for democratic theory. These essays tackle it head-on, offering a deep look at all the shadings of determinism and assessing determinist models in a wide variety of historical contexts. Contributors: Bruce Bimber. Richard W. Bulliet. Robert L. Heilbroner. Thomas P. Hughes. Leo Marx. Thomas J. Misa. Peter C. Perdue. Philip Scranton. Merritt Roe Smith. Michael L. Smith. John M. Staudenmaier. Rosalind Williams.

Author Biography

Merritt Roe Smith is Cutten Professor of the History of Technology at MIT and the author or editor of six books, most recently Inventing America: A History of the United States.

Leo Marx is Senior Lecturer and Kenan Professor of American Cultural History, Emeritus, at MIT.

Table of Contents

Introduction	ix
Leo Marx
Merritt Roe Smith
Technological Determinism in American Culture	1	(36)
Merritt Roe Smith
Recourse of Empire: Landscapes of Progress in Technological America	37	(16)
Michael L. Smith
Do Machines Make History?	53	(14)
Robert L. Heilbroner
Technological Determinism Revisited	67	(12)
Robert L. Heilbroner
Three Faces of Technological Determinism	79	(22)
Bruce Bimber
Technological Momentum	101	(14)
Thomas P. Hughes
Retrieving Sociotechnical Change from Technological Determinism	115	(28)
Thomas J. Misa
Determinism and Indeterminacy in the History of Technology	143	(26)
Philip Scranton
Technological Determinism in Agrarian Societies	169	(32)
Peter C. Perdue
Determinism and Pre-Industrial Technology	201	(16)
Richard W. Bulliet
The Political and Feminist Dimensions of Technological Determinism	217	(20)
Rosalind Williams
The Idea of ``Technology'' and Postmodern Pessimism	237	(22)
Leo Marx
Rationality versus Contingency in the History of Technology	259	(16)
John M. Staudenmaier
Contributors	275	(2)
Index	277