Preliminary Programme

A key premise of journal Technology and Culture (and its organization the International Society for the History of Technology) is that technology is a social process and never a given factor. Technology involves the whole range of human activity, including economics, business, the environment, labor relations, gender, race, politics, education, and art as well as the ways these domains shape technology in turn. Our field is about opening technology’s black box to understand its social and culture shaping. We do so in a long-term, historical perspective covering all periods. The study of the mutual shaping of technology and society—or culture as the founders called it in the 1950s—offers an opportunity for social scientists to employ their key tools and present their insights.

One of the ESSHC’s networks, chaired by Harro Maat and Geoff Zylstra, is dedicated to the history of technology. Outside this network too, many ESSHC participants deal with ‘technology’ in some shape or form in their research because technologies are part of social life without always realizing they do. For most historians, technology represents one aspect of their research. We invite you to explore this dimension, sample the many book reviews of recent publications, and consider Technology and Culture for your research. The journal we edit, Technology and Culture, is all these things. We publish high quality research articles and around 120 reviews of books in many languages yearly, and seek submissions for longer review essays discussing the ‘state of the art’ in broad fields of research like—but not limited to—the history of technology ranging from aviation, communication, finance to social movements, gender, labor, race, plants, and animals. Our section on Public History includes essays that offer a historical perspective on recent debates about technology in society, exhibits reviews, documentaries, and other forms of technology’s popularization.
Join us to learn about the journal, ask questions, and share your projects that might lead to publication with us. (Show less)