The first proper global account of the place of technology in twentieth century history, this brilliant, thought-provoking book will radically revise our understanding of the relationship between technology and society. Whereas standard histories of technology give tired old accounts of the usual inventions - planes, bombs - "The Shock of the Old" is based on a different idea. Its thrust is that for the full picture of the history of technology we need to know not about what a few people invented, but about what everyday people used - and when they actually used things, if it was a long time after invention. It, therefore, reassesses the significance of, for example, the Pill and IT, and shows the continued importance of technology, such as corrugated iron and sewing machines. In taking this approach, "The Shock of the Old" challenges the idea that we live in an era of ever increasing change and so dismisses naivetes about 'the information age'. Interweaving political, economic and cultural history, it will show what it means to think critically about technology and its importance.

The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History since 1900

The Shock of the Old

Bibliography – Archival Sources

Hierarchical organizations often perform poorly in inducing the adoption of innovations. The authors examine a principal offering contracts to agents who make unobservable effort and adoption-of-innovation choices (yielding moral hazard); who occupy jobs of differing, unobserved productivities (yielding adverse selection); and who engage in a repeated relationship with the principal (causing a ratchet effect to arise). Increasing the rate of adoption of an innovation in such an organization causes the incentive costs of adoption to increase at an increasing rate. Relatively low rates of adoption may then be a response to the prohibitive incentive costs of higher adoption rates. Copyright 1990 by American Economic Association.(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

To Innovate Or Not To Innovate: Incentives And Innovation In Hierarchies

The essence of post-socialist transformation can be easily summarized in a few words—a large set of countries moved from socialism to capitalism. This shift itself is the strongest historical evidence of the superiority of capitalism over socialism. Nevertheless, it is our obligation to continue the impartial and unbiased comparison of the two systems. All the more so since we are living in difficult times, and nostalgia for the failed old regime can be felt by a significant portion of the population. We must convince our fellow citizens that we are heading in the right direction. There are several arguments to support this optimistic belief. I would like to spell out only one virtue of capitalism: its innovative and dynamic nature. In the first part of this study, I argue that rapid innovation and dynamism are not a random phenomenon that may or may not occur, but a deeply rooted system-specific property of capitalism. The same can be said about its opposite, the socialist system. Its inability to create great revolutionary new products and delay in other dimensions of technical progress are not due to some errors in policy but are a deeply rooted system-specific property of socialism. Unfortunately, this highly visible great virtue of capitalism does not get the appreciation it deserves. It is completely ignored by most people and even by most professional students of alternative systems, and I feel angry and frustrated watching that neglect, motivating me to choose the theme of this study.

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Innovation and dynamism: Interaction between systems and technical progress

Let's read! We will often find out this sentence everywhere. When still being a kid, mom used to order us to always read, so did the teacher. Some books are fully read in a week and we need the obligation to support reading. What about now? Do you still love reading? Is reading only for you who have obligation? Absolutely not! We here offer you a new book enPDFd trade and technology in soviet western relations to read.

Trade and Technology in Soviet-Western Relations

Technology and Society under Lenin and Stalin

Between 1933 and 1938 the Soviet Union attempted a number of world records in aviation. The flood of books and articles, posters, films, postage stamps, and folk art commemorating these events has now nearly faded from the memory of all but a few collectors. Yet the significance of these attempts goes well beyond their purely technical importance. The argument developed below views these events in a more general context and proposes a novel interpretation of their significance, focusing on the relationship between technology and social change in a developing society. The legitimizing function of technology in such a society has not received the attention it deserves from historians and social scientists. The case study which follows suggests some of the political uses technological achievements may have for the leaders of a country in transition to a more modern social structure. Specifically, this article develops the following interpretation: During the 1930s Stalin and his associates used world records in aviation as a means of winning support for his regime at home and abroad, and of counterbalancing the effect of the purges. While this effort met with some notable successes, it also had the effect of detracting attention from the development of certain kinds of aviation necessary to Soviet defense and contributed significantly to the Soviet military disasters of 1941. One of the more interesting questions debated by historians in recent years concerns the degree of Soviet preparedness at the time of the German attack in 1941. Did the Stalinist emphasis on heavy industry, particularly the defense industry, make the USSR as fully prepared for war as possible? That was the position argued by Stalin

Kendall E. Bailes

Papers

Trade and Technology in Soviet-Western Relations

Technology and Society under Lenin and Stalin

Technology and Legitimacy: Soviet Aviation and Stalinism in the 1930s