Ruth W. Grant
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691151601
- eISBN:
- 9781400839742
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691151601.003.0002
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Knowledge Management
This chapter presents a historical account of the use of the term “incentives” and of the introduction of incentives in scientific management and behavioral psychology. “Incentives” came into the ...
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This chapter presents a historical account of the use of the term “incentives” and of the introduction of incentives in scientific management and behavioral psychology. “Incentives” came into the language in the early part of the twentieth century in America. During this period, the language of social control and of social engineering was quite prevalent, and incentives were understood to be one tool in the social engineers' toolbox—an instrument of power. Not coincidentally, incentives were also extremely controversial at this time and were criticized from several quarters as dehumanizing, manipulative, heartless, and exploitative. When incentives are viewed as instruments of power, the controversial ethical aspects of their use come readily to the fore.Less
This chapter presents a historical account of the use of the term “incentives” and of the introduction of incentives in scientific management and behavioral psychology. “Incentives” came into the language in the early part of the twentieth century in America. During this period, the language of social control and of social engineering was quite prevalent, and incentives were understood to be one tool in the social engineers' toolbox—an instrument of power. Not coincidentally, incentives were also extremely controversial at this time and were criticized from several quarters as dehumanizing, manipulative, heartless, and exploitative. When incentives are viewed as instruments of power, the controversial ethical aspects of their use come readily to the fore.
Ann E. Cudd
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195187434
- eISBN:
- 9780199786213
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195187431.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter focuses on overcoming oppression, focusing on how women can liberate themselves. Topics discussed include the two senses of freedom, breaking the vicious cycle of oppression, two serious ...
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This chapter focuses on overcoming oppression, focusing on how women can liberate themselves. Topics discussed include the two senses of freedom, breaking the vicious cycle of oppression, two serious problems of social engineering, and enhancing the freedom of others.Less
This chapter focuses on overcoming oppression, focusing on how women can liberate themselves. Topics discussed include the two senses of freedom, breaking the vicious cycle of oppression, two serious problems of social engineering, and enhancing the freedom of others.
Ted McCormick
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199547890
- eISBN:
- 9780191720529
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199547890.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, Economic History
The conclusion draws together several of the main themes of the book, arguing that political arithmetic can only be understood properly from the manuscripts he circulated in his lifetime, and in the ...
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The conclusion draws together several of the main themes of the book, arguing that political arithmetic can only be understood properly from the manuscripts he circulated in his lifetime, and in the context of his lifelong engagement with natural philosophy and his Baconian interpretation of the methods and purposes of science. Petty's project to transform government through the systematic manipulation of populations in the interests of the state undermines any retrospective distinction between his contribution to social science and his interest in social engineering; the concept of ‘biopolitics', though equally anachronistic, is more appropriate. By the same token, however, the massive expansion (in real terms) of demographic manipulation after Petty's death suggests that political arithmetic's ambitions were not abandoned but merely concealed.Less
The conclusion draws together several of the main themes of the book, arguing that political arithmetic can only be understood properly from the manuscripts he circulated in his lifetime, and in the context of his lifelong engagement with natural philosophy and his Baconian interpretation of the methods and purposes of science. Petty's project to transform government through the systematic manipulation of populations in the interests of the state undermines any retrospective distinction between his contribution to social science and his interest in social engineering; the concept of ‘biopolitics', though equally anachronistic, is more appropriate. By the same token, however, the massive expansion (in real terms) of demographic manipulation after Petty's death suggests that political arithmetic's ambitions were not abandoned but merely concealed.
Robert B. Louden
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195321371
- eISBN:
- 9780199869787
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195321371.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of Enlightenment philosophers, and how their strategies overlapped with and differed from “piecemeal social engineering”. The purpose of the book is ...
