Pontus Braunerhjelm and Maryann P. Feldman (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199207183
- eISBN:
- 9780191708886
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207183.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Innovation
This book examines the origins and emergence of technology-based industrial clusters — regional concentrations of related firms and organizations — in order to understand the forces that promoted ...
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This book examines the origins and emergence of technology-based industrial clusters — regional concentrations of related firms and organizations — in order to understand the forces that promoted economic development. Many places attempt to emulate the world's most famous industrial cluster Silicon Valley, with its rich institutional landscape of engaged and leveraged research universities, high-flying local venture capitalists, world class supporting business and legal consultants, and rich collaborative networks. While mature clusters may look similar, what really matters is the process by which clusters come into existence. But there is little understanding of such processes, and little guidance provided on the role of policies in promoting cluster emergence. The book attempts to bridge this gap in the literature by focusing on the early origins of high-technology cluster in Europe, the United States, and China, and the ensuing policy implications. The book is organized around three main themes: Creation Myths Revisited, Considering the Development Cluster Context, and Crafting Cluster and Economic Development Policy. The empirical analyses suggest that clusters that grow rapidly as compared to the less successful ones are distinguished by vigorous entrepreneurial activity and the active building of institutions aided by the forces of agglomeration economies.Less
This book examines the origins and emergence of technology-based industrial clusters — regional concentrations of related firms and organizations — in order to understand the forces that promoted economic development. Many places attempt to emulate the world's most famous industrial cluster Silicon Valley, with its rich institutional landscape of engaged and leveraged research universities, high-flying local venture capitalists, world class supporting business and legal consultants, and rich collaborative networks. While mature clusters may look similar, what really matters is the process by which clusters come into existence. But there is little understanding of such processes, and little guidance provided on the role of policies in promoting cluster emergence. The book attempts to bridge this gap in the literature by focusing on the early origins of high-technology cluster in Europe, the United States, and China, and the ensuing policy implications. The book is organized around three main themes: Creation Myths Revisited, Considering the Development Cluster Context, and Crafting Cluster and Economic Development Policy. The empirical analyses suggest that clusters that grow rapidly as compared to the less successful ones are distinguished by vigorous entrepreneurial activity and the active building of institutions aided by the forces of agglomeration economies.
Lee Fleming, Lyra Colfer, Alexandra Marin, and Jonathan McPhie
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691148670
- eISBN:
- 9781400845552
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691148670.003.0017
- Subject:
- Sociology, Economic Sociology
This chapter shows the early emergence of Silicon Valley and Boston. Much has been made of the cultural differences between Silicon Valley in the Bay Area and Boston's Route 128. The chapter digs ...
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This chapter shows the early emergence of Silicon Valley and Boston. Much has been made of the cultural differences between Silicon Valley in the Bay Area and Boston's Route 128. The chapter digs beneath this surface portrait, discerning which organizations are most generative. It looks at the structural differences between two leading technology hubs. Using patent data that capture inventor networks, the chapter highlights the importance of careers. It also reveals much greater information flow and career mobility across organizations and industries in the Valley than in Boston. This movement of people and ideas was spurred by the critical intermediary roles of certain institutions which functioned like the anchor tenants that were the pollinators in the biotechnology clusters in Chapter 14. The chapter thus argues that this anchoring of diversity is central to the formation of technology clusters.Less
This chapter shows the early emergence of Silicon Valley and Boston. Much has been made of the cultural differences between Silicon Valley in the Bay Area and Boston's Route 128. The chapter digs beneath this surface portrait, discerning which organizations are most generative. It looks at the structural differences between two leading technology hubs. Using patent data that capture inventor networks, the chapter highlights the importance of careers. It also reveals much greater information flow and career mobility across organizations and industries in the Valley than in Boston. This movement of people and ideas was spurred by the critical intermediary roles of certain institutions which functioned like the anchor tenants that were the pollinators in the biotechnology clusters in Chapter 14. The chapter thus argues that this anchoring of diversity is central to the formation of technology clusters.
