 Making science suburban: The suburbanization of industrial research and the invention of “research manâ€Patrick S Vitale Environment and Planning A, 2017, vol. 49, issue 12, 2813-2834 Abstract: In the early 1900s, industrial firms embraced research as a key element of corporate strategy. In order to internalize scientific research, firms constructed laboratories many of which were located away from factories. The development of these laboratories was part of a larger shift in the socio-spatial division of labor – the separation of mental from physical work. These laboratories were sites for developing new technologies and production processes and for creating and reproducing a techno-scientific workforce that allied itself with management. Using the example of Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse, in this paper I argue that industrial firms built research laboratories in order to enlist a skilled techno-scientific workforce that was essential for further profit making. By exploring the longer history of the industrial research laboratory, I expose how the “knowledge economy†and “tech workers†did not originate in the suburbs of the 1950s or the tech-boom of the 1990s, but rather emerged in concert with industrialization, the emergence of corporations, the professionalization of science and engineering, and suburbanization at the turn of the 20th-century. Keywords: Class formation; industrialization; laboratories; science; suburbanization (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envira:v:49:y:2017:i:12:p:2813-2834 Access Statistics for this article More articles in Environment and Planning A |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.