Final Writing Assignment HSTS 421 / 521 Technology and Change
Winter 2008


This final comprehensive writing assignment is in three parts. There are two short essay questions (Sections I and II) and one long essay question (Section III). (Please indicate by number which question you are responding to for Section I, Section II, and Section III.) Complete all three parts; your essays should include documentation and illustration drawn from the lectures, readings, films, and discussions of course material.

You are only responsible for 3 essays in total: either A or B, C or D, and either E or F. Choose one question within each of the three sections.

This final Paper is due noon on Thursday, March 20th, Dept. Of History [306 Milam Hall]. If you're off-campus this week, email is fine -- please use my doelr <at> geo.oregonstate.edu account.


Section I. [Short essay, about 500 words].


A. Look carefully at the photograph below (New York and East River Bridges, 1909). Describe the technological systems, both visible and unseen, that are necessary to understand the growth of modern American cities in the early twentieth century. (For those interested in really seeing what's visible: a larger version of this image may be found here. It's 7 MB -- warning! It will take ca. 20 minutes to download at 56K. You might wish to view this at the university.)

B. The United States and the Soviet Union both became technological superpowers during the twentieth century. Both sought to use technologies to achieve certain social, political, economic, and national security aims. Yet the ways in which technological systems were designed, constructed, and utilized in these nations was not always similar. Utilizing our readings in Graham, Hughes, and Vaughan, as well as issues raised in lecture, compare and contrast how technologies and technological systems were developed in both nations after (circa) 1900.

HSTS 521 seminar members may click here.


Section II. [Short essay, about 500 words].


C. "The automatic machinery of a big factory is much more despotic than the small capitalists who employ workers have ever been." ( Friedrich Engels). Analyze Engels' claim, using examples from medieval Europe as well as from modern Europe and the United States. Provide clear examples to back up your claims.

D. Describe and analyze changes in energy sources and power that resulted from the Industrial Revolution. Make sure you discuss the situation before the Industrial Revolution and after it began by providing generalizations and then specific examples. What factors motivated these changes? (I.e., what economic, political, and/or social incentives existed for these changes in England, Europe, and the United States?)


Section III. [Long essay, about 1000 words].


E. "As our understanding of technology increases, it becomes clear that a new device merely opens a door; it does not compel one to enter. The acceptance or rejection of an invention, or the extent to which its implications are realized if it is accepted, depends quite as much upon the condition of a society and upon the imagination of its leaders, as upon the nature of the technological item itself." [Lynn White]

"Technological transformation occurs prior to any 'use,' good or ill, and takes place as a consequence of the construction and operating design of technological systems. The phenomenon is found where an instrument is taking shape as an instrument but before the time when the instrument is employed to do anything. Technological transformation, whether by deliberate action or unconscious adaptation, is an essential part of any modern technology's preparation for performance. This does not mean that the instrument cannot be judged as to whether it is used well or poorly for good or for evil. It does suggest, however, that by the time the issue of 'use' comes up for consideration at all, many of the most interesting questions involved in how technologies are constituted and how they affect what we do are settled or submerged. The question: `Was it used well or badly?' is in this sense like asking `Who's at bat?' long after the game is over and the score recorded." [Langdon Winner]

Taking examples of technological change from our readings and from course lectures and discussions, carefully evaluate the contrasting claims of White and Winner.


F. "Where any emergency arose, [James Brindley's] quick invention and ingenuity, cultivated by experience, enabled him almost at once unerringly to suggest the best means of providing for it. His ability in this way was so remarkable, that those about attributed the process by which he arrived at his conclusions rather to instinct than reflection -- the true instinct of genius... It was Brindley's merit always to be ready with his simple, practical expedient; and he rarely failed to effect his purpose, difficult although at first sight its accomplishment might seem to be. Like men of a similar stamp, Brindley had great confidence in himself and in its powers and resources. Without this it were impossible for him to have accomplished so much as he did." (Samuel Smiles, Life of Brindley, 1861)


"In a sense, [the engineer] is like a soldier, he must have special qualifications for his arm of service, but his effectiveness... depends upon his team-play rather than upon his individualism. He must know how to follow before he is qualified to lead; he must learn to obey before he is qualified to give orders; and he must win his way to responsibility upward from the ranks... [Individualism on the part of the young engineer] may well lead him into the pitfall of working for himself rather than his organization." (William Wickenden, 1949)


What developments in technology (including the nature and context of invention) account for the shift in the image of the engineer evident in these two passages? Draw from your course readings and lecture notes in framing your response.