Overview

Examining the proliferation of reinforced-concrete construction in the United States after 1900, historian Amy E. Slaton considers how scientific approaches and occupations displaced traditionally skilled labour. The technology of concrete buildings - little studied by historians of engineering, architecture, or industry - offers a case study in the modernization of American production. The use of concrete brought to construction the new procedures and priorities of mass production. These included a comprehensive application of science to commercial enterprise and vast redistributions of skills, opportunities, credit, and risk in the workplace. Reinforced concrete also changed the American landscape as building buyers embraced the architectural uniformity and simplicity to which the technology was best suited. Based on data that includes university curricula, laboratory and company records, organizational proceedings, blueprints, and promotional materials as well as physical evidence such as tools, instruments, building materials and surviving reinforced-concrete buildings, this book tests the thesis that modern mass production in the United States came about not simply in answer to manufacturers' search for profits, but as a result of a complex of occupational and cultural agendas.

Full Product Details

Author:   Amy E. Slaton (College of Arts and Sciences)
Publisher:   Johns Hopkins University Press
Imprint:   Johns Hopkins University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.10cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.510kg
ISBN:  

9780801865596

ISBN 10:   080186559
Pages:   272
Publication Date:   24 August 2001
Recommended Age:   From 17
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.

Table of Contents

"Contents: Introduction: Science and Commerce: Scenes from a Marriage Chapter 1 Concrete Testing: The Academics at Work Chapter 2 Science on Site: The Field-Testing and Regulation of Concrete Construction Chapter 3 Science and the ""Fair-Deal"": Standards, Specifications, and Commercial Ambition Chapter 4 The Business of Building: Technological and Managerial Techniques in Concrete Construction Chapter 5 What ""Modern"" Meant: Reinforced Concrete and the Social History of Functionalist Design Conclusion"

Reviews

<p> [Slaton] makes good use of source material to make the case that forces other than simplistic technical imperatives drove an ideology of modernism within the concrete industry, precipitating conditions mediating the relationship of labor and technology, conditions that differed significantly from those prevalent in the wood and masonry building trades. She drives her point home with conviction. -- Donald C. Jackson, Enterprise and Society

Author Information

Amy Slaton is an assistant professor of history and politics at Drexel University.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions