Prior to the creation of the Western term “technology” in the twentieth century, another phrase exclusive from gendered ideological influence was used to describe this domain of objects. Useful arts, which was wiped out through the discourse of technology, was commonly used within the nineteenth century. The language and ideas that molded useful arts gave it the representation of solely being the category of physical objects. It did not encompass the abstract gender terminology that was put onto technology, making it more than just the product of craftsmanship. Since the end of the nineteenth century, technological advancements within society have been socially constructed and have created imbalanced gendered identities within the home and …show more content…
Initially, in a verbal effort to establish their legitimacy, social groups ranging from industrialist boosters, leading scientists, engineering advocates, and public intellectuals to women’s rights advocates, African American educators, and anthropologists mobilized terms such as useful knowledge or arts, inventive genius, applied science, and the machine rather than technology to claim their right and place in the society (Oldenziel, 2000). These other classifications described the technological processes in society without socially excluding the work of women, children, and people of color. Specifically, the term useful arts described the work of women because it still included the domain of the “hands and body” within its definition unlike technology which only gave credit to the assumed and predominant work of the mind. Useful art was still constructed around the skills and methods of practical subjects such as manufacture and craftsmanship, two types of labors that were generally done by …show more content…
The term technology was coined as a response to the possibility of women becoming equivalent in the domain of work that involved technological processes. The semantic shift from useful arts to technology took form during the early decades of the twentieth century. By appropriating the idiom of science, industry, engineering, and anthropology these loosely defined associations augmented a new male authority at the end of the century (Oldenziel, 2000). Thus, for an object to be a component of technology it no longer could be described just as an object of physical manufacture. It had to be mechanically operated, or “machine-bound” and created by only those who withheld the knowledge, skills, and expertise to discuss its creation. In supposition, men were the ones who dominated mechanically driven jobs in technological
These perspectives, as demonstrated by Andrew Feenberg (1999) in Questioning Technology, are: instrumentalism, determinism, substantivism, constructivism, and critical theory. Being a socio-technical ensemble, the smartphone is an example of technology that benefits from deeper analysis. (McLuhan, 1964, p. 8) He addresses the machine as the subject of an active predicate, which is often used in popular discourse of technological determinism as means of presenting a complex event as an inescapable and plausible result of an innovation in technology (Marx, 1994, p. 10). However, a limitation usually attributed to this perspective is that it often fails to consider human agency and its contributions, especially towards technological progression.
Derry, T. K., and Trevor Williams. A Short History of Technology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961.
In the first chapter of his book, Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology, published in 1992 , Neil Postman explains that any new technology can be both a burden and a blessing. However, a newly introduced technology, he notes, may only be an “improved means to an unimproved end” (Thoreau qtd. in Postman 6). An invention’s function follows its form, where the structure of the new technology determines how people use it. And once it makes its way into society, it “plays out its hand” (Postman 7), and the consequences are no longer under anyone’s control. Also, while new technology brings new vocabulary into a language, it also can change and redefine old terms and concepts, usually without anyone noticing.
Women were recognized as better workers because of our precision, and this point was proven true at machine shops were women had to assemble any parts for precision aircraft instruments. Women at Sperry Gyroscope Company’s plant made compasses, bombs, and gun sights, and automatic pilot settings. Women worked in logging and railroading, which were two fields of work that were labeled as masculine partially because the two industries only hired the toughest men. Women cut off branches from fallen trees, directed logos through millponds, sorted the collected logs, and drove the trucks that carried them. On railroads, women worked with men to maintain the rail cars, the rail yards, and tracks. Masked from the media, women scientists experimented with new scale models of ships and planes. They worked as chemists in Monsanto Chemical, Hercules Powder Company, and the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research in Pittsburgh. Women were trained in electrical engineering at Carnegie Institute of Technology and trained as radio engineering aids at RCA and Purdue
...mitted through these devices. It could be easily argued that technology has positioned society on the precipice of significant achievements such as a cure for cancer, a source of sustainable energy, and production strategies that could significantly reduce worldwide hunger. However, as powerful as technology is, it requires innovation, creativity, and intellection—all human specific traits—to reach its full potential. Unfortunately, the negative cultural connotations resulting from this technological revolution have placed society at risk of being able to consistently develop these characteristics in future generations. While the future is indeed bright, a continuing optimism requires a careful examination of the true utility of various technologies and a conscious commitment to regain the most important things that have been lost in this technological revolution.
Robert Hart. “Technology - a dangerous dependency?" The Cambridge Student 2013. Date of Posting/Revision. 3-24-2014< http://www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/comment/0025783-technology-a-dangerous-dependency.html>.
Technology: “the body of knowledge available to a society that is of use in fashioning implements, practicing manual arts and skills, and extracting or collecting materials”.
Historically, technologies allow for the human adaptation to their environment. Accordingly, with each new technology, new conflicts and issues arise within societies due to the progress. An important theme across the readings is how new technology builds upon older technologies, creating new conflicts and societal issues. These advancements, further cause a shift in needs or wants for improved technology for both entertainment and domestic use.
Many across the world have come to appreciate the transformation that happens with technology. The society, individual communities, countries, the world and day to day interactions have been affected by the introduction and continued use of technologies. In the midst of the still ongoing debate as to the relation between the society and technology, the document will evaluate how the social shaping perspective helps in the understanding of the organizational and social implications of technological change. In addition, this essay will evaluate Ruth Cowan’s case in her work on the industrial revolution which took place in the home in the 19th and 20th century. Though many would not consider the home setting as one befitting to be labeled as having
One of the vital advantages of technology can be seen in industry tht human power depended labor Works now can be done by machines simply and safely that increases the productivity whi As long as there have been people lives, there has been technology. Technology is the application of ingenuity, mark of humankind on the planet and mixture of art and science. Technology had and has a penetrating impact on humanity since humanity has existed. In recent years, technology is virtually in all spheres of human’s life and became an indispensable part of daily life. The more technology becomes an element of human life, the more controversies arise. The controversy about the price people pay for technological developments is the more prominent
The article by Trevor J. Pinch and Wiebe E. Bijker “The Social Construction of Facts and Artifacts” talks about the “separation of science from technology” and how the study of science and technology can benefit each other. The authors draw attention to three bodies of literature in science and technology studies: Sociology of science, the science-technology relationship, and technology studies.
Women’s and gender studies have interdisciplinary views on gender formation and the points of intersection with other subjects of concern such as religion, sexuality, nationality, race, age and class. Gender is not delineated by our analytical methodologies leaning on the social side of human kind and technology as just a constituent surrounding us, but these two have a close range relationship (Bobbie, 2008). Both gender and technology ideologies, as viewed in a historical and a social perspective, are dynamic. Technology, under this perspective, studies not only material things but also choices of humans, their knowhow and creativity, assumptions and the values explored concurrently from the people’s technological activities (Ada, 2008). Gender is simply an identity working as a symbol and a representation with the assumption that both male and female are alike.
Technology is both a source and consequence of gender relations. In other words gender relations can be thought of as materialised in technology, and masculinity and femininity in turn acquire their meaning and character through their enrollment and embeddedness in working machines.
Bunch, Bryan H, and Alexander Hellemans. The Timetables of Technology: A Chronology of the Most Important People and Events in the History of Technology. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993. Print. 276,
Technology and culture. Some of the philosophical problems the nowadays technique and technology are confronted with are related to the definition of concepts, the cultural value contained in them, and place they have in the European culture. In what it concerns the concepts of technique and technology, a consensus does not exist. The Romanian Encyclopedic Dictionary (1966) gives the following definitions, according to a wide-...