Narratives
Question: How are our attitudes towards technologies
shaped by cultural stories about how those technologies will
save or destroy us?
what are some of the narratives and counternarratives we tell
about technology today?
examples from other books:
- technology has saved us from disease
- electrification would bring modern urban life
to the farm so people who grew up on farms would no longer
need to move to cities
- the automobile (and then later the
computer) is the future, a sure path to a good job
- counternarrative about the automobile
destroying the environment
- narrative: science gives objective answers
- narrative glorifying the culture of fixing
your own car, but the other side of the story
(counternarrative) is mechanics were poorly paid and
didn't get any respect
economic history argument--status of auto mechanics depends
on the supply of workers, if lots of people want to do it and it
is easy to get training then wages will stay low
cultural history argument--why is teaching a low paid
profession? because it was traditionally women's work? the
knowledge needed isn't valued. auto repair is seen as low
class work and the knowledge isn't valued. cultural
history arguments are narratives. Fixing cars is dirty
work
looking at narratives is a way of looking at the meanings we
give to technology beyond the facts