The demon of technology, mass society, and atomic physics in West Germany, 1945–1957
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14800408 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Richard H Beyler (Portland State University, corresponding author), Richard Beyler |
| Year | 2003 |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 227-239 |
| Publication date | 2003-09-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History and Technology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0734-1512 • E-ISSN: 1477-2620 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/0734151032000123963 |
| OpenAlex | W2006081528 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
In the cultural‐political literature of post‐1945 West Germany, atomic energy often functioned as the most potent image of a “demon of technology” fraught with both enormous potential and enormous danger. These critiques of techno‐science also represented a traditional critique of “mass society,” whose erstwhile anti‐western sentiments now had to be sublimated. As the Cold War developed, discussion shifted to ambivalence about Germany's place in the struggle between superpowers, and the “demon of technology” sentiment shifted away from the conservative end of the spectrum. The controversy over the “Göttingen Eighteen” anti‐armaments manifesto of nuclear physicists is indicative of these shifts
Ambivalence · Cold war · Demon · Economic history · Epistemology · Manifesto · Political science · Politics · West germany · Cybernetics and Technology in Society · European history and politics · History · Law · Philosophy · Twentieth Century Scientific Developments
Physik und Politik in der frühen Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Max Born, Werner Heisenberg und Pascual Jordan als politische Grenzgänger
Science as instrumental reason
The Max Planck Society and Pugwash during the Cold War
The Archimedean point
The Primacy of Science in Modernity, of Technology in Postmodernity, and of Ideology in the History of Technology
Dysfunctional, but stable - a Bourdieuian reading of the global nuclear order
| Citations per year | 0.32 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2007 - 2018 (12) |
| Highly cited | No |