The American-ness of American Technology

Three questions are explored: (1) the connection between the distinctive qualities of United States technology & the central dream of United States democracy that everyone shall have the opportunity to share in the good life; (2) the promotion of United States technology as a virtual panacea for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Technology and culture 1979-01, Vol.20 (1), p.3-24
Main Author: Ferguson, Eugene S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Automotive engineering
Civil engineering
Democracy
Democracy/Democracies/Democratic/ Democrats/ Democratization
Employee efficiency
Environmental technology
Factories
Locomotives
Machinery
Relationship/Relationships
Sawmills
Technology
Technology/Technological/ Technologically
Two Hundred Years of American Technology: The SHOT Bicentennial Meeting (Washington D.C., October 17-19, 1975)
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Summary:Three questions are explored: (1) the connection between the distinctive qualities of United States technology & the central dream of United States democracy that everyone shall have the opportunity to share in the good life; (2) the promotion of United States technology as a virtual panacea for the economic & social problems of other countries; & (3) the obsessive United States interest in machines demonstrated both by their makers & users. As for the first issue, while United States poor are undeniably better off than the poor elsewhere, the market mechanism still continues to exclude many from sharing in the dream. If in the United States the cultural setting in which the application of technology has produced the most extensive abundance, everyone still does not share in its benefits, it is unreasonable to expect that technology will provide a handy solution in other, quite different countries which are interested in receiving technology but refuse to accept United States democracy & capitalism. Finally, even in the United States, while technology has been conducive to phenomenal growth in some areas, it has had unpleasant side effects: boring factory work, crumbling cities, polluted air & water, etc. S. Karganovic.
ISSN:0040-165X
1097-3729
DOI:10.2307/3103109