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Title: Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880-1930 (Softshell Books) by Thomas P. Hughes ISBN: 0-8018-4614-5 Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Great explanation of technology systems
Comment: Thomas Hughes is professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania, and has been the Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and the Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm). He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. In 1985 he was awarded the Leonardo da Vinci Medal of the Society for the History of Technology for Networks of Power. In addition to Networks of Power, he has also published Rescuing Prometheus (1998) and Elmer Sperry: Inventor and Engineer (1993). With Agatha Hughes he edited Lewis Mumford: Public Intellectual (1990). Dr. Hughes completed his graduate work in European history at the University of Virginia.
In Networks of Power: Electrification of Western Society, 1880-1930, Thomas Hughes outlines his seminal theory of "Complex Systems." Hughes argues that "the most impressive patterns imposed on the world by men impelled by the force of constructive instincts [are] systems, coherent structures comprised of interacting, interconnected components." Hughes thoroughly investigates the development of electrical supply systems; in doing so, he exposes the "ordering, integrating, coordinating, and systematizing nature of modern human societies." In exposing these social and cultural influences, Hughes nails shut the coffin that is technological determinism. Several elements are key to Hughes' theory. Hughes introduces "reverse salients," "technological style," and "momentum."
A reverse salient is a problem that defies solution, while other (possibly related) problems in the system advance; the reverse salient is more descriptive than its technological equivalent-bottleneck. The identification of reverse salients provides the key to understanding concurrent invention and how different inventors in separate countries came to very similar solutions of the identified problem. Once a problem is clearly identified and understood, it is little wonder that more than one person comes up with a solution to it nearly simultaneously, as exemplified by Swan's and Edison's invention of the light bulb.
Other key terms in Hughes methodology include technological style and momentum. Technological style is a function of transfer; adaptation to new environments culminates in a style particular to that environment. A good example of this is the numerous small power plants found in London as opposed to the few larger plants utilized in large German cities-the number and size of the generators was a reflection of the British style of local government and municipal control. Momentum is a function of the size of the systems Hughes explores, the number and influence of the contributors to the system, and the vested interest politicians, the economy, even society has in the system. However, Hughes does not believe even vast systems gain autonomy, as a determinist might: "They have a mass of technical and organizational components; they possess direction, or goals; and they display a rate of growth suggesting velocity."
Hughe's insightful exploration of the differences and similarities of electric expansion in the United States, Germany and England highlight not only the diverse development of the field, but also the different social influences brought to bear on each system. That each system developed along remarkably different lines, as evidence by the case studies of Chicago, Berlin and London, can and was attributed to the different political/legislative/geographical forces present at each location. The advancement of the technology itself becomes secondary and responsive to the conditions present in each country-well exemplified by the differences associated with building the Bayernwerk and the Walchensee hydroelectric plant versus California's experience with hydroelectric power and the formation of the Pacific Gas & Electric company.
Hughes' masterful treatise on the development of electrical power systems reaches out beyond the technology to explain the style of the various systems. In doing so, he demonstrates the technological systems were "not simply autonomous, or free of the influence of nontechnical factors." According to Hughes, "the style of each system was found to be based on entrepreneurial drive and decisions, economic principles, legislative constraints or supports, and geographical factors, both human and natural." He decisively demonstrates in his case study of London that it is not a foregone conclusion that the best technology will triumph. Repeatedly he shows the impact society had on the development of the electrical system.
Rating: 5
Summary: Travel Back In Time To the Heyday Of Electification
Comment: If you're a history buff, and appreciate the technology that surrounds us all, you'll love reading "Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880-1930" by Tom Hughes. Hughes takes us back to the days of fierce rivalry between Edison and Westinghouse; the early era of electric power generation and consumption where the battle of DC vs. AC consumer power was born and decided.
Hughes doesn't stop there. Also included in this well-footnoted edition are in-depth narratives of the evolution of commercial power systems in England and Germany through 1930. A well written, readable snapshot in time.
Compelling historical reading for the non-technologist as well as the student of electrical power commercialization.
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Title: Electrifying America: Social Meanings of a New Technology, 1880-1940 by David E. Nye ISBN: 0262640309 Publisher: MIT Press Pub. Date: 08 July, 1992 List Price(USD): $32.95 |
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Title: American Technological Sublime by David E. Nye ISBN: 0262640341 Publisher: MIT Press Pub. Date: 28 February, 1996 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Empires of Light : Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World by JILL JONNES ISBN: 0375507396 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 19 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: America Calling: A Social History of the Telephone to 1940 by Claude S. Fischer ISBN: 0520086473 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 1994 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: From the American System to Mass Production, 1800-1932: Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States (St in Industry & Technology 4) by David Hounshell ISBN: 080183158X Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press Pub. Date: 01 October, 1985 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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