Measures and Men by Witold Kula

Abstract

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 141 ers. Since World War I, and even more since 1945, rapid technologi­ cal changes have destroyed the old certainties of strategy, leaving its practitioners groping in the dark. Students of technological change will not be surprised to learn that their field of interest now occupies the center of the stage of history. Daniel R. Headrick Dr. Headrick is professor of social science and history at Roosevelt University, and the author of Ejército y Política en España (1866—1898) (Madrid, 1981), The Tools ofEmpire: Technology andEuropean Imperialism in theNineteenth Century (New York, 1981), and The Tentacles ofProgress: Technology Transfer in theAge ofImperialism, 1850-1940 (New York, 1988). He is currently studying the relations between telecommunications and international politics from 1851 to 1945. Measures and Men. By Witold Kula. Translated by Richard Szreter. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1986. Pp. x+386; notes, glossary, bibliography, index. $39.50. In Measures and Men, Witold Kula, a professor at the University of Warsaw and the doyen of Polish economic historians, has written a fascinating account of the numerous ways that certain European weights and measures systems interacted with various levels of me­ dieval and early modern preindustrial cultures. The emphasis is placed on such divergent themes as the sociological ramifications of weights and measures, how they evolved to meet the complex needs of local and regional economies, how they became an intricate part of everyday life commensurate with linguistic differences, how they proliferated because of the demands of work functions, ethnic bi­ ases, symbolism, and product requirements, how they resisted stan­ dardization programs, how community pressure influenced them, and how they helped to shape the evolutionary course of European life. Kula strives to demonstrate that weights and measures simply mirrored the differences and incongruities of societies before the In­ dustrial Revolution, necessitating more strict adherence to regional and interregional uniformity. The earlier metrologies were neither good nor bad; they were simply a natural manifestation of smallerscaled economies. They served their local, restricted purposes well, even though they would obviously pose a severe handicap for eco­ nomic and industrial development in any more advanced economic milieu. Kula has accomplished his goal in admirable fashion. The book has its drawbacks. First, it is divided into four ex­ tremely divergent sections. Parts 1 and 4 are both general and inter­ national in scope, while the second and third parts deal with Poland and France, respectively. Within these sections are twenty-four short chapters that often do not relate and make more for a series of vignettes than for a smooth transitional progression. Because the book is devoid of a central overriding thesis, it is sometimes diffi­ cult to tie the various discussions together. 142 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Second, although practices such as permitting goods to be sold in heaped and shallow measures bespeak a malevolent class struggle in which lords cheated peasants and capitalist employers cheated the working class, Kula’s obsession with this traditional Marxist axiom tends to be overdone. One senses at times that societal fric­ tions and hatreds were the primary reason for metrological diversifi­ cation and proliferation. This simply was not the case for most of Europe’s metrological problems. True, Kula’s emphasis does eluci­ date a wide series of sociological phenomena, but metrological inequi­ ties were more of an economic impediment than a cultural impasse. Unfortunately, Kula does not explore this critical issue. Finally, more emphasis is needed on the scientific and technologi­ cal aspects of metrology and less on the sociological. Without explor­ ing this vital area of weights and measures development, the path to standardization reform, particularly evidenced in Kula’s treat­ ment of the French road to metric reform in part 3, cannot be under­ stood. This happens because Kula is interested in standardization not for the sake of scientific, technological, and economic progress but for the sake of social justice. These criticisms should not detract, however, from the fact that Kula presents us with a rich potpourri of metrological topics writ­ ten in an engrossing manner. The field of historical metrology is en­ riched by its publication, and English-language audiences are in­ debted to...