Christopher Dutton February 6, 2013 Writing Sample The Societal Impact of Time and Production In chapter three of The

Shock of the Old, David Edgerton describes production throughout the world. In this account, he places world societies in two separate categories, rich and poor. He argues that there is a correlation between prosperity and the willingness to apply the newest technologies, but also, societal failure and the reluctance to adapt. He contends that the latter will lag in adaptation to technologies, and consequently, their country will mature at a slower rate. Essentially, these poorer societies are living in the old societies of the rich. Their reluctance to use the newest technologies has had major social repercussion and caused economic decline. Technologies impact the social fabric on many different levels. Edgerton begins with the housewife in a rich society, and various technologies applied to daily life. Although this is a narrow view, his point is to not merely argue that life became easier, but more importantly, how it changed domestic life. Production changed, machines replaced domestic servants and the middle-class housewife became machine operator. Again, it was the application of technologies in the household that were reticent of a rich society. On a larger scale, this argument is paralleled. The societies that adopt the newest technologies, often the creators of such technologies, were more prosperous economically. Furthermore, the economically prosperous countries are successful because of new branding and design, not because of the labor to build the items. That is why many businesses will outsource the production of their products to poorer countries for a lower cost.

A constant with any technology is that it must be maintained. Often, maintenance can incur more resources than the initial investment. With any repair, it is impossible to know what will happen that will require maintenance, and therefore, it is difficult to approximate what it will cost to fix. A country or business that anticipates maintenance will prosper; those that fail to take into consideration this cost will have inevitable consequences. Edgerton distinguishes the maintenance responsibility of poor and rich countries. Poor countries seek to have maintenance cheap compared to the initial purchase, but as the technology becomes older, it will require more maintenance and more funds. On the other hand, companies such as Ford tried to make interchangeable parts that would not require maintenance of the old parts, but simply interchange the old part with a new, identical unit. Furthermore, Edgerton believes that even if technologies improve, maintenance will always be present. Even if machines take the place of humans, maintaining the technologies and making sure they operate efficiently is inescapable. Edgerton focuses on the application of production and maintenance, rather than just the means of creation. He delves into societal impacts, but also, the consequential outcome of a society when it fails to adopt a new technology. In production and maintenance, he offers usecentric accounts of the more prosperous countries to adapt to the newest technologies of production and the maintenance required. Production is improved by the application of new technologies, and when these technologies are improved, they require less maintenance. It is an ascent to prosperity, but as Edgerton proves, it requires design and ingenuity; in essence new things impact society in a positive fashion. Those countries that fail to diffuse the newest technologies are slower to develop.

Edgerton, David. The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900. Oxford: University Press, 2007.