Technology in America

by Marcus,Alan I.

• ISBN13: 9780155055315
• ISBN10: 0155055313
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-12-24
• Publisher: Cengage Learning

Summary

This brief history of technology in America begins with the colonial period but emphasizes the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The authors break new ground by concentrating on the impact of American society and culture on technology, instead of taking the traditional approach (considering the impact of technology on culture). The organization of the text reflects this perspective by following conventional American history periodization rather than a more limited industry-oriented outline (pre-industrial, industrial, and postindustrial). Part Two employs systems and systemization as a theme. The final section of the text (post-1950) has been completely rewritten to reflect recent scholarship and technological advances.

Table of Contents

Preface	v
Part One From the Old World to the New	1	(70)
Manufacturing America: 1607 to 1800	3	(38)
The Old World in the New	3	(5)
Survival Through Utilization of Resources	3	(1)
Mercantilism and Colonial Governance	4	(4)
The Search for Community Self-Reliance: The Seventeenth Century	8	(14)
The Ubiquitous Mill	8	(2)
The Colonial Master-Apprentice System	10	(1)
Providing Necessities	11	(6)
Large-Scale Enterprise	17	(5)
Beyond Subsistence: The Eighteenth Century	22	(2)
Signs of New Wealth	23	(1)
Technology and the Revolution, 1763-1783	24	(5)
Printing as a Catalyst for the Revolution	24	(3)
Manufacture of Arms	27	(2)
Thirteen Commercial Nations, 1776-1789	29	(4)
Interstate Commerce	29	(1)
Linking the East and West	30	(3)
Framing and Implementing a Commercial Pact, 1787-1800	33	(6)
The Constitution: A Commercial Document	33	(2)
Hamilton's Call for Federal Assistance	35	(2)
Private Development of Manufacturing	37	(2)
For Further Reading	39	(2)
Young America and Individual Opportunity: 1800 to the 1830s	41	(30)
Beyond Mercantilism	41	(2)
Extending Europe	42	(1)
The Ascendancy of the Individual	42	(1)
Building the Nation's Infrastructure	43	(12)
Building Turnpikes	45	(1)
Building Bridges	46	(1)
Improved River Travel---Building Steamboats	47	(2)
Building Canals	49	(3)
Building Railways	52	(3)
Changes in Manufacturing and Labor	55	(7)
Machine Shops as Adjuncts to Mills	56	(1)
Use of Machinery in Textiles	57	(4)
Reducing Labor Costs	61	(1)
Preparing America's Yeomanry	62	(5)
Mechanics' Institutes	65	(1)
Agricultural Societies	65	(1)
Technical Education for the Yeomanry	66	(1)
Machinery, Production, and Democracy	67	(1)
For Further Reading	68	(3)
Part Two Uniformity, Diversity, and Systematizing America: Late 1830s to the 1920s	71	(136)
American Nationalism: A People and Common Material Experience, Late 1830s to 1870s	73	(37)
The Search for a Uniquely American Character	73	(4)
The Break from European Society	74	(1)
Using Technology to Find America---Photography	75	(2)
Providing a Common Material Experience	77	(20)
Setting the Stage	77	(2)
Railroads Ascendant	79	(8)
Furnishing Uniform Goods	87	(10)
Uniform Agriculture	97	(5)
Equipment for a Uniform Agriculture	97	(5)
The Creation of International Markets	102	(4)
Mid-Century Shipping	102	(1)
The International Industrial Exhibition	103	(2)
Transoceanic Telegraphy	105	(1)
The Civil War: A Mass Experience	106	(1)
For Further Reading	107	(3)
Communications and the Power to Communicate	110	(33)
The Great Centennial Exhibition: Late-Nineteenth-Century American Notions in Miniature	110	(3)