Neil Fligstein
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199231423
- eISBN:
- 9780191710865
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199231423.003.0007
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Political Economy
This chapter aims to supplement the understanding of entrepreneurship and competition by demonstrating that they cannot occur without governments and stable social structures to support them. It ...
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This chapter aims to supplement the understanding of entrepreneurship and competition by demonstrating that they cannot occur without governments and stable social structures to support them. It considers two major developments in the American economy that have been typically hailed as emblematic of the working out of free markets: the emergence of the ‘shareholder value’ conception of the firm and the rise and growth of Silicon Valley. It is shown that these phenomena were not just caused by entrepreneurial activity, but were embedded in pre-existing social relations. In both cases, the government played a pivotal role in pushing forward the conditions for ‘entrepreneurial activity’. The chapter discusses why governments sometimes do not figure in either economic or some economic sociological arguments about markets and economic growth, and suggests how an economic sociology with a view of embeddedness that includes governments, law, and supporting institutions offers a more complete picture of market evolution.Less
This chapter aims to supplement the understanding of entrepreneurship and competition by demonstrating that they cannot occur without governments and stable social structures to support them. It considers two major developments in the American economy that have been typically hailed as emblematic of the working out of free markets: the emergence of the ‘shareholder value’ conception of the firm and the rise and growth of Silicon Valley. It is shown that these phenomena were not just caused by entrepreneurial activity, but were embedded in pre-existing social relations. In both cases, the government played a pivotal role in pushing forward the conditions for ‘entrepreneurial activity’. The chapter discusses why governments sometimes do not figure in either economic or some economic sociological arguments about markets and economic growth, and suggests how an economic sociology with a view of embeddedness that includes governments, law, and supporting institutions offers a more complete picture of market evolution.
AnnaLee Saxenian
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199532605
- eISBN:
- 9780191714627
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199532605.003.0005
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
By 2000, over one-third of Silicon Valley's high-skilled workers were foreign-born, and overwhelmingly from Asia. These US-educated engineers are transforming developmental opportunities for formerly ...
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By 2000, over one-third of Silicon Valley's high-skilled workers were foreign-born, and overwhelmingly from Asia. These US-educated engineers are transforming developmental opportunities for formerly peripheral regions as they build professional and business connections to their home countries. In a process more akin to ‘brain circulation’ than ‘brain drain’, these engineers and entrepreneurs, aided by the lowered transaction costs associated with digitization, are transferring technical and institutional know-how between distant regional economies faster and more flexibly than most large corporations. This chapter examines how Chinese and Indian-born engineers are contributing to highly localized processes of entrepreneurial experimentation in their home countries, while maintaining close ties to the technology and markets in Silicon Valley.Less
By 2000, over one-third of Silicon Valley's high-skilled workers were foreign-born, and overwhelmingly from Asia. These US-educated engineers are transforming developmental opportunities for formerly peripheral regions as they build professional and business connections to their home countries. In a process more akin to ‘brain circulation’ than ‘brain drain’, these engineers and entrepreneurs, aided by the lowered transaction costs associated with digitization, are transferring technical and institutional know-how between distant regional economies faster and more flexibly than most large corporations. This chapter examines how Chinese and Indian-born engineers are contributing to highly localized processes of entrepreneurial experimentation in their home countries, while maintaining close ties to the technology and markets in Silicon Valley.
Steven Casper
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199269525
- eISBN:
- 9780191710025
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199269525.003.0002
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Political Economy
What is the relationship between institutional frameworks, public policy, and the governance of innovative competencies by firms? This chapter extends the varieties of capitalism theory to examine ...
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What is the relationship between institutional frameworks, public policy, and the governance of innovative competencies by firms? This chapter extends the varieties of capitalism theory to examine how different types of economy impede the governance of new technology firms. It argues that most new technologies attempt to create radical innovations by developing competencies along a widely diffused “Silicon Valley Model” surrounding the financing, staffing, and creation of employee incentives within firms. Liberal market economies, such as those found in the US and UK, provide strong institutional supports for the Silicon Valley Model, while coordinated market economies, such as Germany or Sweden, provide a series of constraints. A theoretical framework is developed to explore this argument. How public policy might impact competitiveness within new technology industries across the two types of economies is discussed.Less
What is the relationship between institutional frameworks, public policy, and the governance of innovative competencies by firms? This chapter extends the varieties of capitalism theory to examine how different types of economy impede the governance of new technology firms. It argues that most new technologies attempt to create radical innovations by developing competencies along a widely diffused “Silicon Valley Model” surrounding the financing, staffing, and creation of employee incentives within firms. Liberal market economies, such as those found in the US and UK, provide strong institutional supports for the Silicon Valley Model, while coordinated market economies, such as Germany or Sweden, provide a series of constraints. A theoretical framework is developed to explore this argument. How public policy might impact competitiveness within new technology industries across the two types of economies is discussed.
Leslie Berlin
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195163438
- eISBN:
- 9780199788569
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195163438.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter describes Robert Noyce's second marriage to Intel's head of personnel Anne Bowers and the failed efforts to unionize semiconductor industry employees in the 1970s and early 1980s. The ...
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This chapter describes Robert Noyce's second marriage to Intel's head of personnel Anne Bowers and the failed efforts to unionize semiconductor industry employees in the 1970s and early 1980s. The media spotlight on Noyce and the rise of Silicon Valley are also discussed.Less
This chapter describes Robert Noyce's second marriage to Intel's head of personnel Anne Bowers and the failed efforts to unionize semiconductor industry employees in the 1970s and early 1980s. The media spotlight on Noyce and the rise of Silicon Valley are also discussed.
Elsa Davidson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814720875
- eISBN:
- 9780814785065
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814720875.003.0004
- Subject:
- Education, Educational Policy and Politics
This chapter examines the education and training of Latino youth within the local and national context, with particular emphasis on the emergent civic agenda around the digital divide in Silicon ...
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This chapter examines the education and training of Latino youth within the local and national context, with particular emphasis on the emergent civic agenda around the digital divide in Silicon Valley. It considers the political implications and historical context of this regional “civilizing process” and its relation to a neoliberal politics of educational reform on the national scale by focusing on the production of two kinds of disciplined “subjects” in need of saving: at-risk youth and public educational and nonprofit social-service institutions. It also explores how the realities of the tech-bust era have turned disenfranchised young people, and many who provide services to them, into skeptics of neoliberal reform.Less
This chapter examines the education and training of Latino youth within the local and national context, with particular emphasis on the emergent civic agenda around the digital divide in Silicon Valley. It considers the political implications and historical context of this regional “civilizing process” and its relation to a neoliberal politics of educational reform on the national scale by focusing on the production of two kinds of disciplined “subjects” in need of saving: at-risk youth and public educational and nonprofit social-service institutions. It also explores how the realities of the tech-bust era have turned disenfranchised young people, and many who provide services to them, into skeptics of neoliberal reform.
Michael H. Best
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199250011
- eISBN:
- 9780191596216
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199250014.003.0019
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, International
Seeks to address an explanation for the decline and subsequent resurgence of Route 28, the first high‐technology manufacturing region of the USA, in Massachusetts. The decline was combined with the ...
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Seeks to address an explanation for the decline and subsequent resurgence of Route 28, the first high‐technology manufacturing region of the USA, in Massachusetts. The decline was combined with the emergence of Silicon Valley (California), which was based on a completely different business model. It is suggested that both the decline and resurgence of Route 28 can be explained in terms of the emergence of a new competitive advantage. This advantage is based on the principle of systems integration in which the old vertical integration model has been transcended by an open system of specialist firms. This thesis is discussed.Less
Seeks to address an explanation for the decline and subsequent resurgence of Route 28, the first high‐technology manufacturing region of the USA, in Massachusetts. The decline was combined with the emergence of Silicon Valley (California), which was based on a completely different business model. It is suggested that both the decline and resurgence of Route 28 can be explained in terms of the emergence of a new competitive advantage. This advantage is based on the principle of systems integration in which the old vertical integration model has been transcended by an open system of specialist firms. This thesis is discussed.
