Bringing Technology Home: Gender and Technology in a Changing Europe [Hardcover]

Cynthia Cockburn (Author), Ruza Furst-Dilic (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1994 | ISBN-10: 0335191592 | ISBN-13: 978-0335191598

New technologies are transforming the economies of Europe, West and East. New products, new production processes: are they bringing greater equality and similarity to the lives of women and men? Are women sharing in technological design and decision-making or are they, as before, just the disregarded users whose fingers press the buttons and turn the knobs? This book presents, from eight countries, original empirical studies of the design, production, distribution and use of familiar household technologies. The authors trace the life circuit of everyday artifacts, from the washing machine and the central vacuum cleaning system, to the food processor, the plastic credit card and, that ultimate masculine dream, the totally electronic "smart" house. The reader meets factory workers in Moscow and Barcelona, design engineers in Paris and Belgrade, shop assistants in England, housewives in Trondheim, Helsinki and Athens. As the innovations progress from the drawing board to the home they reveal masculinity and femininity, power and subordination, in the making.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a book that stimulates intellectually and provokes personally but most of all provides riveting reading..." - Journal of the Institute of Health Education "...provides an excellent introduction to feminist arguments about the gendered nature of social processes." - European Urban and Regional Studies --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Open Univ Pr (July 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0335191592
• ISBN-13: 978-0335191598
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,471,560 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)