Narrative disconnect
Where do our ideas about invention come from
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20182634 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hermione Giffard (Eindhoven University of Technology, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-19 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-06 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| 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 | 10.1080/07341512.2025.2603700 |
| OpenAlex | W7119100767 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 39 |
Our studies of invention are dominated by a narrative that sees independent inventors replaced as the source of technical novelty by corporate research labs. Born of practical considerations, this narrative has become so normative that some studies are hemmed in by it without their authors even being aware of it. Refusal to update the old concept of invention creates a gap between what we tell students about how invention happened and what our research says. Indeed, young historians are so estranged by the old narrative that they don’t even frame their work as a contribution to the study of invention. The dominant invention narrative reproduces several problematic focuses of the field: the individual, particular American industries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a particular understanding of what institutions make important contributions to technology, and what technology is. By updating the narrative, we stand to enrich a deeply embedded and alienating narrative that shapes where and how we look for technical change
Narrative · Artistic and Creative Research · Narrative Theory and Analysis · Posthumanist Ethics and Activism
Networks of Power
Invention and Economic Growth
Making Jet Engines in World War II
The Sociology of Invention . S. C. Gilfillan
Hughesian history of technology and Chandlerian business history
Competing Research Traditions in American Industry
On the Diversity and Co-Evolution of Technological Multiples
Accounting for Research
Revolutionizing Innovation
The Search for the Sources of Growth
From garden biotech to garage biotech
Are Inventions Inevitable? A Note on Social Evolution
Grasping the Body
Mirror-Image Twins
The Longue Duree of Abbott Payson Usher
Industrial Evolution
Technology Is Global
Portable Power
Innovation, Technology, or History
Emerging Themes in the History of Technology
Scientific Technology, 1845-1900
Making Up Mind
The Science-Technology Interaction
Where do Models of Innovation Come From? Benoit Godin, Models of Innovation
Thinking Again about Science in Technology
Coal Tar Dye Manufacture and the Origins of the Modern Industrial Research Laboratory
A History of Mechanical Inventions. Abbott Payson Usher
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |