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Lecture Notes

If we take the bicycle as our example, this is how we might fill in the chart. Bicycles were a boon to white, middle class men and women because they offered mobility, enhanced bodily strength and fitness (in women's case: for motherhood); these were all linked to ideologies that 1890s society could endorse. On the other hand, the bicycle was seen as a bane (or problem) for society because it could potentially ruin women's sexuality and compromise gender distinctions. In both cases, I hope you notice the ways that the same technology can be endorsed or discredited by varying social ideologies. As an artifact, we might note that ways that the bicycles has changed over time from a high wheeler to a safety bicycle. This kind of change can be aligned with larger social changes, such as the rise of the middle class and the rise of feminism. Finally, as a cultural product, the bicycle provides a great example of the ways that different groups can present and represent a technology very differently. For many medical doctors, the bicycle was seen as dangerous for women's health and sexuality. For advertisers, the bicycle was engulfed in a marketing campaign that attempted to "reframe" social arguments.