Sarah Giest
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781447352006
- eISBN:
- 9781447352044
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447352006.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Public Policy
This chapter discusses the impact of different types of learning on the success and failure of the transfer of the famous Silicon Valley Model (SVM) of innovation. Working with the idea of ‘adaptive ...
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This chapter discusses the impact of different types of learning on the success and failure of the transfer of the famous Silicon Valley Model (SVM) of innovation. Working with the idea of ‘adaptive learning’, it underlines the importance of understanding the learning process, and critically, the depth of learning that underpins policy transfer. Policy transfer is ‘a process in which knowledge about policies, administrative arrangements, institutions and ideas in one political setting (past or present) is used in the development of policies, administrative arrangements, institutions and ideas in another political setting’. Thus, knowledge exchange is highly dependent on the setting it occurs in as well as on the individuals involved in the process. There are different degrees of transfer: copying, emulation, combinations, and inspiration. These categories move from direct and complete transfer to searching for inspiration to create policy change. The chapter looks at four cases to demonstrate how different learning processes generated by actors at the meso-level, mainly networks of stakeholders and experts, mediate the extent to which policy transfer is a success or failure.Less
This chapter discusses the impact of different types of learning on the success and failure of the transfer of the famous Silicon Valley Model (SVM) of innovation. Working with the idea of ‘adaptive learning’, it underlines the importance of understanding the learning process, and critically, the depth of learning that underpins policy transfer. Policy transfer is ‘a process in which knowledge about policies, administrative arrangements, institutions and ideas in one political setting (past or present) is used in the development of policies, administrative arrangements, institutions and ideas in another political setting’. Thus, knowledge exchange is highly dependent on the setting it occurs in as well as on the individuals involved in the process. There are different degrees of transfer: copying, emulation, combinations, and inspiration. These categories move from direct and complete transfer to searching for inspiration to create policy change. The chapter looks at four cases to demonstrate how different learning processes generated by actors at the meso-level, mainly networks of stakeholders and experts, mediate the extent to which policy transfer is a success or failure.
Shalini Shankar
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195327359
- eISBN:
- 9780199870639
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195327359.003.0018
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This chapter identifies “Bollywood” films—feature‐length movies produced in Bombay (Mumbai), India—as a source of linguistic and cultural production in the South Asian diaspora. South Asian Americans ...
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This chapter identifies “Bollywood” films—feature‐length movies produced in Bombay (Mumbai), India—as a source of linguistic and cultural production in the South Asian diaspora. South Asian Americans (Desis), especially youth, engage with these Hindi language films with English subtitles on a number of levels. The chapter focuses on the circulation and consumption of Bollywood films in two locations in the South Asian diaspora: Silicon Valley, CA and Queens, NY. Ethnographic and sociolinguistic data of conversational exchanges, commentary during viewing, and personal narratives are presented to illustrate Bollywood's role in shaping linguistic processes of indexicality, bivalency, and identity. In these ways, the chapter analyzes how media and language use together shape style and identity in this Asian American community, as well as how this process varies between different locations of the South Asian diaspora.Less
This chapter identifies “Bollywood” films—feature‐length movies produced in Bombay (Mumbai), India—as a source of linguistic and cultural production in the South Asian diaspora. South Asian Americans (Desis), especially youth, engage with these Hindi language films with English subtitles on a number of levels. The chapter focuses on the circulation and consumption of Bollywood films in two locations in the South Asian diaspora: Silicon Valley, CA and Queens, NY. Ethnographic and sociolinguistic data of conversational exchanges, commentary during viewing, and personal narratives are presented to illustrate Bollywood's role in shaping linguistic processes of indexicality, bivalency, and identity. In these ways, the chapter analyzes how media and language use together shape style and identity in this Asian American community, as well as how this process varies between different locations of the South Asian diaspora.
