Engineers in Britain: A Sociological Study of the Engineering Dimension by Ian A. Glover, Michael P. Kelly

Abstract

704 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE and the rest of the world, will be better off if scholars widen the path he has broken. It is a subject of more than academic interest. Carroll Pursell Dr. Pursell is professor of history and director of the graduate Program in History of Technology and Science at Case Western Reserve University. He has a long-standing interest in federal technology policy. Engineers in Britain: A Sociological Study ofthe Engineering Dimension. By Ian A. Glover and Michael P. Kelly. Winchester, Mass.: Allen & Unwin (9 Winchester Place 01890), 1987. Pp. xv + 269; tables, bibliography, indexes. $39.95. It is unlikely that Engineers in Britain will achieve its primary objective of reaching an audience “of practitioners and students of engineering” (p. xiii). While expressing great sympathy for engineers, Ian Glover and Michael Kelly never manage to rise above a routine sociological presentation, and such an approach is bound to quell the enthusiasm of any engineer keen to learn about the social context of the engineering profession. The problem is that the construction of the sociological argument tends to be abstract, whereas the engineer­ ing imagination prefers to deal—as the authors recognize—with “concrete” reality. Moreover, the argument is sustained by a system of notation that intimidates the reader with a battery of surnames or befuddles him by failing to give adequate page references. However acceptable in a text for sociology students, this form of address will not be congenial to most engineers. There are some other weaknesses in the book. It is surprising that the authors miss a trick by failing to identify Herbert Spencer as an engineer (p. 18), and they miss the Cromwellian analogy of the Webbs’ “New Model” trade unions by referring to them merely as “model” unions (p. 196). Strangely, for Scottish authors, they convert Adam Smith’s pin factory into a nail factory (p. 207). More damaging to their argument than such details is their odd treatment of profes­ sionalism, which leads them to conclude that engineers are rarely true professionals because they are “mainly employees who sell their skills” (p. 195). They subsequently acknowledge the seriousness with which engineering institutions regard the professional ideal, but consider this commitment misplaced. These judgments are based on an inadequate analysis of professionalism, which has played a much more substantial role in industrial history than Glover and Kelly appear to perceive. The professions, with an expertise to sell, became in fact a social class in their own right, and this accounts for the difficulty of placing the engineers in this study in any specific class (p. 215). TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 705 Nevertheless, the book has many strengths, particularly in part 2, which explores specific areas of engineering involvement after a general sociological background has been set out in part 1. The discussion of engineering education (chap. 6) is a valuable summary of the peculiarities of the British tradition, especially with its debili­ tating emphasis on intellectual education and the laissez-faire role of the state. The critique of science (rather than engineering) as the “motor” of industrialization is also timely, and, despite the lopsided discussion of professionalism already mentioned, the chapter on professional associations and trade unions contains much useful information. The conclusion also makes some robust statements about the need for British engineers to become more involved in public affairs, the value of a “protected title,” and the crucial impor­ tance of manufacturing, so “foolishly and eccentrically neglected in Britain” (p. 237). Whatever the response of engineers, the book provides an intelligent commentary on their role in society, and it should at least stimulate a deeper understanding among social scientists of the nature of the engineering dimension. R. Angus Buchanan Dr. Buchanan is director of the Centre for the History of Technology, Science and Society at the University of Bath, and Secretary-General of ICOH 1'EC. The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology. Edited by Wiebe E. Bijker, Tho­ mas P. Hughes, and Trevor Pinch. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1987. Pp. xi + 405; illustrations, notes, bibliography, indexes. $35.00 (cloth); $12.95 (paper). Sociologists and historians often pay lip service to each...