This course explores the inter-relationship between technological, cultural, and social change from the dawn of the Industrial Revolution to the age of the Internet. Beginning with the rise of modern factory production and concluding with the communication revolutions of the late twentieth (and early twenty-first) century it focuses on the ways in which particular technological developments have shaped, altered, and affected social and cultural change in the United States, Europe, and throughout the world. Specific topics include: the development of modern agricultural technologies and the mechanization of labor; energy production; skyscrapers; logistics and consumption; industrial planning; medical science; surveillance technologies; and visions of the dystopian future, among others. Students who complete this course will develop a working knowledge of the social and cultural origins of technological transformations as well as an understanding of the manner in which technological devices and knowledge are transferred and adapted by societies across the globe.
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