Introduction

Miriam Levin and the other authors in Cultures of Control show that ‘control’ and ‘technology’ have similar connotations and are nearly interchangeable. This has been especially true in the United States and remains so today. The objects to be controlled by technology, however, have changed over the years. Early nineteenth-century Americans used technology to control nature. About the turn of the century machines were the object of control. Today engineers and managers-even the public-try to control large technological, or socio-technical, systems.