Michael Storper, Thomas Kemeny, Naji Philip Makarem, and Taner Osman
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780804789400
- eISBN:
- 9780804796026
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804789400.003.0005
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Innovation
Industries, firms, and entrepreneurs in the Bay Area and Los Angeles did not plan the economic divergence of their regions. They faced challenges from the restructuring of the Old Economy and ...
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Industries, firms, and entrepreneurs in the Bay Area and Los Angeles did not plan the economic divergence of their regions. They faced challenges from the restructuring of the Old Economy and benefited from the opportunities of the New Economy. Their successes and failures widened the income gap between the two regions. This chapter presents comparative case studies of entertainment, aerospace, information technology, logistics, and biotechnology in San Francisco and Los Angeles, showing how they developed differently and shaped specialization, wages, and income divergence in the two regions.Less
Industries, firms, and entrepreneurs in the Bay Area and Los Angeles did not plan the economic divergence of their regions. They faced challenges from the restructuring of the Old Economy and benefited from the opportunities of the New Economy. Their successes and failures widened the income gap between the two regions. This chapter presents comparative case studies of entertainment, aerospace, information technology, logistics, and biotechnology in San Francisco and Los Angeles, showing how they developed differently and shaped specialization, wages, and income divergence in the two regions.
Michael H. Best
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199263233
- eISBN:
- 9780191718847
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199263233.003.0011
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Strategy
This chapter presents a new model of technology management and regional innovation based on the principle of systems integration. The principle of systems integration is manifested in the ...
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This chapter presents a new model of technology management and regional innovation based on the principle of systems integration. The principle of systems integration is manifested in the organizational capability of firms — individually and networked — to foster rapid technological change. The effect is a network or cluster of entrepreneurial firms in which design is decentralized within the enterprise and diffused amongst networked enterprises. The combination of entrepreneurial firms and inter-firm networks fosters a range of dynamic cluster processes that, in turn, underlie the growth of Silicon Valley and the unexpected resurgence of Boston's Route 128.Less
This chapter presents a new model of technology management and regional innovation based on the principle of systems integration. The principle of systems integration is manifested in the organizational capability of firms — individually and networked — to foster rapid technological change. The effect is a network or cluster of entrepreneurial firms in which design is decentralized within the enterprise and diffused amongst networked enterprises. The combination of entrepreneurial firms and inter-firm networks fosters a range of dynamic cluster processes that, in turn, underlie the growth of Silicon Valley and the unexpected resurgence of Boston's Route 128.
Richard Whitley
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199205172
- eISBN:
- 9780191709555
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199205172.003.0009
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Political Economy
This chapter analyses the growing significance of inter-firm networks and project-based firms in many industries, which some claim heralds major changes in dominant economic forms. Rather than ...
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This chapter analyses the growing significance of inter-firm networks and project-based firms in many industries, which some claim heralds major changes in dominant economic forms. Rather than assuming that all such enterprises are basically the same, the chapter distinguishes between four ideal types of project-based firms in terms of the singularity of their goals, on the one hand, and the separation and stability of the division of labour, on the other hand. These ideal types vary in their importance across subsectors with different output characteristics, such as appropriability, modularity, and technological cumulativeness, and processes, such as client involvement. They also are more or less likely to become prevalent in contrasting institutional environments, which means that the establishment of the Silicon Valley type of economic organization as the dominant form is improbable in many societies.Less
This chapter analyses the growing significance of inter-firm networks and project-based firms in many industries, which some claim heralds major changes in dominant economic forms. Rather than assuming that all such enterprises are basically the same, the chapter distinguishes between four ideal types of project-based firms in terms of the singularity of their goals, on the one hand, and the separation and stability of the division of labour, on the other hand. These ideal types vary in their importance across subsectors with different output characteristics, such as appropriability, modularity, and technological cumulativeness, and processes, such as client involvement. They also are more or less likely to become prevalent in contrasting institutional environments, which means that the establishment of the Silicon Valley type of economic organization as the dominant form is improbable in many societies.
