Mantra of Efficiency (eBook)

Jennifer Karns Alexander (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2008
256 Seiten
Johns Hopkins University Press (Verlag)
978-0-8018-9330-8 (ISBN)

Infos

Winner, 2010 Edelstein Prize, Society for the History of TechnologyEfficiency-associated with individual discipline, superior management, and increased profits or productivity-often counts as one of the highest virtues in Western culture. But what does it mean, exactly, to be efficient? How did this concept evolve from a means for evaluating simple machines to the mantra of progress and a prerequisite for success?In this provocative and ambitious study, Jennifer Karns Alexander explores the growing power of efficiency in the post-industrial West. Examining the ways the concept has appeared in modern history-from a benign measure of the thermal economy of a machine to its widespread application to personal behaviors like chewing habits, spending choices, and shop floor movements to its controversial use as a measure of the business success of American slavery-she argues that beneath efficiency's seemingly endless variety lies a common theme: the pursuit of mastery through techniques of surveillance, discipline, and control. Six historical case studies-two from Britain, one each from France and Germany, and two from the United States-illustrate the concept's fascinating development and provide context for the meanings of, and uses for, efficiency today and in the future.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 28.4.2008
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Technikgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft
• ISBN-10: 0-8018-9330-5 / 0801893305
• ISBN-13: 978-0-8018-9330-8 / 9780801893308