Focusing on the design and implementation of computer-based automatic machine tools, David F. Noble challenges the idea that technology has a life of its own. Technology has been both a convenient scapegoat and a universal solution, serving to disarm critics, divert attention, depoliticize debate, and dismiss discussion of the fundamental antagonisms and inequalities that continue to beset America. This provocative study of the postwar automation of the American metal-working industry the heart of a modern industrial ...
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Focusing on the design and implementation of computer-based automatic machine tools, David F. Noble challenges the idea that technology has a life of its own. Technology has been both a convenient scapegoat and a universal solution, serving to disarm critics, divert attention, depoliticize debate, and dismiss discussion of the fundamental antagonisms and inequalities that continue to beset America. This provocative study of the postwar automation of the American metal-working industry the heart of a modern industrial economy explains how dominant institutions like the great corporations, the universities, and the military, along with the ideology of modern engineering shape, the development of technology. Noble shows how the system of "numerical control," perfected at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and put into general industrial use, was chosen over competing systems for reasons other than the technical and economic superiority typically advanced by its promoters. Numerical control took shape at an MIT laboratory rather than in a manufacturing setting, and a market for the new technology was created, not by cost-minded producers, but instead by the U. S. Air Force. Competing methods, equally promising, were rejected because they left control of production in the hands of skilled workers, rather than in those of management or programmers. Noble demonstrates that engineering design is influenced by political, economic, managerial, and sociological considerations, while the deployment of equipment illustrated by a detailed case history of a large General Electric plant in Massachusetts can become entangled with such matters as labor classification, shop organization, managerial responsibility, and patterns of authority. In its examination of technology as a human, social process, Forces of Production is a path-breaking contribution to the understanding of this phenomenon in American society.
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Add this copy of Forces of Production: a Social History of Industrial to cart. $17.09, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1986 by Oxford University Press.
Add this copy of Forces of Production: a Social History of Industrial to cart. $17.09, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1986 by Oxford University Press.
Add this copy of Forces of Production: a Social History of Industrial to cart. $17.77, good condition, Sold by HPB-Red rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1986 by Oxford University Press.
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Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used textbooks may not include companion materials such as access codes, etc. May have some wear or writing/highlighting. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Forces of Production: a Social History of Industrial to cart. $21.15, fair condition, Sold by BayStateBooks rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from North Smithfield, RI, UNITED STATES, published 1986 by Oxford University Press.
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Fair. The book is complete and readable with all pages and cover intact. Dust jacket shrink wrap or boxed set case may be missing. Pages may have light notes highlighting or minor water exposure but nothing that affects readability. May be an ex-library copy and could include library markings or stickers.
Add this copy of Forces of Production: a Social History of Industrial to cart. $26.99, very good condition, Sold by HPB Inc. rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1986 by Oxford University Press.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Forces of Production: a Social History of Industrial to cart. $27.58, good condition, Sold by Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Frederick, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1986 by Oxford University Press.
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Good. Good condition. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains.
Add this copy of Forces of Production: a Social History of Industrial to cart. $48.73, good condition, Sold by Anybook rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lincoln, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1984 by Oxford University Press, Usa.
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This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside. This book has soft covers. In good all round condition. Library sticker on front cover. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item, 500grams, ISBN: 9780195040463.