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804771573
- eISBN:
- 9780804775793
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804771573.003.0002
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Medical Anthropology
This chapter considers the changes in work and health that have taken place in the United States, California, and the Silicon Valley region. It begins by identifying the five recurrent themes that ...
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This chapter considers the changes in work and health that have taken place in the United States, California, and the Silicon Valley region. It begins by identifying the five recurrent themes that emerge from an examination of the stories of embodied lives in Silicon Valley. These are Silicon Valley's geographic distinctiveness, rampant experimentation, cultural complexity, life restaging, and economic individuation. The discussions then turn to how Silicon Valley reflects larger geographies of work and health; how the story Silicon Valley tells about itself has been represented in many places, from exhibits at the local Tech Museum of Innovation, to scholarly works by historians and social scientists; ethnogenesis—the creation of new culture—as intrinsic to the deep diversity seen in Silicon Valley; and the demands of work and family in Silicon Valley. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.Less
This chapter considers the changes in work and health that have taken place in the United States, California, and the Silicon Valley region. It begins by identifying the five recurrent themes that emerge from an examination of the stories of embodied lives in Silicon Valley. These are Silicon Valley's geographic distinctiveness, rampant experimentation, cultural complexity, life restaging, and economic individuation. The discussions then turn to how Silicon Valley reflects larger geographies of work and health; how the story Silicon Valley tells about itself has been represented in many places, from exhibits at the local Tech Museum of Innovation, to scholarly works by historians and social scientists; ethnogenesis—the creation of new culture—as intrinsic to the deep diversity seen in Silicon Valley; and the demands of work and family in Silicon Valley. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.
Rob Latham
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226468914
- eISBN:
- 9780226467023
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226467023.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter describes the popular journalistic and fictional treatments of the rise of computer industries. Both Alain Touraine and Daniel Bell argue that the rise of postindustrial society has ...
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This chapter describes the popular journalistic and fictional treatments of the rise of computer industries. Both Alain Touraine and Daniel Bell argue that the rise of postindustrial society has produced a logic of resistance to the increasingly fossilized norms of capitalist social organization. The Silicon Valley firm is a cyborg formation, a hybrid of human dynamism and machinic proficiency. The Fordist dream of leisure industries generating eternal youth for productivist purposes has transmogrified into the post-Fordist dream of youthful leisure generating productivist industries. Microserfs by Douglas Coupland convincingly expresses the discouraging range of employment options available to young people in the computer industry. It also mounts a sophisticated interrogation of the ways that contemporary youth and high technology are complexly cyborgized. There may well be fresh possibilities for consumer pleasure and autonomy in interactive media that are radically incommensurable with a model of consumption based on passive appropriation.Less
This chapter describes the popular journalistic and fictional treatments of the rise of computer industries. Both Alain Touraine and Daniel Bell argue that the rise of postindustrial society has produced a logic of resistance to the increasingly fossilized norms of capitalist social organization. The Silicon Valley firm is a cyborg formation, a hybrid of human dynamism and machinic proficiency. The Fordist dream of leisure industries generating eternal youth for productivist purposes has transmogrified into the post-Fordist dream of youthful leisure generating productivist industries. Microserfs by Douglas Coupland convincingly expresses the discouraging range of employment options available to young people in the computer industry. It also mounts a sophisticated interrogation of the ways that contemporary youth and high technology are complexly cyborgized. There may well be fresh possibilities for consumer pleasure and autonomy in interactive media that are radically incommensurable with a model of consumption based on passive appropriation.
Elsa Davidson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814720875
- eISBN:
- 9780814785065
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814720875.003.0001
- Subject:
- Education, Educational Policy and Politics
This book explores the lived space of Silicon Valley by focusing on the experiences and aspirations of local youth as well as the educational, social, cultural, and political contexts that shape ...
