The Symbolic Shaping of Technology: A Study of the Influence of Culture on Technical Change

近几十年来，学术研究揭示了技术影响文化的各种方式，但对文化如何塑造技术这一补充性问题的关注却很少。然而，这个问题是技术史的核心，它旨在理解设计和发明的过程。从技术标准和经济力量本身不足以解释技术选择的既定前提开始，本项目建议阐明象征主义在将文化力量引入技术方面的作用。最终的成果将是一个框架，它整合了关于这个主题的各种和分散的工作，为随后的实证调查奠定基础。

In recent decades scholarship has revealed the various ways that technologies may influence cultures, but rather less attention has been devoted to the complementary question, how does culture shape technology? Yet this question is at the heart of the history of technology, which aims to understand the design and invention process. Beginning with the well-established premise that technical criteria and economic forces are not sufficient in themselves to explain technical choices, this project proposes to elucidate the role of symbolism in bringing cultural forces to bear on technologies. The final product will be a framework that integrates the varied and scattered work on this topic, preparing the ground for subsequent empirical investigation.