Beyond Functionality. Technological Fascination and the German Public 1890 to 1914

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The project aims at an analysis of how German mass media during the Wilhemine era (1890 - 1914/18) enhanced the general public's fascination with new technologies. It will thus revise the common perception among scholars of a largely critical and hostile stance towards technological innovation in Germany during that time. The quantitative approach seeks to ensure a high degree of representativity while previously neglected topics of research in the history of technology come into focus. The project will differentiate two distinct forms of technological enthusiasm, namely the "technologically sublime" and the individual fascination for speed. It will thus go beyond the simplistic dichotomy of criticism vs. fascination. The guiding question is whether during the "long turn of the century" a specifically German form of the "technologically sublime" came into being, especially with respect to airships, civil engineering, and large ocean steamers. Were these technologies symbols of a national identity, and did they display a certain preference for collective instead of individual virtues? Building on contemporary criticism concerning the "mechanization" of all walks of life and with regard to sociological research dealing with the public acceptance of technology, the project will propose the thesis that during this particular period of modernization fascination rather than functionality has dominated the cultural perception and appropriation of technology.