Politics can be defined as
occurring wherever authority is exercised in ways that have great impact on
public well-being. "Because engineering systematically and authoritatively
reshapes the everyday material world, and thereby helps shape ways of life for
billions of people, engineering is in some respects as important a political
arena as electoral politics and representative government" (Woodhouse, p.
147). Sometimes the implementation of simple technologies, such as overpasses
and private pools, can have strong political and social connotations that
consequently provoke the public well-being. This then suggests that certain
facets of non-governmental life, such as science and engineering, have a
political element that should not be overlooked.
Technologies authoritatively
help determine who gets what, when, and how, just as politics is characterized
as the struggle for who gets what, when, and how (Woodhouse, p.148-150). Robert
Moses, a prominent figure in the building of New York City's infrastructure,
demonstrated the power of technology by the suggestive nature of the low
overpasses constructed during the mid-twentieth century. Moses deliberately
designed hundreds of overpasses to have a low clearance, which happens to be
smaller than would allow a standardized public bus. (Ibo, p. 199). Although the reasons for this design
specification have been debated since Langdon Winner's article, "Do
Artifacts Have Politics?", Winner proposed that the motivation was to
prevent the lower classes taking public transportation from having access to
the public beaches. Biographer, Robert Caro, admitted that Moses demonstrated
racial tendencies and pointed out that due to the specifications of these
structures, "only people would could afford a car - and in Moses' days
these were generally not Afro-American people - could easily access the beaches
now" (Ibo, p. 199). Though Moses' intent for these overpasses have been
doubted and debated, this example still demonstrates that people with the
ability to influence the implementation of technology can do so with
aspirations to induce social, and thus political, change.
The history behind the
progression towards private pools, which are quite popular in the United
States, illustrates the use of technology to influence social movements.
Originally, municipal pools existed to keep the disgraceful youth, poor, and
immigrants in a closed location, hidden from the public. These pools were used
primarily for bathing, however after World War I, pools became a place for
enjoyment and relaxation. Where initially pool usage was specific to just men
or women on different days of the week, families were then encouraged to come
as a whole to enjoy the water together. However, from this integration sprouted
animosity and discrimination, as white people became very concerned that
"the sexual atmosphere at a pool might promote racial mixing" (NPR,
2007). Following this point, pools were then racially segregated instead of by
gender. Eventually, municipal pools were desegregated once more, however in
retaliation white people began building private pools to enjoy swimming in
their own space. In this example, the development of technology gave the people
the power to induce social and political change as "Americans fought over
where pools should be built, who should be allowed to use them, and how they
should be used" (NPR, 2007).
Innovations in manufacturing,
communication, and transportation technologies lead to fundamental changes in
daily life every bit as significant as the effects of government legislation
(Woodhouse, p.151). The implementation of technologies such as the overpass and
private pools suggest that technological developments give people in control
significant influence over social structure, and therefore politics. One must
wonder that with the changes provoked by just these simple technologies, how
much power and influence is given to those in control of more advanced science
and engineering.
References
Plunging
into Public Pools’ Contentious Past. NPR. 26 May 2007. Web. 1
April 2014.
van de Poel, Ibo; Royakkers,
Lamber. Ethics, Technology, and Engineering: An Introduction.
Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. Web. 31 March 2014.
Winner, Langdon. “Do Artifacts
Have Politics?” Daedalus 109.1
(1980): 121-136. Web. 1 April 2014.
Woodhouse, Edward. The Future of Technological Civilization.
University Readers, 2013. Print.
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