Manufacturing Rationality: The Engineering Foundations of the Managerial Revolution

by Yehouda Shenhav

Overview

Management is a powerful mode of thought and code of conduct in the modern world, closely associated with the American way and a natural extension of economic progress. This is a book about the history of management and the origin of managerial rationality in the United States.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198296300
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/20/2000
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	1390L (what's this?)

About the Author

Yehouda Shenhav is Associate Professor of Sociology at Tel-Aviv University. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Sociology from Stanford University (1985) and an M.Sc. degree from the Faculty of Industrial Engineering at the Israel Institute of Technology (1981). Shenhav taught at several universities in the United States, including Stanford University, The University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Iowa. He served as Head of the Department of Sociology & Anthropology at Tel-Aviv University between 1995 and 1998.

Table of Contents

Introduction1. Prophets of ManagementAmerican Engineers between Industrial Growth and Labor Unrest2. Engineering Rationality'System Shall Replace Chaos'3. Colonizing the MindThe Translation of Systematization to the Management of Organizations4. Contested RationalityDisturbances, Controversies, and Opposition to Management Systems5. Engineers, Labor Politics, and American Exceptionalism before 19006. Taming the ShrewSystems and Labor Politics during the Progressive Period7. Deus ex MachinaConcluding RemarksAppendixDescription of the Engineering-Management Literature

Editorial Reviews

"Yehouda Shenhav shows that the American system of management required elaborate social construction. Managers had to justify their existence vis avis owners and workers, and it took a great deal of effort to 'normalize' their social power. This book makes an important critical contribution to our understanding of how the large corporation emerged in the U.S and deserves to be read by anyone interested in the origins of Americans 'managerialism."—Neil Fligstein

From the Publisher