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This book explores the lived space of Silicon Valley by focusing on the experiences and aspirations of local youth as well as the educational, social, cultural, and political contexts that shape their daily lives and strategies of aspiration management. It considers how experiences of social contradiction shape patterns of subjectification and agency involved in processes of social reproduction within Silicon Valley's social landscape. It examines the process of aspiration formation among youth from divergent class, racial, and ethnic backgrounds, with particular emphasis on the children of the region's low-wage service workers and those of its highly skilled tech and service professional classes. This chapter discusses how Silicon Valley's polarization of wealth and local increased cost of living during the 1990s sharpened social, economic, and cultural divides along lines of race, ethnicity, and class. It also analyzes the rise of a techno-civilizing process in Silicon Valley and concludes with an overview of the book's scope.Less
This book explores the lived space of Silicon Valley by focusing on the experiences and aspirations of local youth as well as the educational, social, cultural, and political contexts that shape their daily lives and strategies of aspiration management. It considers how experiences of social contradiction shape patterns of subjectification and agency involved in processes of social reproduction within Silicon Valley's social landscape. It examines the process of aspiration formation among youth from divergent class, racial, and ethnic backgrounds, with particular emphasis on the children of the region's low-wage service workers and those of its highly skilled tech and service professional classes. This chapter discusses how Silicon Valley's polarization of wealth and local increased cost of living during the 1990s sharpened social, economic, and cultural divides along lines of race, ethnicity, and class. It also analyzes the rise of a techno-civilizing process in Silicon Valley and concludes with an overview of the book's scope.
Alex Schafran
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780520286443
- eISBN:
- 9780520961678
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520286443.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Urban and Rural Studies
Silicon Valley as we know it emerged in part from encounters between the technology of the valley and the Bohemian culture of San Francisco. This San Francisco–Silicon Valley nexus would produce one ...
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Silicon Valley as we know it emerged in part from encounters between the technology of the valley and the Bohemian culture of San Francisco. This San Francisco–Silicon Valley nexus would produce one of the most dynamic economic growth stories any region has ever seen. Over the course of the latter part of the twentieth century, this encounter eventually turned both San Francisco and Silicon Valley into massive jobs engines. This chapter examines the spaces where this engine was most powerful, the places that drove the economic cart which attracted so many new residents and so much investment. These are also the places that largely did either very little or not enough to house the people who held these jobs. They did even less for those who had suffered under the segregated conditions of the earlier era.Less
Silicon Valley as we know it emerged in part from encounters between the technology of the valley and the Bohemian culture of San Francisco. This San Francisco–Silicon Valley nexus would produce one of the most dynamic economic growth stories any region has ever seen. Over the course of the latter part of the twentieth century, this encounter eventually turned both San Francisco and Silicon Valley into massive jobs engines. This chapter examines the spaces where this engine was most powerful, the places that drove the economic cart which attracted so many new residents and so much investment. These are also the places that largely did either very little or not enough to house the people who held these jobs. They did even less for those who had suffered under the segregated conditions of the earlier era.
Sunaina Marr Maira
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781479817696
- eISBN:
- 9781479866069
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479817696.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
This chapter discusses the impact of 9/11 on South Asian, Arab, and Afghan American youth and the turn to the so-called “new Islam” and prioritization of a “Muslim first” identity as the basis for ...
