A Culture Of Improvement Summary

In his book, “A Culture of Improvement”, Robert Friedel argues that most technological changes comes through the pursuit of improvement. A standard definition from the dictionary for improvement would be a thing that could make something better. However, Friedel describe improvement as a culture where society believes that “things could be done better”. He also clearly state that the culture pf improvement is not the same as the faith in progress or the belief that a necessary direction of history or human experience was forward. It is rather the simpler understanding that people have the ability to improve their lives. In addition to that, Fridel mentioned about how the measures of improvement change all the time and the perception of improvement …show more content…
In the eightieth century, the notion of inventions was the source of wealth and the valued display of human genius. However, before the eightieth century, the social desirability of an invention was judges on the extent to which it encouraged employment. Th introduction of new machine or tool, was valued if the innovation provided work for the Englishmen and would reduce imports into the country. The opposite side of this notion was that inventions or improvements that reduced, or threatened to reduce employments were undesirable by the society. Friedel also mentioned about how “labor-saving” was considered as destructive to social order. So, in this context, the improvements did not solve the social ill which was the employment in the …show more content…
By 1820, large alkali factories were appearing on a greater scale, and giant alkali works were becoming as much a symbols of industrialization as the textiles factory. This was due to that alkalis such as chlorine were used in bleaching cloth and it was mush more cheaper and faster than the traditional method. However, there some bad effects on the people working the factories. One of the workers would be the process man, this were the men who worked with the chemical reaction themselves, handling often caustic materials through many hours of the day. These workers, handling acid and alkalis for many hours in a day were often completely broken in health after a few years. There same harsh chemical action the wrecked the health of workers also caused damage on a even larger scale, like in the neighborhood around factories. The main by product of the Leblanc prices, of example, were highly poisonous hydrochloric acid were sent out through chimneys, and the areas around the factory would be found to have foul air and water which destroyed most vegetable and animals life. This also showed how the improvement did not solve the social ills in the society which were the health condition of the