The Rational Factory: Architecture, Technology and Work in America's Age of Mass Production: 11 (Studies in Industry and Society) - Softcover

Biggs, Prof Lindy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0801872456 ISBN 13: 9780801872457

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003

Synopsis

Searching for a "rational" workplace, turn-of-the-century engineers and industrial architects recast the factory itself in the image of the machine. Indeed, they considered the factory building the "master machine," containing and coordinating all of the machinery within. Such rational factory planning improved production speed and the management of workers. Once created, the rational factory transformed the nature of work, both human and mechanical.

In The Rational Factory, Lindy Biggs contends that factory design played a crucial role in the development of American mass production. Her interdisciplinary study draws from the fields of business history, engineering, technology, architecture, and theories of modernity. Why did some people want to rationalize the factory, she asks, and how did the system impact those who worked under it?

About this title

About the Author

Lindy Biggs teaches history at Auburn University.

Edition details

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801872456
• ISBN 13: 9780801872457
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 220