1.

Record Nr.

UNISA996247976803316

Autore

Alexander Jennifer Karns <1963->

Titolo

The mantra of efficiency : from waterwheel to social control / / Jennifer Karns Alexander

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Baltimore, : Johns Hopkins University Press, c2008

ISBN

0-8018-9330-5

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xvii, 233 p. ) : ill. ;

Disciplina

338/.06409

Soggetti

Technological innovations - History

Industrial efficiency

Science and industry

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [201]-199) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction: The varieties of efficiency -- Static and dynamic efficiency: the waterwheels of Smeaton and the Franklin Institute -- The effects of control: Gerard-Joseph Christian and perfected machines -- Economy of nature: Darwin, Marshall, and the costs of efficiency -- Balance and transformation: technical and popular efficiency in the Progressive Era United States -- An island of mechanical predictability: efficient worker seating in late Weimar Germany -- Pride in efficiency: the dispute over Time on the cross -- Global efficiency: an enduring industrial value in a postindustrial world -- Conclusion: The future of efficiency -- Notes -- Bibliographic essay -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

Six historical case studies--two from Britain, one each from France and Germany, and two from the United States--illustrate the concept's fascinating development and provide context for the meanings of, and uses for, efficiency today and in the future.