Innovationsgeschichte als Gesellschaftsgeschichte

Abstract

This article evaluates a variety of recent attempts to conceptualize a history of innovations from the perspective of social history. Special emphasis is given to approaches arguing for a paradigm shift from innovation systems to innovation cultures, in particular by focussing on users as co-designers of technology. The concept of the co-construction of technology has been implemented especially in the thematic field of the integration and disintegration of Europe. The growing circulation of scientific knowledge and technical goods resulted in the »invention of Europeanness« in the long 20th century. This article contributes to the discussion by examining scientifically constructed user projections in the American and German automobile industries.