Technology in American History
A survey of America's transition from a rural, agrarian, and artisan society to one of the world's leading industrial powers. Treats the emergence of industrial capitalism: the rise of the factory system; new forms of power, transport, and communication; the advent of the large industrial corporation; the social relations of production; and the hallmarks of science-based industry. Views technology as part of the larger culture and reveals innovation as a process consisting of a range of possibilities that are chosen or rejected according to the social criteria of the time.
Spring 2006
This course will consider the ways in which technology, broadly defined, has contributed to the building of American society from colonial times to the present. This course has three primary goals: to train students to ask critical questions of both technology and the broader American culture of which it is a part; to provide an historical perspective with which to frame and address such questions; and to encourage students to be neither blind critics of new technologies, nor blind advocates for technologies in general, but thoughtful and educated participants in the democratic process.
Readings
- Cowan, Ruth Schwarz. A Social History of American Technology . New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780195046052.
- Smith, Merritt Roe, and Gregory Clancey, eds. Major Problems in the History of American Technology . Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. ISBN: 9780669354720.
- For students who are not familiar with American history and need to familiarize themselves with the subject, a helpful introduction is: Maier, Pauline, et al. Inventing America: A History of the United States . 2nd ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 2005. ISBN: 9780393926750.
- Lec #: 2 · Topics: What is Technology? · READINGS: Smith and Clancey. pp. xiii-xv (preface) and 2-15 (Marx, Winner, and MacKenzie essays.)
- Lec #: 3 · Topics: Technologies of Colonization and Conquest · READINGS: Cowan. pp. 5-27.
- Lec #: 4 · Topics: Crafts and Craftsmanship in Early America · READINGS: Cowan. pp. 28-65. · FILM VIEWING: The Gunsmith of Williamsburg . The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. 59 min. 1969.
- Lec #: 6 · Topics: Politics and Early American Industrialization · READINGS: Smith and Clancey. pp. 103-42.
- Lec #: 8 · Topics: Social and Political Implications of the New Technology · READINGS: Smith and Clancey. pp. 144-89.
- Lec #: 10 · Topics: Art and Industrialization · READINGS: Cowan. pp. 208-18.
- Lec #: 11 · Topics: The Emerging Culture of Engineering in America · READINGS: Cowan. pp. 119-47.
- Lec #: 12 · Topics: Technology in the Civil War Era · READINGS: Cowan. pp. 149-99.
- Lec #: 14 · Topics: Human Machines? Frederick W. Taylor and the Rise of Scientific Management · READINGS: Smith and Clancey. pp. 267-311. · FILM VIEWING: Clockwork . Produced and directed by Eric Breitbart. 28 min. 1982.
- Lec #: 15 · Topics: Automobility and Mass Production · READINGS: Cowan. pp. 221-48.
- Lec #: 20 · Topics: Technology and Art at the Apex of the Machine Age · READINGS: Cowan. pp. 213-18.
- Lec #: 23 · Topics: A New World: Technology in Cold War America · READINGS: Smith and Clancey. pp. 427-69.
- Noble, David F. “Social Choice in Machine Design.” In Case Studies on the Labor Process . Edited by A. Zimbalist. New York, NY: Monthly Review Press, 1981. ISBN: 9780853455196. Automation . CBS documentary with Edward R. Murrow. c. 40 min. 1957.
- Smith, Merritt Roe, and Gregory Clancey, eds. Major Problems in the History of American Technology . Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. ISBN: 9780669354720.
- For students who are not familiar with American history and need to familiarize themselves with the subject, a helpful introduction is: Maier, Pauline, et al. Inventing America: A History of the United States . 2nd ed. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Co., 2005. ISBN: 9780393926750.
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: None Acad Year 2027-2028: U (Fall) Acad Year 2028-2029: Not offered 3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Spring 2006
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.