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This chapter discusses the impact of 9/11 on South Asian, Arab, and Afghan American youth and the turn to the so-called “new Islam” and prioritization of a “Muslim first” identity as the basis for their affiliation as well as mobilization. It examines the notion of 9/11 as a crucible for politicization, reflecting on the narrative of Silicon Valley and the Bay Area as a liberal, multicultural “oasis” buffered from Islamophobic backlash as well as the contradictions this exceptionalist image generates for youth. The political subjecthood of the 9/11 generation has been deeply shaped by the binary of the good/moderate vs bad/radical Muslim, as explained in this chapter, which has infused the post-9/11 culture wars.Less
This chapter discusses the impact of 9/11 on South Asian, Arab, and Afghan American youth and the turn to the so-called “new Islam” and prioritization of a “Muslim first” identity as the basis for their affiliation as well as mobilization. It examines the notion of 9/11 as a crucible for politicization, reflecting on the narrative of Silicon Valley and the Bay Area as a liberal, multicultural “oasis” buffered from Islamophobic backlash as well as the contradictions this exceptionalist image generates for youth. The political subjecthood of the 9/11 generation has been deeply shaped by the binary of the good/moderate vs bad/radical Muslim, as explained in this chapter, which has infused the post-9/11 culture wars.
Elsa Davidson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814720875
- eISBN:
- 9780814785065
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814720875.003.0005
- Subject:
- Education, Educational Policy and Politics
This chapter examines the political, social, and economic milieu of Silicon Valley's established professional middle class. In particular, it considers the ways in which these middle-class ...
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This chapter examines the political, social, and economic milieu of Silicon Valley's established professional middle class. In particular, it considers the ways in which these middle-class professionals channeled frustration about their eroding security and status into a politics of nostalgia for a pre-“New Economy” past, a critique of a “new entrepreneurial” present, during the boom and subsequent bust. In analyzing the political implications of this “cultural politics of class,” the chapter reveals expressions of adult middle-class anxiety and political entrapment that influenced young people's styles of self-definition and aspiration management. It also discusses the attitudes of middle-class adults toward the lifestyle and ethos of younger professionals whom they felt were usurping an older, middle-class order.Less
This chapter examines the political, social, and economic milieu of Silicon Valley's established professional middle class. In particular, it considers the ways in which these middle-class professionals channeled frustration about their eroding security and status into a politics of nostalgia for a pre-“New Economy” past, a critique of a “new entrepreneurial” present, during the boom and subsequent bust. In analyzing the political implications of this “cultural politics of class,” the chapter reveals expressions of adult middle-class anxiety and political entrapment that influenced young people's styles of self-definition and aspiration management. It also discusses the attitudes of middle-class adults toward the lifestyle and ethos of younger professionals whom they felt were usurping an older, middle-class order.
Leslie Berlin
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195163438
- eISBN:
- 9780199788569
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195163438.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This book presents the life and times of Robert Noyce, the driving force behind the high-tech revolution. Noyce was the co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel and co-invented the integrated ...
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This book presents the life and times of Robert Noyce, the driving force behind the high-tech revolution. Noyce was the co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel and co-invented the integrated circuit. This book paints a portrait of an ambitious and competitive man, a Midwestern preacher's son who rejected organized religion but would counsel his employees to “go off and do something wonderful”. The book's narrative sheds light on Noyce's friends and associates, including some of the best-known managers, venture capitalists, and creative minds in Silicon Valley. It draws upon interviews with key players in modern American business including Andy Grove, Steve Jobs, Gordon Moore, and Warren Buffett; their recollections of Noyce give readers an insight into the world of high-tech entrepreneurship. The book discusses the interplay of technology, business, money, politics, and culture that defines Silicon Valley and also relates the important story of a revolutionary inventor and entrepreneur.Less
This book presents the life and times of Robert Noyce, the driving force behind the high-tech revolution. Noyce was the co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel and co-invented the integrated circuit. This book paints a portrait of an ambitious and competitive man, a Midwestern preacher's son who rejected organized religion but would counsel his employees to “go off and do something wonderful”. The book's narrative sheds light on Noyce's friends and associates, including some of the best-known managers, venture capitalists, and creative minds in Silicon Valley. It draws upon interviews with key players in modern American business including Andy Grove, Steve Jobs, Gordon Moore, and Warren Buffett; their recollections of Noyce give readers an insight into the world of high-tech entrepreneurship. The book discusses the interplay of technology, business, money, politics, and culture that defines Silicon Valley and also relates the important story of a revolutionary inventor and entrepreneur.
