Science, Technology and Modern Culture                              Dr. Jeffrey A. Johnson (VU)

Villanova course number:  HIS 8642-T01                                 meets:  Wed., 5:10 pm to 7:10 pm

Temple University course number:  History 403                       location:  TUCC (center-city campus)

                                                                                                            Room:  604 (starting 1/21)

 

I.  Course Description

 

   This graduate reading and discussion course will examine the role of science and technology in shaping modern culture during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.  Through comparative analysis, applying selected social-historical methods, we will examine patterns of scientific, technological, and cultural innovation as a social process related to contexts of social change, including industrialization, revolution, imperialism, war, and political regimentation.  We will look at case-studies of creative groups and individuals to analyze the social factors that tend to promote or oppose innovation, including class, gender, and ethnicity.  And from the perspective of general history, we will consider the impact of scientific, technological and cultural innovation on their social context.

   The course will also devote some attention to the practical matters involved in developing a research project, obtaining grants or other funding, and writing and publishing the results.

 

II. Format

 

   This course will meet once a week at the Temple University Center City building (TUCC, Rm. 604) for discussions and reports.  Written work will include two short reports as well as a longer bibliographical essay or case-study on a topic selected by the student in consultation with the instructor.  There will be no examinations.  In the last two weeks, students will join the instructor in critiquing each other's drafts before writing final versions.

 

[Note re the academic calendar:  Temple University does not begin its spring semester until the week of Jan. 20, so the first meeting of this course is on Wed., Jan. 21.  The Villanova spring break will be the week of March 1, the Temple spring break the week of March 8; hence the class will not meet either of these weeks, but it will be expected that students will use the time for research on their bibliographical essays.]

 

[Note re directions & transportation:  TUCC is located at 1515 Market Street in Philadelphia.  Parking is available for a reduced rate ($4.00 if you have your ticket stamped in TUCC when you come in); see links on the TUCC website for directions and nearby parking garages.  The building is also a short walk from a SEPTA station, either the Market-Frankford Line (15th & Market Sts) or regional rail service stopping in Suburban Station between 16th & 17th Sts.]

 

III.  Readings will include the following books (available in the TUCC bookstore, 3d floor, 1515 Market, across from City Hall; their hours will be 12-9pm on Wed., Jan. 21):

 

Appleman, P. (ed.) Darwin (3d ed.)   $13.50 Retail Price (Publisher:  W. W. Norton & Co., Dec. 2000):  Critical Editions Series, ISBN 039-3958-493  [OK]

 

Headrick, D. R., The Tools of Empire  $25.95 Retail Price (Publisher: Oxford Univ. Press, 1981), ISBN  019-5028-325  [OK]

 

Biggs, L.  The Rational Factory: Architecture, Technology & Work in America's Age of Production

$18.95 Retail Price (Publisher:  Johns Hopkins University Press, March 2003), Series:  Studies in Industry and Society,  ISBN  080-1872-456  [not received yet]

 

Harrington, A.  Reenchanted Science: Holism in German Culture from Wilhelm II to Hitler

$19.95 Retail Price (Publisher:  Princeton Univ. Press, Jan. 1999), ISBN  069-1050-503  [OK]

 

Kern, S., The Culture of Time and Space, 1880-1918:  With a New Preface  $19.95 Retail Price (Publisher:  Harvard Univ. Press, Nov. 2003   [orig. ed.: Jan. 1983]), ISBN: 067-4021-69X (Trade Paper) [2003]  OR:  ISBN: 067-4179-730 (Trade Paper) [1983]  (MAY BE USED)  [OK]

 

Graham, L.  The Ghost of the Executed Engineer: Technology and the Fall of the Soviet Union

$17.50 Retail Price (Publisher: Harvard University Press, Feb. 1996), ISBN  067-4354-370 (Trade Paper)  [OK]

 

Proctor, R.  The Nazi War on Cancer  $18.95 Retail Price (California Princeton Fulfillment Services); USD 16.95 Retail Price (Publisher: Princeton University Press, Nov. 2000), ISBN 069-1070-512 (Paper Text)  [OK]

 

McDougall, W.  The Heavens and the Earth:  A Political History of the Space Age   $22.95 Retail Price (Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, Reprint Ed., 1997 [orig. ed.:  Basic Books, Sept. 1986]),  ISBN 080-1857-481 (Paper Text) [1997],  OR:  ISBN 046-5028-888 (Paper Text) [1986]  (MAY BE USED)  [not received at TUCC yet]

 

Stoll, C.  The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage  $13.95 Retail Price (Publisher:  Simon & Schuster, Oct. 2000), ISBN 074-3411-463 (Trade Paper)