The History of Technology in America
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STS.001, CI-H
Spring 2003

Lecture: M 2-3pm, W 1-2pm; room 2-135
Section: W 2-3pm; room 2-135
Merritt Roe Smith, Professor [roesmith@mit.edu]
Shane Hamilton, TA [shamilto@mit.edu]
Jessica Weintraub, Writing Tutor [accidentalforest@hotmail.com]

Paper rewrite deadline: May 9

Subject Description: This course will consider the ways in which technology, broadly defined, has contributed to the building of American society from colonial times to the present. Far from being an "add-on" to political and social events, technology is viewed as a central organizing theme in American history. Indeed, the United States is often referred to as "the technological society." What does that expression mean? Why did it originate? How and in what ways does technology intersect with other strands of American history -- society and politics, for instance? Does technology mean progress? If so, progress for whom and for what? What is the relationship between technology and democracy in America?


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(c) 2003, Massachusetts Institute of Technology