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This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of Enlightenment philosophers, and how their strategies overlapped with and differed from “piecemeal social engineering”. The purpose of the book is explained, which is to examine a widely shared Enlightenment strategy for the gradual realization of basic social and moral ideals. An overview of the succeeding chapters is presented.Less
This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of Enlightenment philosophers, and how their strategies overlapped with and differed from “piecemeal social engineering”. The purpose of the book is explained, which is to examine a widely shared Enlightenment strategy for the gradual realization of basic social and moral ideals. An overview of the succeeding chapters is presented.
Gail Kligman and Katherine Verdery
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691149721
- eISBN:
- 9781400840434
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691149721.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter focuses on the Party and Securitate cadres who implemented collectivization, describing aspects of their recruitment, their work, and their life as activists. Party cadres had the task ...
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This chapter focuses on the Party and Securitate cadres who implemented collectivization, describing aspects of their recruitment, their work, and their life as activists. Party cadres had the task of bringing the imported engineering project to life; they were the ones entrusted with the power to construct a new social order and also to construct the very forms of power that would sustain it. The chapter then argues that because the Party achieved power without an adequate number of prepared and ideologically committed cadres, certain compromises followed. First, their work would rely more on force than on persuasion, and therefore peasants would end by joining collectives only pro forma rather than from conviction. Second, the exigencies of cadres' work led them to develop networks, which protected them while making the bureaucratic apparatus more personalistic.Less
This chapter focuses on the Party and Securitate cadres who implemented collectivization, describing aspects of their recruitment, their work, and their life as activists. Party cadres had the task of bringing the imported engineering project to life; they were the ones entrusted with the power to construct a new social order and also to construct the very forms of power that would sustain it. The chapter then argues that because the Party achieved power without an adequate number of prepared and ideologically committed cadres, certain compromises followed. First, their work would rely more on force than on persuasion, and therefore peasants would end by joining collectives only pro forma rather than from conviction. Second, the exigencies of cadres' work led them to develop networks, which protected them while making the bureaucratic apparatus more personalistic.
Gilles Saint-Paul
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691128177
- eISBN:
- 9781400838899
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691128177.003.0011
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, History of Economic Thought
This chapter describes the social sciences. Unlike the natural sciences, the social sciences are inevitably statistical. When documenting human behavior, for example, they can at most claim that a ...
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This chapter describes the social sciences. Unlike the natural sciences, the social sciences are inevitably statistical. When documenting human behavior, for example, they can at most claim that a trait is present in a certain fraction of the population. However, the social engineer of the paternalistic state must take into account that the “science of happiness” that is being implemented does not apply uniformly to all individuals. A policy that benefits some by preventing mistakes or removing their biases harms those who are immune to these issues. This difficulty, however, entirely disappears as long as the state is utilitarian or, more generally, pursues any objective that aggregates welfare between individuals, for the statistics are the only thing the utilitarian needs to know. Once the population distribution of the relevant effects and mechanisms is known, the social planner can safely use it to balance gains and losses across incarnations and perform the cost-benefit analysis of its policies.Less
This chapter describes the social sciences. Unlike the natural sciences, the social sciences are inevitably statistical. When documenting human behavior, for example, they can at most claim that a trait is present in a certain fraction of the population. However, the social engineer of the paternalistic state must take into account that the “science of happiness” that is being implemented does not apply uniformly to all individuals. A policy that benefits some by preventing mistakes or removing their biases harms those who are immune to these issues. This difficulty, however, entirely disappears as long as the state is utilitarian or, more generally, pursues any objective that aggregates welfare between individuals, for the statistics are the only thing the utilitarian needs to know. Once the population distribution of the relevant effects and mechanisms is known, the social planner can safely use it to balance gains and losses across incarnations and perform the cost-benefit analysis of its policies.
Jan L. Logemann
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780226660011
- eISBN:
- 9780226660295
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226660295.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
The making of consumer capitalism was informed by transnational transfers and transatlantic exchanges in ways that have been largely overlooked by historians. A surprising number of mid 20th-century ...
