Ruth Schwartz Cowan, a professor of
History and Sociology of Science, studies how the social aspects of technologies
affect on American history. Her chapter
entitled “Industrial Society and Technological Systems” examines how the
inventions created during the latter half of the Industrial era caused an
increased dependency between people.
This dependency came from the extensive use of machines that helped
enhance networking and increased production, creating the atmosphere for a
controlled society.
Cowan uses a variety of technologies that were invited
during the era to illustrate this point.
First, she discusses how the telegraph was an important form of
communication since it was a fast way to send important messages. The use of the telegraph extended past the
use of railroads and petroleum refineries and was used by common people.
Next, Cowan mentions the use of railroads evolving to become
the fastest means to said projects and transfer people across country. This was due to the elimination of multiple
transfers and the expansion of the rail line.
The railway was the best way to transfer petroleum from
their pipelines to locations throughout the country. Since the speedy transportation made gas readily
available, it was not only used in the machinery in factories, but also for
household heating, lighting and cooking at the end of the 1800s.
The electric system and the telephone also became important
inventions. By 1920, over a third of the
homes in America had electricity, which was used for lights along with electric
fans, the newly invented vacuum and the electric iron. The telephone also granted a new form of
communication, allowing for emotion, which was missing in a telegraph, to be
heard.
With the new forms of communication, faster technologies and
an influx of people in manufacturing cities, companies had a greater control
and thus were able to produce more goods.
These goods, along with the services that helped in their creation,
became stables in the common man’s life.
America had become a consumer society, working in manufacturing
companies to afford the technologies they help create. These are technologies for which they can no
longer function without.
Cowan seems to avoid mentioning the coexistence between new
and old technology. Cowan mentions how technology progresses with the influence
of old technology. For example, Bell had
the intention for the telephone to be used to send important messages as the
telegraph did. But near the end of the
article, Cowan states that as technology gained popularity, it was harder to
acquire the older equivalent. She
proceeds to give an example of the availability of candles demising compared to
electricity. It can be argued that both have
coexisted, even though electricity has become a stable in industrialized
nations. Since this is an excerpt from a
book, this issue may be addressed in another chapter.
A review by Regina Blaszczyk says that Cowan “makes good her
promise to explain how technology became synonymous with American life” (Blaszczyk, 615). With the abundant examples within this chapter,
it is easy to concur with Blaszczyk.
References:
http://ruthschwartzcowan.com
A Social History of American Technology by Ruth Schwartz Cowan
The Business History Review , Vol. 71, No. 4 (Winter, 1997), pp. 614-617
Published by: The President and Fellows of Harvard College
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3116312
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