Description
This volume represents an introduction to a new world-wide attempt to review the history of technology, which is one of few since the pioneering publications of the 1960s. It takes an explicit archaeological focus to the study of the history of technology and adopts a more explicit socially-embedded view of technology than has commonly been the case in mainstream histories of technology. In doing so, it attempts to introduce a more radical element to explanations of technological change, involving magic, alchemy, animism – in other words, attempting to consider technological change in terms of the 'world view' of those involved in such change rather than from an exclusively western scientific perspective.
Table of Contents
Preface; Setting the Scene; What is technology?; Earlier Approaches to the History of Technology; Varying Theoretical Approaches to the History of Technology; Cultural Logics and Materials; Spatial and Temporal Orders of Technology; How Does Technology Change?; Technology Transfer; Technological Choice and 'Intentionality'; Final Thoughts.
