Organized Technology: Networks and Innovation in Technical Systems

by Wesley Shrum

From the Manhattan Project to the space shuttle, government-organized technological enterprises have proven to be vital resources. Their very size and complexity makes unprecedented demands on the organizational abilities of managers. Understanding them is a major challenge for social scientists. Organized Technology is a first step in meeting this challenge. The book is based on an intensive study of radioactive waste and solar cell research, two large-scale technical systems important to U.S. energy policy. Historical and organizational analyses are combined with results from interviews with a national sample of scientists, engineers, managers, policymakers, and public-interest advocates in a new approach to technology analysis that examines the interaction of government agencies, national laboratories, private firms, universities, regulatory agencies, Congress, and public-interest groups in the technology development process.

274 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985