Günter Dinhobl (Hrsg.): Sonderband 7. Eisenbahn/Kultur – Railway/Culture (2004)
IV. Die Eisenbahn-Technik / Railway-technics - Manfred E. A. Schmutzer: Iron Rules Rule Iron Rails. Cultures and Their Technologies
Manfred E. A. Schmutzer independently rediscovered by other researchers (Ouchi, Fiske, Polanyi etc.).“1 Cultural Theory is thus an approach which conforms to basic scientific standards and provides a means to compare societies and their cultures in a consistent manner. A weakness of Cultural Theory exists however, resulting less from an internal flaw than from certain preoccupations of its adherents. As can be seen from the above quotation itself, Cultural Theorists show a preoccupation with ideational topics, cognition, moral issues etc. Willy-nilly the material basis drifts out of sight. Many of this school of thought seem to find it hard to pay attention to issues raised by P. Bourdieu or similar proponents of a more materialistic stance. This deficiency is not necessarily accidental, the bias could possibly be explained by Cultural Theory itself. However this flaw can be mended. One attempt in this direction is the present contribution. Technology Although the original meaning of „technology“ refers to the scientific study of fine and applied arts, it has changed to mean „the pursuit of results, especially useful results of scientific research“. In the 20lh century „it had become a global term connoting not only the tangible products of science but also the attitudes, processes, artifacts and consequences associated with it.“" Briefly we deduce from this that artifacts and other tangible and intangible products of science, such as software, but also the processes of manufacturing them, must be dyed in the wool by cultural traits, just as scientific results themselves are tinged by culture. To demonstrate this I choose the case of railway transport. Cultural Foundations of the Railway Although the term technology in everyday practice signifies predominantly material artifacts the above quotation already indicates that it means much more. The history of the railway provides a striking illustration of this statement. Most people think that railways emerged when someone had the splendid idea of putting a steam engine on wheels. This however is not borne out by the facts. Railroads existed long before the steam engine. They were in use in medieval mines where trolleys were pushed or pulled by men or animals and sometimes even by cable winches. These railroads expanded from the mines to rivers some time before steam- * 11 10 Multiple, independent, but contemporaneous discoveries may serve as an indicator for an ubiquitous demand and consequential search in scientific activity. 11 The New Encyclopedia B r i t a n n i ca , Vol II,Chicago 1998. 308