The Idea of System: The Pervasive Late-Nineteenth-Century American Notion	113	(2)
The Electrification of America	115	(12)
The Advent of Electric Lighting	116	(5)
The Growth of Electric Power	121	(6)
The Development of Telephones	127	(5)
Telephone and Radio	131	(1)
Systematizing the Technologists	132	(9)
Engineering Organizations	133	(2)
Systematizing Technical Education	135	(3)
Systematizing Technical Research	138	(3)
For Further Reading	141	(2)
Systematizing the Fabric of American Life: The 1870s to 1920s	143	(31)
Systematizing the Physical Environment	144	(15)
The New City	144	(3)
Political Control of the Cities	147	(2)
The New Agriculture	149	(4)
Systematizing Nature	153	(6)
Systematizing Leisure	159	(13)
Sports and the Growth of the Middle Class	160	(4)
Bicycles	164	(1)
Automobiles	165	(3)
Motion Pictures	168	(4)
For Further Reading	172	(2)
Systematizing Workers and the Workplace	174	(33)
The System in the Home	174	(9)
New Household Machinery	176	(3)
Food Preparation and Diet	179	(1)
Systematizing Food	179	(2)
Canning	181	(2)
Systematizing Factory Work	183	(7)
Building Systematic Factories	183	(1)
Systematizing Factory Administration	184	(1)
The Case of the Hospital	185	(2)
Systemization of Large-Scale Production	187	(3)
Systematizing the Human Element	190	(8)
Scientific Management	190	(2)
Industrial Social Welfare and Social Science	192	(3)
New Relations between Labor and Owners	195	(3)
World War I: A System of Thought's Last Battle	198	(7)
Marshaling Resources for War	199	(1)
New War Technology on Land	200	(1)
New War Technology at Sea	200	(1)
New War Technology in the Air	201	(2)
Production of Munitions during the War	203	(1)
The End of a System of Thought	204	(1)
For Further Reading	205	(2)
Part Three From Industrial America to Postindustrial America: 1920s to the Present	207	(174)
Technology as a Social Solution: The 1920s to the 1950s	210	(31)
Emergence of a New Notion of Systems	210	(3)
The Hawthorne Experiments	210	(2)
The New Notion of Systems	212	(1)
The Government and Social Engineering	213	(9)
Hoover and National Planning	214	(1)
Roosevelt and the New Deal	215	(1)
The Administration of New Deal Technologies	216	(4)
Revitalizing the American Home	220	(1)
Stocking the American Home	221	(1)
Frozen Foods	221	(1)
Revitalizing Rural America	222	(4)
Balancing Agriculture and Industry	222	(4)
Changes in Production Techniques	226	(9)
Changes in Agriculture after 1920	227	(3)
Changes in Industrial Manufacturing after 1920	230	(5)
New Marketing and Delivery Technologies	235	(5)
Using Radio to Reach a National Market	235	(1)
The Railroads after 1920	236	(1)
New Delivery Technologies---Trucks and Buses	237	(1)
The Growth of Commercial Aviation	238	(2)
For Further Reading	240	(1)
Technology as a Social Solution: World War II and the Aftermath	241	(21)
The Desktop Computer?	241	(3)
Technology in World War II: Solving the Problem of Totalitarianism	244	(9)
Creation of the Atomic Bomb	246	(2)
The Development of Radar	248	(1)
The Development of Sonar	249	(1)
The Development of Proximity Fuses	250	(1)
The Role of Aviation in World War II	250	(3)
American Technology in the Postwar World	253	(7)
Solving Problems at Home	253	(1)
Levittown	253	(1)
Goods and Services	254	(1)
Solving the Problem of Communism	255	(2)
Spin-Offs: Audiotape	257	(1)
Spin-Offs: Mid-Century High Tech	258	(1)
The Development of Transistors	259	(1)
For Further Reading	260	(2)
Expressing the Self: Individualism in an Era of Plenty, From about 1950 to the late 1960s	262	(37)