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The making of consumer capitalism was informed by transnational transfers and transatlantic exchanges in ways that have been largely overlooked by historians. A surprising number of mid 20th-century consumer experts were European immigrants and émigré refugees. They excelled in areas such as market research and advertising psychology as well as in industrial and graphic design. In different capacities, these experts helped to engineer the midcentury consumer´s republic by developing new marketing tools that fundamentally informed the dynamic expansion of American consumer capitalism. As corporate and government advisors, furthermore, they acted as transatlantic mediators after the war, facilitating postwar transfers in marketing knowledge and commercial practices back to Europe. This introduction contextualizes their story within the historiographies on mass consumption and business history as well as within research on elite migration and transnational knowledge transfers. In a mid centrury era of high modernity and social engineering, these émigré experts played crucial roles as transatlantic cultural intermediaries of consumer capitalism.Less
The making of consumer capitalism was informed by transnational transfers and transatlantic exchanges in ways that have been largely overlooked by historians. A surprising number of mid 20th-century consumer experts were European immigrants and émigré refugees. They excelled in areas such as market research and advertising psychology as well as in industrial and graphic design. In different capacities, these experts helped to engineer the midcentury consumer´s republic by developing new marketing tools that fundamentally informed the dynamic expansion of American consumer capitalism. As corporate and government advisors, furthermore, they acted as transatlantic mediators after the war, facilitating postwar transfers in marketing knowledge and commercial practices back to Europe. This introduction contextualizes their story within the historiographies on mass consumption and business history as well as within research on elite migration and transnational knowledge transfers. In a mid centrury era of high modernity and social engineering, these émigré experts played crucial roles as transatlantic cultural intermediaries of consumer capitalism.
Derek J. Penslar
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520225909
- eISBN:
- 9780520925847
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520225909.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter discusses social engineering as the most spectacular attempt of Jews to solve socioeconomic problems. The most familiar example of Jewish social engineering was the Zionist project that, ...
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This chapter discusses social engineering as the most spectacular attempt of Jews to solve socioeconomic problems. The most familiar example of Jewish social engineering was the Zionist project that, among its many aims, sought to establish a productive national economy based on agriculture and manufacture. The Zionist dream of transforming the Jews' occupational structure and economic behavior was hardly new, for it represented a continuation of a discourse that dated to the late eighteenth century. Jewish social policy did not portend the Zionist project, just as there was no neat, linear progression, in either an institutional or an ideational sense, from national or international to nationalist Jewish politics. The relationship between Zionism and other forms of Jewish social policy should be conceived not in mathematical terms of unidirectional vectors, but rather in biological terms of lateral evolution from a common ancestor.Less
This chapter discusses social engineering as the most spectacular attempt of Jews to solve socioeconomic problems. The most familiar example of Jewish social engineering was the Zionist project that, among its many aims, sought to establish a productive national economy based on agriculture and manufacture. The Zionist dream of transforming the Jews' occupational structure and economic behavior was hardly new, for it represented a continuation of a discourse that dated to the late eighteenth century. Jewish social policy did not portend the Zionist project, just as there was no neat, linear progression, in either an institutional or an ideational sense, from national or international to nationalist Jewish politics. The relationship between Zionism and other forms of Jewish social policy should be conceived not in mathematical terms of unidirectional vectors, but rather in biological terms of lateral evolution from a common ancestor.
Jan L. Logemann
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780226660011
- eISBN:
- 9780226660295
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226660295.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter first contextualizes the notion of “consumer engineering” within broader developments in interwar marketing and mass consumption. The impact of marketing innovations in styling and ...
