Technological Retrogression
Technological Retrogression

Author: Sylvi B. Endresen

Publisher: Anthem Press

Published: 2021-06-08

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 1785277154

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The aim of this book is to broaden our understanding of technological change by adopting the concept of technological retrogression. With reference to concrete cases of technological retrogression a new conceptual framework is developed. The book’s exposition aims at contrasting retrogressive economic dynamics of technological change to progressive dynamics as developed by Schumpeter. At one extreme in the dimension of technological change, capital-strong production units innovate their way out of the recession through technological progress, adopting more advanced production equipment that improves productivity. Following Schumpeterian progressive dynamics, virtuous spirals of growth result. At the other end we find the producers that resort to technological retrogression, which secures survival, but which result in low labour productivity, diminishing the possibility of capital accumulation and thus modernization that could form an escape from poverty. Vicious spirals of decline result, which is the book’s main object of analysis. The theory is, thus, a contribution to understanding the anatomy of recessions.

A Modern Guide to Uneven Economic Development
A Modern Guide to Uneven Economic Development

Author: Erik S. Reinert

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2023-01-13

Total Pages: 429

ISBN-13: 1788976541

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In contrast to neo-classical mainstream approaches to economics, this innovative Modern Guide addresses the complex reality of economic development as an inherently uneven process, exploring the ways of theorizing and empirically exploring the mechanisms with which the unevenness manifests itself. It covers a wide array of issues influencing wealth and poverty, technological innovation, ecology and sustainability, financialization, population, gender, and geography, considering the dynamics of cumulative causations created by the interplay between these factors.

Advances in Computer Science for Engineering and Education III
Advances in Computer Science for Engineering and Education III

Author: Zhengbing Hu

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-08-05

Total Pages: 689

ISBN-13: 3030555062

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This book comprises high-quality refereed research papers presented at the Third International Conference on Computer Science, Engineering and Education Applications (ICCSEEA2020), held in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 21–22 January 2020, organized jointly by National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”, National Aviation University, and the International Research Association of Modern Education and Computer Science. The topics discussed in the book include state-of-the-art papers in computer science, artificial intelligence, engineering techniques, genetic coding systems, deep learning with its medical applications, and knowledge representation with its applications in education. It is an excellent source of references for researchers, graduate students, engineers, management practitioners, and undergraduate students interested in computer science and their applications in engineering and education.

Industrialization as an Agent of Social Change
Industrialization as an Agent of Social Change

Author: Herbert Blumer

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-01-16

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1351328743

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Herbert Blumer wrote continuously and voluminously, and consequently left a vast array of unpublished work at the time of his death in 1987. This posthumously published volume testifies further to his perceptive analysis of large-scale social organizations and elegant application of symbolic interactionist principles. Blumer's focus on the processual nature of social life and on the significance of the communicative interpretation of social contexts is manifest in his theory of industrialization and social change. His theory entails three major points: industrialization must be seen in processual terms, and the industrialization process is different for different historical periods; the consequences of industrialization are a function of the interpretive nature of human action and resembles a neutral framework within which groups interpret the meaning of industrial relations, and the industrial sector must be viewed in terms of power relations; industrial societies contain inherently conflicting interests. The editors' introductory essay outlines Blumer's metatheoretical stance (symbolic interactionism) and its emphasis on the adjustive character of social life. It places Blumer's theory in the context of contemporary macro theory, including world systems theory, resource dependence theory, and modernization theory.

Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Development
Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Development

Author: Erik S. Reinert

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2016-09-28

Total Pages: 849

ISBN-13: 1782544682

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The Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Development explores the theories and approaches which, over a prolonged period of time, have existed as viable alternatives to today’s mainstream and neo-classical tenets. With a total of 40 specially commissioned chapters, written by the foremost authorities in their respective fields, this volume represents a landmark in the field of economic development. It elucidates the richness of the alternative and sometimes misunderstood ideas which, in different historical contexts, have proved to be vital to the improvement of the human condition. The subject matter is approached from several complementary perspectives. From a historical angle, the Handbook charts the mercantilist and cameralist theories that emerged from the Renaissance and developed further during the Enlightenment. From a geographical angle, it includes chapters on African, Chinese, Indian, and Muslim approaches to economic development. Different schools are also explored and discussed including nineteenth century US development theory, Marxist, Schumpeterian, Latin American structuralism, regulation theory and world systems theories of development. In addition, the Handbook has chapters on important events and institutions including The League of Nations, The Havana Charter, and UNCTAD, as well as on particularly influential development economists. Contemporary topics such as the role of finance, feminism, the agrarian issue, and ecology and the environment are also covered in depth. This comprehensive Handbook offers an unrivalled review and analysis of alternative and heterodox theories of economic development. It should be read by all serious scholars, teachers and students of development studies, and indeed anyone interested in alternatives to development orthodoxy.

The Shock of the Old
The Shock of the Old

Author: David Edgerton

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2011-08-29

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 0190454261

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From the books of H.G. Wells to the press releases of NASA, we are awash in clichéd claims about high technology's ability to change the course of history. Now, in The Shock of the Old, David Edgerton offers a startling new and fresh way of thinking about the history of technology, radically revising our ideas about the interaction of technology and society in the past and in the present. He challenges us to view the history of technology in terms of what everyday people have actually used-and continue to use-rather than just sophisticated inventions. Indeed, many highly touted technologies, from the V-2 rocket to the Concorde jet, have been costly failures, while many mundane discoveries, like corrugated iron, become hugely important around the world. Edgerton reassesses the significance of such acclaimed inventions as the Pill and information technology, and underscores the continued importance of unheralded technology, debunking many notions about the implications of the "information age." A provocative history, The Shock of the Old provides an entirely new way of looking historically at the relationship between invention and innovation.