The Consumer Revolution	264	(20)
Food Production	265	(3)
Food Processing	268	(1)
Freezing	269	(2)
Beef Packing	271	(1)
Housing: Levittown Revisited	272	(1)
The Ranch	273	(3)
Appliances	276	(1)
Furniture	276	(1)
Automobiles	277	(1)
Electronics: Sound	278	(2)
Electronics: Visual	280	(1)
Videotape Recorders	281	(2)
Consumerism: Biochemical	283	(1)
Reproduction---Personal Choice Pill	284	(1)
Business and Government, Research and Development: Technologies in the Making	284	(2)
Controlling Information Flow: Business Machines and Practices	286	(10)
Makin' Copies	287	(1)
Manipulating Data and Keeping Track of Stock: Computers	288	(1)
New Businesses and Business Organizations: The Locus	289	(1)
Spinning Off Again	290	(1)
High Technology: Second Generation Semiconductors	290	(1)
Government and the Infrastructure: Transportation for the New Manufacturing	291	(1)
Air	292	(1)
Government and the Infrastructure: ``New and Improved'' Environments	292	(1)
Government and the Infrastructure: Energy Too Cheap to Meter	293	(1)
Government and the Nation's Defense	294	(1)
Lasers	295	(1)
Nuclear Weapons	295	(1)
Spaceflight	296	(1)
For Further Reading	297	(2)
Public and Private: Technology as a Social Question: The Later 1960s to 1990s	299	(35)
Established Technologies and the Quality of Life, or New Technologies and Old Issues	299	(25)
Individuation, Limits, and Society	302	(4)
Established Nationwide Technological Programs	306	(3)
National Defense and Nuclear Debate	309	(2)
Decline of Support for the Space Program	311	(2)
Technologists and Public Criticism	313	(1)
Criticism of the Army Corps of Engineers: A Case Study	313	(2)
Criticism of Urban Planners: A Case Study	315	(1)
Systems Engineering	316	(1)
The Military-Industrial Complex: The Federal Government	317	(1)
Government and the Assessment of Technology	318	(1)
Carter and the New Accessibility	319	(2)
The Reagan Revolution and After	321	(3)
The New American Manufacturing	324	(9)
Robotics	324	(1)
Worker Health and Privacy	325	(1)
Manufacturing's New Locus	326	(1)
Making Factories	326	(1)
From Factory to Market	327	(1)
From Market to Consumer	327	(1)
Futurecasting	328	(2)
Lack of Consensus among Forecasters	330	(1)
Growth of the Ideology of Appropriate Technology	331	(1)
Searching for the Good Life	332	(1)
For Further Reading	333	(1)
Private and Public: Technology and Individual Autonomy from the Later 1960s to the 1990s	334	(47)
Technological Thinking and Individuation: New Technologies	335	(1)
The Empowered Individual: The Technology of Social Exchange	335	(46)
The New NASA	336	(2)
Manufacturing Consent and Productivity	338	(1)
The Case of Redstone Arsenal	339	(1)
From Human Potential to TQM	340	(2)
Technology of Life: Biotechnology	342	(2)
Classical Biotechnology	344	(3)
Newer Genetic Engineering Forms	347	(2)
Cloning and Contemporary Fertilization Techniques	349	(1)
Medical Technology	350	(1)
Diagnosis: Imaging Technology	351	(1)
Ultrasound	352	(1)
Computed Axial Tomography	353	(1)
Magnetic Resonance Imaging	354	(1)
Treatment: Surgery	355	(1)
Consumer Products	356	(7)
Revenge of the Nerds	363	(6)
Old Ideas in New Bottles	369	(2)
Chips: Size Matters?	371	(1)
Fiber Optics	372	(2)
The Internet	374	(1)
Cup of Java	375	(1)
Whither the Internet?	376	(2)
High-Tech Operations: The Forgotten Laser	378	(1)
High-Tech Happenings: The Rise of Silicon Valley	379	(1)
High-Tech Business Expansion and the Quality of Life	379	(1)
Crossing Over: Americans and Their Technologies	380	(1)
For Further Reading	381	(3)
Illustration Credits	384	(1)
Index	385