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This chapter first contextualizes the notion of “consumer engineering” within broader developments in interwar marketing and mass consumption. The impact of marketing innovations in styling and consumer psychology can only be understood against the backdrop of American consumer society. As the Depression hit the systematic creation of demand became of interest to industry and state alike. In addition, Interwar preoccupation with efficiency and rationalization of socioeconomic processes, finally, dovetailed with a circumscribed but growing fascination with modernist forms and functionalist designs, part of a broader aestheticization of American commercial culture. Much more than often assumed, this was a transatlantic story. Interwar Americans still looked to Europe and while American goods and advertisers spread across the globe during the 1920s, European metropolitan centers held their own with regard to retail facilities and modern methods of sales and advertising. Focusing on Germany and Central Europe, the chapter traces European marketing developments during the interwar years, emphasizing the prominent role of public institutions and social reform movements for experts in commercial design and consumer research. When some experts in design and social research were forced out of Europe by the rise of National Socialism, they brought new marketing knowledge to the United States.Less
This chapter first contextualizes the notion of “consumer engineering” within broader developments in interwar marketing and mass consumption. The impact of marketing innovations in styling and consumer psychology can only be understood against the backdrop of American consumer society. As the Depression hit the systematic creation of demand became of interest to industry and state alike. In addition, Interwar preoccupation with efficiency and rationalization of socioeconomic processes, finally, dovetailed with a circumscribed but growing fascination with modernist forms and functionalist designs, part of a broader aestheticization of American commercial culture. Much more than often assumed, this was a transatlantic story. Interwar Americans still looked to Europe and while American goods and advertisers spread across the globe during the 1920s, European metropolitan centers held their own with regard to retail facilities and modern methods of sales and advertising. Focusing on Germany and Central Europe, the chapter traces European marketing developments during the interwar years, emphasizing the prominent role of public institutions and social reform movements for experts in commercial design and consumer research. When some experts in design and social research were forced out of Europe by the rise of National Socialism, they brought new marketing knowledge to the United States.
Lisa Lim, Anne Pakir, and Lionel Wee (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789888028436
- eISBN:
- 9789882206939
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888028436.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This collection is the seventh volume in the Asian Englishes Today series. Singapore makes an interesting case study of various issues in socio-linguistics, not least because it is an ethnically and ...
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This collection is the seventh volume in the Asian Englishes Today series. Singapore makes an interesting case study of various issues in socio-linguistics, not least because it is an ethnically and linguistically diverse society, but also because the country has a history of attempts at social engineering. The ongoing tensions between what the state envisions for the people and their actual language practices are some of the phenomena that provide the grounding for in-depth analyses. The chapters in this book revolve around four closely related themes relating to language policy in Singapore: the ecology of English in Singapore, reconceptualizing “English”, ethnicity and ownership, and English in education.Less
This collection is the seventh volume in the Asian Englishes Today series. Singapore makes an interesting case study of various issues in socio-linguistics, not least because it is an ethnically and linguistically diverse society, but also because the country has a history of attempts at social engineering. The ongoing tensions between what the state envisions for the people and their actual language practices are some of the phenomena that provide the grounding for in-depth analyses. The chapters in this book revolve around four closely related themes relating to language policy in Singapore: the ecology of English in Singapore, reconceptualizing “English”, ethnicity and ownership, and English in education.
Ted McCormick
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199547890
- eISBN:
- 9780191720529
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199547890.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, Economic History
William Petty (1623–1687) was a founding figure in the history of social science, an architect of English colonial power in Ireland, and a champion of the new empirical and mechanical philosophy at ...
