JonathanBanda

January27,2016
Thomas P. Hughes, Emerging Themes in the History of Technology, Technology and Culture
20 (1979): 697-711.
Overview: This is a 1979 essay by Thomas Hughes (then professor of history of technology at
UPenn) regarding what he saw as the current emerging themes in the history of technology.
Hughes begins by referencing three papers (Ferguson, Layton, and Multhauf) presented at the
1972 SHOT annual meeting that reflected on the past, present and future of research in the field.
From these remarks, Hughes concludes, it seemed that 1) it seems that there were no organizing
themes in the field at the time1 2) but the speakers pointed to emerging themes: a social history
of technology, technology as knowledge, while one calling for a reorganization of the field
altogether to move away from general categories.2
In his essay, Hughes offers his own take on the emerging themes of the time, which, argues, were
more specific and focused than the categories referenced in 1972, concluding: The field is being
articulated and offers promise of the convergent conversations, the debates among historians,
and the ongoing dialectic taken for granted in older fields of history (699).
Emerging themes as identified by Hughes in 1979
1. Technological Change:
a. Several models had been proposed, some focusing on business/economic/social
motivations, the individual inventor, but neglecting the engineer. The critical
question was whether historians of technology should focus on the individual or
on the group/institution/structure.
b. Others more recently had begun to focus on structures and systems to explain
technological change (e.g., using Kuhns paradigms/revolutions)
2. Economics/The American System
a. The question of the relation of science and technology seems to be less
significant, instead historians have shifted towards economics to explain
technological change (instead of science)
b. The American System of Manufacturing seems to have the potential of
becoming an organizing concept, but there is the danger it will constrain inquiry
(like the Industrial Revolution)
3. Technology Transfer/Integration into general history
a. Merrit Roe Smith and others have addressed the history of technology transfer
(e.g., American gun manufacturing) in a wider cultural context and have been
recognized by general history organizations.
b. Hughes sees in these and other works the potential for the history of technology to
become a recognized and supported part of general history studies.
c. Other historians (not specialized in technology) have also begun to address
technology, specifically technocracy, signaling a convergence of the interests of
historians of tech. and general historians.
1 Historians were not yet working out variations on generally defined topics
and had not gathered at agreed-upon research sites.
2 E.g., food prep, clothing, house construction, military technology