The Mantra of Efficiency
eBook - ePub

The Mantra of Efficiency

From Waterwheel to Social Control

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

The Mantra of Efficiency

From Waterwheel to Social Control

About this book

Winner, 2010 Edelstein Prize, Society for the History of Technology

Efficiency—associated with individual discipline, superior management, and increased profits or productivity—often counts as one of the highest virtues in Western culture. But what does it mean, exactly, to be efficient? How did this concept evolve from a means for evaluating simple machines to the mantra of progress and a prerequisite for success?

In this provocative and ambitious study, Jennifer Karns Alexander explores the growing power of efficiency in the post-industrial West. Examining the ways the concept has appeared in modern history—from a benign measure of the thermal economy of a machine to its widespread application to personal behaviors like chewing habits, spending choices, and shop floor movements to its controversial use as a measure of the business success of American slavery—she argues that beneath efficiency's seemingly endless variety lies a common theme: the pursuit of mastery through techniques of surveillance, discipline, and control.

Six historical case studies—two from Britain, one each from France and Germany, and two from the United States—illustrate the concept's fascinating development and provide context for the meanings of, and uses for, efficiency today and in the future.

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Yes, you can access The Mantra of Efficiency by Jennifer Karns Alexander in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Technology & Engineering & European History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. List of Illustrations
  7. Preface
  8. Acknowledgments
  9. Introduction: The Varieties of Efficiency
  10. 1 Static and Dynamic Efficiency: The Waterwheels of Smeaton and the Franklin Institute
  11. 2 The Effects of Control: GĂ©rard-Joseph Christian and Perfected Machines
  12. 3 Economy of Nature: Darwin, Marshall, and the Costs of Efficiency
  13. 4 Balance and Transformation: Technical and Popular Efficiency in the Progressive Era United States
  14. 5 An Island of Mechanical Predictability: Efficient Worker Seating in Late Weimar Germany
  15. 6 Pride in Efficiency: The Dispute over Time on the Cross
  16. 7 Global Efficiency: An Enduring Industrial Value in a Postindustrial World
  17. Conclusion: The Future of Efficiency
  18. Notes
  19. Bibliographic Essay
  20. Index