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William Petty (1623–1687) was a founding figure in the history of social science, an architect of English colonial power in Ireland, and a champion of the new empirical and mechanical philosophy at the heart of the Scientific Revolution. This book explores Petty's intellectual biography and examines in particular the origins, ambitions, and significance of his greatest work, ‘political arithmetic’. It argues that Petty's invention was less an early form of economics than a program of social engineering that applied the methods and concepts of seventeenth‐century natural philosophy to the challenges of governing a multiple monarchy and a colonial empire. Addressing the problems of English rule in Restoration Ireland, colonization in the Americas, and the politics of religion in the Three Kingdoms, and drawing on contemporary developments in economic and political as well as scientific thought, Petty reduced political, religious, and ethnic differences to matters of demography and proposed removing these differences by ‘transmuting’ troublesome populations into loyal and industrious subjects. Only after Petty's death and the Glorious Revolution was his ‘instrument of government’ through demographic engineering rearticulated as a mode of statistical analysis — an early social science. Drawing on a wide range of printed and manuscript sources this book revises our understanding of political arithmetic and offers the first fully integrated, contextualized, and archivally researched account of Petty's intellectual work in over a century.Less
William Petty (1623–1687) was a founding figure in the history of social science, an architect of English colonial power in Ireland, and a champion of the new empirical and mechanical philosophy at the heart of the Scientific Revolution. This book explores Petty's intellectual biography and examines in particular the origins, ambitions, and significance of his greatest work, ‘political arithmetic’. It argues that Petty's invention was less an early form of economics than a program of social engineering that applied the methods and concepts of seventeenth‐century natural philosophy to the challenges of governing a multiple monarchy and a colonial empire. Addressing the problems of English rule in Restoration Ireland, colonization in the Americas, and the politics of religion in the Three Kingdoms, and drawing on contemporary developments in economic and political as well as scientific thought, Petty reduced political, religious, and ethnic differences to matters of demography and proposed removing these differences by ‘transmuting’ troublesome populations into loyal and industrious subjects. Only after Petty's death and the Glorious Revolution was his ‘instrument of government’ through demographic engineering rearticulated as a mode of statistical analysis — an early social science. Drawing on a wide range of printed and manuscript sources this book revises our understanding of political arithmetic and offers the first fully integrated, contextualized, and archivally researched account of Petty's intellectual work in over a century.
Aziz al-Azmeh
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474447461
- eISBN:
- 9781474480697
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474447461.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
This chapter sketches state-reformist initiatives in the late Ottoman empire, considered as systemic transformations in a global context of modern state forms with associated forms of social ...
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This chapter sketches state-reformist initiatives in the late Ottoman empire, considered as systemic transformations in a global context of modern state forms with associated forms of social engineering and state intervention in culture and law-making. It proposes that the consequence of these changes and transformations were secularising, intended as well as unintended. The chapter discusses the beginnings of educational and cognitive transformation, the rise of a new class and type of senior bureaucrats, the emergence of a modern intelligentsia, the appearance and spread of new forms of dress. Also discussed are counter-vailing, conservative reactions, both by religious institutions, resistant to reform and the attrition of authority, and conservative milieu more broadly. The issue of women’s education, dress and public visibility emerges as a site of contestation.Less
This chapter sketches state-reformist initiatives in the late Ottoman empire, considered as systemic transformations in a global context of modern state forms with associated forms of social engineering and state intervention in culture and law-making. It proposes that the consequence of these changes and transformations were secularising, intended as well as unintended. The chapter discusses the beginnings of educational and cognitive transformation, the rise of a new class and type of senior bureaucrats, the emergence of a modern intelligentsia, the appearance and spread of new forms of dress. Also discussed are counter-vailing, conservative reactions, both by religious institutions, resistant to reform and the attrition of authority, and conservative milieu more broadly. The issue of women’s education, dress and public visibility emerges as a site of contestation.
Luis de Miranda
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474454193
- eISBN:
- 9781474480864
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474454193.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
After 1800, esprit de corps was often nationally manufactured, and Napoleon was its first engineer. French society became a reflection of the military. This chapter shows how the Bonapartists ...
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After 1800, esprit de corps was often nationally manufactured, and Napoleon was its first engineer. French society became a reflection of the military. This chapter shows how the Bonapartists succeeded in building a national system of rewards and interdependent privileged corps in which ‘esprit de corps’ was encouraged according to a military model of general agonism. The transformation of the organisation of labour, of the army, and of education after the French Revolution is narrated. This chapter is essential to understand not only today’s France, but also most nation-states, functioning more or less under a similar model. The author also analyses the decline of labour communities and their form of belonging since the eighteenth century. The Revolutiondiscredited the esprit de corporation, and capitalist merchants were often thankful for the republican defence of more competitive and less-regulated entrepreneurship.Less
After 1800, esprit de corps was often nationally manufactured, and Napoleon was its first engineer. French society became a reflection of the military. This chapter shows how the Bonapartists succeeded in building a national system of rewards and interdependent privileged corps in which ‘esprit de corps’ was encouraged according to a military model of general agonism. The transformation of the organisation of labour, of the army, and of education after the French Revolution is narrated. This chapter is essential to understand not only today’s France, but also most nation-states, functioning more or less under a similar model. The author also analyses the decline of labour communities and their form of belonging since the eighteenth century. The Revolutiondiscredited the esprit de corporation, and capitalist merchants were often thankful for the republican defence of more competitive and less-regulated entrepreneurship.
