Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This intriguing collection examines the process by which technological innovation emerges. Questioning the technological determinist orientation of much of the current literature, the authors suggest that new technology is a product formed by and dependent upon the existing technology, economic system, and culture of a given time. The readings are broad in scope and include Karl Marx, Harry Braverman, Mary Kaldor, and James Fallows, among others. The importance of gender for technology is also discussed by a variety of authors, including Ruth Schwartz Cowan and Cynthia Cockburn. Taken as a whole, the volume is thought provoking and raises many complex issues relevant to technology and contemporary society. Its flaw is that the book does not explore these issues in any depth, nor does it resolve them. Perhaps future writings will remedy this deficiency. In the interim, this volume could easily serve as a supplementary text or resource for courses dealing with technology and social change. Upper-division undergraduates and graduate students.-M. Triplette, Salem College, N.C.