- UID
- 783519
- 在线时间
- 小时
- 注册时间
- 2012-7-19
- 最后登录
- 1970-1-1
- 主题
- 帖子
- 性别
- 保密
|
260. 瑞士电力
P1 - A seemingly smooth explanation for the rise of Switzerland's electricity supply industry.
Historians: high level of know-how among engineers and workers, Switzerland's waterpower, the country's financing system.
However,
1/ the technology was borrowed from foreign patent holders and the labor-skill was not important
2/ many countries had waterpower but did not electrify in 19th century
3/ the capital was from small shareholders
In fact,
- The Swiss public was obsessed by electricity.
- The Switzerland already counted with70+ powerplants before the banks started to consider the investment.
P2 - Why and How?
P3 - One explanation: top-down manipulation of small investors by the nation's political and economic elite.
However,
=> this would imply a previous unification of expectations within the elite.
Given the banks's reluctance to invest and the federal parliament's lack of interest in establishing a coherent legislation in the 1890's
=> this interpretation is lack of support
=> recent studies' model discloses the existence of competitive interpretations of the electric, each must be connected with the interests of a social group.
The absence of any opposition untill the 1920's makes the social construction approach just as unhelpful.
P4 - An alternative explanation proposed by the author:
1/ the discursive configuration of electrotechnology
2/ the conditions of tehnological practices which preceeded and accompanied electrotechnology in the late 19th century Switzerland
3/ interpret the social construction of technology as a process of selection determinded by both social and political forces and the technical utility and cutual significance of electricity in Switzerland.
|
|