Jan L. Logemann
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780226660011
- eISBN:
- 9780226660295
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226660295.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter traces both the inevitable conflicts between radical design visions and corporate America and the surprising degree to which interwar European reform traditions in design informed ...
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This chapter traces both the inevitable conflicts between radical design visions and corporate America and the surprising degree to which interwar European reform traditions in design informed American “consumer engineering.” Beginning with Ferdinand Kramer’s career between Frankfurt and New York, I enquire more generally about the transatlantic commercial impact of the Bauhaus school and of European design modernists organized by CIAM. Bauhaus émigrés established themselves in prominent positions in American design education, including Walter Gropius at the Harvard School of Design and Josef Albers at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. The most comprehensive of these educational ventures was the “American Bauhaus” established by Lazlo Moholy-Nagy in Chicago. Its history illustrates the conflicts as well as the potential in this meeting of reform visions and economic demands. The reformers’ ideal of providing democratic access to well-designed standardized goods held surprising appeal to “consumer engineers.” In fact, their careers point to the lively connection between mid-century “social engineering” and midcentury marketing.Less
This chapter traces both the inevitable conflicts between radical design visions and corporate America and the surprising degree to which interwar European reform traditions in design informed American “consumer engineering.” Beginning with Ferdinand Kramer’s career between Frankfurt and New York, I enquire more generally about the transatlantic commercial impact of the Bauhaus school and of European design modernists organized by CIAM. Bauhaus émigrés established themselves in prominent positions in American design education, including Walter Gropius at the Harvard School of Design and Josef Albers at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. The most comprehensive of these educational ventures was the “American Bauhaus” established by Lazlo Moholy-Nagy in Chicago. Its history illustrates the conflicts as well as the potential in this meeting of reform visions and economic demands. The reformers’ ideal of providing democratic access to well-designed standardized goods held surprising appeal to “consumer engineers.” In fact, their careers point to the lively connection between mid-century “social engineering” and midcentury marketing.
Bernard Cooke
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195174519
- eISBN:
- 9780199835119
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195174518.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Though creation in the strict sense is beyond humans’ power, they can approximate it to a limited extent by what is known as ‘creativity’. Through inventiveness and artistic production, humans can ...
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Though creation in the strict sense is beyond humans’ power, they can approximate it to a limited extent by what is known as ‘creativity’. Through inventiveness and artistic production, humans can powerfully influence human life. Genuine artistic creations – paintings, sculpture, music, dance – enlist the power of beauty to sensitive humans and enrich their enjoyment of life; however, creativity can also lead to the social engineering of Nazism. The creative power remains mysterious and ambiguous; it needs to be empowered and guided by the Spirit of God.Less
Though creation in the strict sense is beyond humans’ power, they can approximate it to a limited extent by what is known as ‘creativity’. Through inventiveness and artistic production, humans can powerfully influence human life. Genuine artistic creations – paintings, sculpture, music, dance – enlist the power of beauty to sensitive humans and enrich their enjoyment of life; however, creativity can also lead to the social engineering of Nazism. The creative power remains mysterious and ambiguous; it needs to be empowered and guided by the Spirit of God.
Michael Tracey
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198159254
- eISBN:
- 9780191673573
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198159254.003.0012
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
The immediate post-war development of broadcasting in Japan had to be viewed against the vast project in social engineering which was otherwise known as the Occupation. So today one has to look at ...
