Inventing Ourselves Out of Jobs?: America's Debate over Technological Unemployment, 1929-1981

388 Pages·2000·62.958 MB·English

by  Amy Sue Bix

Studies in Industry and Society
Philip B. Scranton, Series Editor
Published with the assistanocf et he Hagley Museum and Library
Related Titlesi n the Series:
David A. Hounshell, From the American System to Mass Production, 1800-1932:
The ~e~elo~mofe ~nantu facturingT echnology int he United States
JoAnne Yates, Control through Communication: The Rise ofsystem in
American Management
James P. Kraft, Stage to Studio: Musiciansa nd theS ound Re~olut~o18n9,0 -1950
Lindy Biggs, The Rational ~actoryA: rchitecture, techno log^ and or^ in
America’s Age of Mass Production
Pamela Walker LairdA, d~ertisiP~rgo gress: American Business and theR ise of
Consumer ~ar~eting
opk-ins University Press
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A
from the British Library,
To my mother, MaryB k,a nd
to the memoryo f my father, IraB k
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
Ac~nowledgments ix
Prologue: Technology as Progress? 1
1
“Economy of a Madhouse’J: Entering the Depressi0~-Era
Debate over Technological Unemp~o~men9t
Jobs Faster Than I ntion Can Take Them Away”:
Government’s Role in the Technological Unemployment Debate 43
‘‘NO Power on. Earth Can Stop Improved Machinery”:
Labor’s Concern about Displacement 80
“Machinery Don’t Eat”: Displacement as a Theme
in Depression Culture 114
5
“The Machine HasB een Libeled”’: The Business
Communit~’sD efense 143
“Innocence or Guilot f Science”: Scientists and Engineers
Mobilize to Justify Mechanization 168
7
“What Will the Smug MachinAe ge Do?”:
Envisioning Past, Presenta,n d Futurea s America
Moves from Depression to War 204
8
“Automation JustK illed Us”: The Displacement
Question in Postwar America 236
Epilogue: ~evisiting thTee chnological
Unem~loymenDt ebate 280
Notes 313
Essay on Sources 361
Index 365
N COMPLETING THIS WORKI, would like to express my appreciation to
a number of wonderfid professional colleaguaensd personal ac~uaintances.
Special thanks go to StuartL eslie of the Johns Hopkins University, who first
encouraged me to investigate this topic and patiently guided me through the
earliest stages of writing. I am also indebted to Sharon Kingsland, Robert
Kargon, Louis Galambos, Ron Walatenrds ,E rica Schoenberger,a ll of the Johns
Hopkins University; who reada nd commented on my PhD. dissertation. I also
owe a special thanks to my fellowg raduate students in theD epartment of the
History of Science, Technologya, nd Medicine during thel ate 1980s and early
1990s for their many expressions of friendship.
I want to thank a number of people at Iowa State University, firsatn d fore-
most Alan Marcus, for his encouragement and valuable counsel. George
McJimsey, David Wilsona, nd hdrejs Plakans reviewedd rafts of this manu-
script and provided important suggestions. I would further like to mention
my gratitude to Hamilton Cravens, Carole Kennedya,n d theo ther members
of the history department at Iowa State for offering me the chance to work
in such a productive environment. Finally, I will alwaysb e grateful for the ex-
pert assistance of Robert Brugger, Philip Scranton, one anonymous reviewer,
manuscript editor Celestia Ward,a nd thep roduction staff at the Johns Hop-
kins University Press.
I received wonderful help from the research and support staffs of the
Milton S. Eisenhower Library at theJ ohns Hopkins University and theP arks
Library at Iowa State University, especiallyf rom people in the government
documents, interlibrary loan, and audio-visual departments. Archivists and
staff members at the HerbertH oover Presidential Library in West Branch,