Computers, Programmers, and the Politics of Technical Expertise
MIT Press
This is a book about the computer revolution of the mid-twentieth century
and the people who made it possible. Unlike most histories of computing, it is not a
book about machines, inventors, or entrepreneurs. Instead, it tells the story of the
vast but largely anonymous legions of computer specialists--programmers, systems
analysts, and other software developers--who transformed the electronic computer
from a scientific curiosity into the defining technology of the modern era. As the
systems that they built became increasingly powerful and ubiquitous, these
specialists became the focus of a series of critiques of the social and
organizational impact of electronic computing. To many of their contemporaries, it
seemed the "computer boys" were taking over, not just in the corporate
setting, but also in government, politics, and society in general. In The
Computer Boys Take Over, Nathan Ensmenger traces the rise to power of the
computer expert in modern American society. His rich and nuanced portrayal of the
men and women (a surprising number of the "computer boys" were, in fact,
female) who built their careers around the novel technology of electronic computing
explores issues of power, identity, and expertise that have only become more
significant in our increasingly computerized society.
In his
recasting of the drama of the computer revolution through the eyes of its principle
revolutionaries, Ensmenger reminds us that the computerization of modern society was
not an inevitable process driven by impersonal technological or economic
imperatives, but was rather a creative, contentious, and above all, fundamentally
human development.
Ensmenger
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and the people who made it possible. Unlike most histories of computing, it is not a
book about machines, inventors, or entrepreneurs. Instead, it tells the story of the
vast but largely anonymous legions of computer specialists--programmers, systems
analysts, and other software developers--who transformed the electronic computer
from a scientific curiosity into the defining technology of the modern era. As the
systems that they built became increasingly powerful and ubiquitous, these
specialists became the focus of a series of critiques of the social and
organizational impact of electronic computing. To many of their contemporaries, it
seemed the "computer boys" were taking over, not just in the corporate
setting, but also in government, politics, and society in general. In The
Computer Boys Take Over, Nathan Ensmenger traces the rise to power of the
computer expert in modern American society. His rich and nuanced portrayal of the
men and women (a surprising number of the "computer boys" were, in fact,
female) who built their careers around the novel technology of electronic computing
explores issues of power, identity, and expertise that have only become more
significant in our increasingly computerized society.
In his
recasting of the drama of the computer revolution through the eyes of its principle
revolutionaries, Ensmenger reminds us that the computerization of modern society was
not an inevitable process driven by impersonal technological or economic
imperatives, but was rather a creative, contentious, and above all, fundamentally
human development.
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