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The immediate post-war development of broadcasting in Japan had to be viewed against the vast project in social engineering which was otherwise known as the Occupation. So today one has to look at what is happening to broadcasting in Japan against a different but equally vast drawing board on which is being plotted a whole new social engineering project. Any discussion of the relationship between public service broadcasting and new communications policies therefore necessarily enters the heart of a debate not just about the future of public service broadcasting but also about the self-conscious, long-term plan to transform the character of the second greatest economy on earth. The post-war communications system in Japan revolved around the principle of governmental monopoly of public telecommunications; and of NHK as a special public corporation in competition with commercial enterprises.Less
The immediate post-war development of broadcasting in Japan had to be viewed against the vast project in social engineering which was otherwise known as the Occupation. So today one has to look at what is happening to broadcasting in Japan against a different but equally vast drawing board on which is being plotted a whole new social engineering project. Any discussion of the relationship between public service broadcasting and new communications policies therefore necessarily enters the heart of a debate not just about the future of public service broadcasting but also about the self-conscious, long-term plan to transform the character of the second greatest economy on earth. The post-war communications system in Japan revolved around the principle of governmental monopoly of public telecommunications; and of NHK as a special public corporation in competition with commercial enterprises.
Gail Kligman and Katherine Verdery
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691149721
- eISBN:
- 9781400840434
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691149721.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter discusses the Soviet blueprint, which established the technology of collectivization that East European leaders followed, with variations, during the 1950s. As the first country in the ...
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This chapter discusses the Soviet blueprint, which established the technology of collectivization that East European leaders followed, with variations, during the 1950s. As the first country in the world to be founded on Marxist–Leninist principles, the Soviet Union had myriad problems to solve. The leaders' ambitious program of social engineering required developing a variety of techniques for carrying out specific tasks, such as obtaining food requisitions, collectivizing agriculture, and so on. These techniques formed the basis for creating “replica” regimes in Eastern Europe following World War II, in a process of technology transfer of almost unparalleled scope. This technological package may be called “the Soviet blueprint,” of which collectivization was a major part. Although the results varied considerably, each East European country was pressed into adopting more or less the same package. Nowhere, however, did the blueprint fully succeed against recalcitrant local realities—not even in the Soviet Union itself.Less
This chapter discusses the Soviet blueprint, which established the technology of collectivization that East European leaders followed, with variations, during the 1950s. As the first country in the world to be founded on Marxist–Leninist principles, the Soviet Union had myriad problems to solve. The leaders' ambitious program of social engineering required developing a variety of techniques for carrying out specific tasks, such as obtaining food requisitions, collectivizing agriculture, and so on. These techniques formed the basis for creating “replica” regimes in Eastern Europe following World War II, in a process of technology transfer of almost unparalleled scope. This technological package may be called “the Soviet blueprint,” of which collectivization was a major part. Although the results varied considerably, each East European country was pressed into adopting more or less the same package. Nowhere, however, did the blueprint fully succeed against recalcitrant local realities—not even in the Soviet Union itself.
R. Michael Feener
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199678846
- eISBN:
- 9780191758072
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199678846.003.0009
- Subject:
- Law, Comparative Law
This final chapter builds on the empirical data presented in the chapters that precede it to develop a more sustained discussion of the idea of Shariʿa as a tool of social engineering in contemporary ...
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This final chapter builds on the empirical data presented in the chapters that precede it to develop a more sustained discussion of the idea of Shariʿa as a tool of social engineering in contemporary Aceh. In doing so it traces the various lines of influence that have shaped this forward-oriented, instrumentalist vision of Islamic law in society — including strains of twentieth-century American sociological jurisprudence, daʿwa-inspired Islamic activism, Indonesian state developmentalist ideology, and the international reconstruction and development rhetoric of ‘building back better’. These and other diverse elements have come together in unexpected and powerful ways to shape the discourse and practice of Islamic law in contemporary Aceh in the post-disaster/post-conflict period.Less
This final chapter builds on the empirical data presented in the chapters that precede it to develop a more sustained discussion of the idea of Shariʿa as a tool of social engineering in contemporary Aceh. In doing so it traces the various lines of influence that have shaped this forward-oriented, instrumentalist vision of Islamic law in society — including strains of twentieth-century American sociological jurisprudence, daʿwa-inspired Islamic activism, Indonesian state developmentalist ideology, and the international reconstruction and development rhetoric of ‘building back better’. These and other diverse elements have come together in unexpected and powerful ways to shape the discourse and practice of Islamic law in contemporary Aceh in the post-disaster/post-conflict period.
