1 / 21

Exploring Electrical Technology

Exploring Electrical Technology. Perspectives on Social Impact of Electrification in America by David Nye based on Electrifying America: Social Meanings of a New Technology 1880-1940. The Great White Way (Nye’s Ch 2 of Electrifying America ). Identity & Influence

Download Presentation

Exploring Electrical Technology

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Exploring Electrical Technology Perspectives on Social Impact of Electrification in America by David Nye based on Electrifying America: Social Meanings of a New Technology 1880-1940

  2. The Great White Way(Nye’s Ch 2 of Electrifying America) • Identity & Influence • Referred originally to N.Y.’s Broadway, when lit with electrified signage between Madison & Herald Square • Widely emulated in other cities • Spurred usage of electricity by other institutions w/benefits & dangers • Challenged church to communicate its message into contemporary culture • Todays analog: WWW and Internet?

  3. Great White Way: Other focal points that exemplified the same spirit • Expo’s: 1876-1915; 1933-39 (when the World’s Fair was active) • Resulted in a permanent increase in the load for electrical utilities • Offered most effective way to reach a large audience • Provided a model for community transformation

  4. Great White Way: Other focal points that exemplified the same spirit • Expo’s • Went beyond utilitarian value to lend prestige & represent progress symbolically • Exemplified Christianity, science & progress • Enabled theatrics, special effects and signage for advertising

  5. Great White Way: Other focal points that exemplified the same spirit • Electric Tower*: symbolized electricity & electrificat’n itself • A miniaturized lighted replica of Niagra Falls as source of its power • Placement of lights • Emphasized architectural details • Symbolized man’s control over nature • Suggested visibility, yet intangibility of electricity itself *Nye page 45

  6. Great White Way • Promoted new uses of light • Accent beauty & hide eyesores • At Niagra Falls • Highlighted its natural splendor • Left bleak brick bldgs nearby in the dark • Added color at nighttime • Buildings & streets in the city • Emphasized impressive features • Kept eyesores in poor areas blank • Capitol & White House Bldgs took advantage

  7. Great White Way • New usages of electric light • Held observers spellbound & awestruck by its brilliance • Moved beyond functional necessity • Imitations of nature became popular • False aurora borealis • Creation of the earth simulation • Buildings were lit as a spectacle for publicity • As a symbol of corporate power • As a permanent ad • Became a text without words • 1905 Times Square became New Year’s event • Instrument of cultural expression; symbolic validation of urban industrial order

  8. Great White Way • Treatment by Poet’s & Artists • Viewpoints differed • Edward Hungerford rhapsodized it • Mumford & Pound had it cause a personal epiphony • Lewis Eilshemius saw it as a monster • Cather & Brook either criticized or theologized it • Lindsay was ambivalent

  9. Great White Way • Practical benefit for artists: could now see their own colors well enough without sunlight

  10. Great White Way • The City from Greenwich Village • An important piece of artwork • Depicts the Great White Way dominating the background • Neighborhood built on human scale occupies foreground • Illustrates new intrusive, dominant place electrified lighting came to have in lives of city dwellers

  11. What Was Electricity?(Nye’s Ch 4 of Electrifying America) • Process of electrification throughout world nations • Similarities: all shaped by complex, social, political, technical ideological interactions • Differences: somewhat typified by the USA versus European model

  12. What Was Electricity? • Electrification in the USA • Initially fragmented, individualized, sporadic in operation, distributed by DC systems locally • Later distributed by AC, privately funded by banks, had to be profitable, became government regulated

  13. What Was Electricity? • Electrification in Europe • Publicly funded & controlled by government • Lost money, yet lighted homes more quickly than in the USA

  14. What Was Electricity? • Social groups identified by Nye • American Intellectuals • General public • Engineers • Business people

  15. What Was Electricity? • American Intellectuals • Included Jackson Lear’s anti-modernists & Richard Hofstadter’s Mugwumps • Viewed electricity as • a sign of modernity • Means of subjection, destruction and social control

  16. What Was Electricity? • General public • Including urban middle class, working class & rural people • Saw electricity as • Item of consumption, conspicuous clothing* and signage • Means of better health** • Symbol of utopian ideals • Metaphor for mental power, psychic energy and sexual attraction *Nye page 148; ** Nye page 154

  17. What Was Electricity? • Engineers • New group of professionals • Considered part of a tech. elite • Perspective on electricity • Instrument for rationality & social reform • Embraced new values based on mathematical versus cut and try approach to solving technical problems

  18. What Was Electricity? • Engineers’ perspective • A view of God as the Great Electrician • A view of themselves as cultural transformers & agents of corporate capitalism • Engineers as viewed by others • Awed for their achievements by public: bridges, dams, power stations, etc. • Negatively by anti-modernists who opposed them

  19. What Was Electricity? • Business people • Most organized & self-conscious • Influenced by several factors • Periodicals: Century, Success & Magazine of Wall Street • Duopoly of GE and Westinghouse • Government regulation of & competition between public utilities • Saw electricity as • A tool for making money • A commodity rather than as a public service

  20. What Was Electricity? • Emerged as private electrical utilities with state regulation • Pro: facilitated growth to meet the demand of human needs & enabled funding from private enterprise • Con: sometimes became corrupt or overlooked environmental & other public interests for sake of profit

  21. What Was Electricity? • Conclusion: In accord with the American ideal of free enterprise and a capitalistic economy, competition between private electrical utilities seems good, but experience also shows the need for government regulation to balance competing public interests and maintain necessary standards for protection.

More Related