What’s in the drivers seat? Technology or Society

1. What’s in the drivers seat?Technology or Society The Views of Ruth Schwartz Cowan EDL 733 Huddle Assignment 1 Molly Doughterty, Michelle Harris, Krystle Nemeth

2. About the author • Ruth Shwratz Cowan considers herself an author, educator, and an historian of science, technology, and medicine. • Understanding the social meaning of scientific, technological, and medical change is Cowan’s career-long goal. • “ She learned, early on, that every scientific discovery and every technological change has had its supporters as well as its detractors—the folks who said “Wow! This is terrific!” as well as the folks who said “Wow! This is awful!”—and she has been trying to understand and explain that phenomenon ever since.” (Cowan, 2013)

3. Educational Background Info. • Currently teaches the History of Sociology and Science at the University of Pennsylvania • Previously taught at: • Stony Brook University, CalTech, and Princeton • Served as a leader as: • Academic Administrator- Director of Women’s Studies, Chair of the Honors College at Stony Brook, and Department Chair at the University of Pennsylvania • Active as a consultant to documentary filmmakers, museum exhibit creators, and foundations with interests in science, technology, and medicine.

4. A Social History of American Technology Ruth Schwartz Cowan • The book focuses on American history and is divided into three major sections. • In the Beginning • As the population increased, this led to changes in the natural environment. • “Survival skills adapting skills from the natives adapt old technology to fit new conditions” (p. 26) • Industrialization & Technological Systems • Vehicles and roads, canals, railroads connected the East and West coast • Machines began to replace workers • People were dependent on each other • America went from the weakest to the strongest economy (1780-1820)

5. A Social History of American Technology Ruth Schwartz Cowan • Twentieth-Century Technologies • Many technology growths were related to the automobile and aviation industry • Improvements with technology came from desire for “better” and/or to meet military needs • Space travel provided many of our consumer gadgets: solar energy cells, radios, computers, TV’s, etc. • Biomedical advancements led to social and ethical outcomes • Wireless telegraphy led to the electronic superhighway • There is no single control, technology has an open market with international efforts

6. More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the MicrowaveRuth Schwartz CowanWeb Example • Cowan discuss implications technology played on women in the workforce and at home. • Appliances made housework easier • Some theories suggest that appliances forced woman into the workforce • Cowan states that women had entered the workforce before modern household technologies were widely used • Housewives who entered the workforce were actually those who could not afford these amenities; therefore technology is not a cause of women entering the workforce but an incentive • Cowan states that lives were shaped by the technologies that were introduced and we have now become accustomed to these luxuries

7. Summary “Every technological change has profound social & ethical consequences.” (Cowan, 1997, p. 326)

8. Resources Cowan, R. S. (1997). A social history of American technology. New York: Oxford University Press. Ruth Schwartz Cowan (2013). Retrieved from http://ruthschwartzcowan.com Ruth Schwartz Cowan: More work for mother. Retrieved from http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/280/cowan.html