Ted McCormick
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199547890
- eISBN:
- 9780191720529
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199547890.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, Economic History
This chapter examines Petty's first articulation of political arithmetic (and the related concept of ‘political anatomy’) in the early 1670s. Examining Petty's manuscripts in light of his ...
More
This chapter examines Petty's first articulation of political arithmetic (and the related concept of ‘political anatomy’) in the early 1670s. Examining Petty's manuscripts in light of his intellectual development and against a background of resurgent Catholic opposition to the Irish land settlement, it reveals political arithmetic's origins as a policy program for settling and improving Ireland. Combining Hartlibian improvement proposals, elements of earlier English writing on Irish plantation, a demographic vision of politics, and a conceptual framework derived from corpuscularian models of alchemy, political arithmetic promised to ‘transmute the Irish into English’ through a series of forced population exchanges, intermarriage, and procreation. Installing English women in Irish households, Petty's Baconian program of social engineering would harness the natural affections of men for women and mothers for children to fuse the two populations, channeling nature to produce desirable qualities — industry and loyalty — in human populations.Less
This chapter examines Petty's first articulation of political arithmetic (and the related concept of ‘political anatomy’) in the early 1670s. Examining Petty's manuscripts in light of his intellectual development and against a background of resurgent Catholic opposition to the Irish land settlement, it reveals political arithmetic's origins as a policy program for settling and improving Ireland. Combining Hartlibian improvement proposals, elements of earlier English writing on Irish plantation, a demographic vision of politics, and a conceptual framework derived from corpuscularian models of alchemy, political arithmetic promised to ‘transmute the Irish into English’ through a series of forced population exchanges, intermarriage, and procreation. Installing English women in Irish households, Petty's Baconian program of social engineering would harness the natural affections of men for women and mothers for children to fuse the two populations, channeling nature to produce desirable qualities — industry and loyalty — in human populations.
Ted McCormick
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199547890
- eISBN:
- 9780191720529
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199547890.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, Economic History
This chapter looks at how Petty developed his political arithmetic in manuscript from the later 1670s to his death in 1687, focusing on his treatment of the problem of maintaining settler populations ...
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This chapter looks at how Petty developed his political arithmetic in manuscript from the later 1670s to his death in 1687, focusing on his treatment of the problem of maintaining settler populations in the American colonies and on his proposals for managing the politics of religion in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Petty's comments on the relationship between English colonists and Native Americans throw a valuable sidelight on both the political specificity and the ethnic dimension of his proposals for Ireland. His more fully developed project for stabilizing religious politics under the Catholic James II, meanwhile, reversed the terms of his Irish scheme to match new political circumstances, calling not for the ‘transmutation’ of the Irish but the ‘Catholication’ of all three kingdoms. Political arithmetic gradually became less a specific project than a general ‘art of government’ by social engineering, suited to a multiple monarchy and a colonial empire.Less
This chapter looks at how Petty developed his political arithmetic in manuscript from the later 1670s to his death in 1687, focusing on his treatment of the problem of maintaining settler populations in the American colonies and on his proposals for managing the politics of religion in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Petty's comments on the relationship between English colonists and Native Americans throw a valuable sidelight on both the political specificity and the ethnic dimension of his proposals for Ireland. His more fully developed project for stabilizing religious politics under the Catholic James II, meanwhile, reversed the terms of his Irish scheme to match new political circumstances, calling not for the ‘transmutation’ of the Irish but the ‘Catholication’ of all three kingdoms. Political arithmetic gradually became less a specific project than a general ‘art of government’ by social engineering, suited to a multiple monarchy and a colonial empire.
