Institutions crumble
under the big foot of man
But when he sits; rests, too long
he builds them tall by hand
A Poem for Pantagruel
Domesticity and Progress: The Vacuum Cleaner Theory and other Thoughts
“More Work for Mother” by Ruth Schwartz Cowan is, essentially, a history of the technology of the home. The author’s hypothesis is that the home was only partially industrialized in the Twentieth Century, and that the failings of technology to truly revolutionize the home environment (or, more importantly, the work processes required to sustain it) [...]