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
IRON RULES RULE IRON RAILS. CULTURES AND THEIR TECHNOLOGIES Manfred E. A. Schmutzer Clarifying Terms Speaking of “Cultures and their Technologies“ requires a clarification of terms. Neither “culture“ nor “technology“ is a term whose meaning is self-evident. Culture Culture is, according to Jeffrey Alexander, “the ‘order1 corresponding to meaningful action.“' Cultural phenomena include legal codes, religious ritual, art, and intellectual ideas. There exist some realms usually not included in “culture”, among them economic and political institutions and other phenomena normally seen in the context of society. Although a not insignificant branch of anthropology is concerned with material culture, technology is also not infrequently excluded from the focus of cultural studies.1 2 The work of Alexander cited above provides ample evidence of this fact. While a consideration of technologies is largely missing, much attention is given to two topics: 1 Alexander, Jeffrey - Seidman, Steven (Eds.): Culture and Society. Contemporary Debates. New York et al. 1990, p. 2. “Meaning" is itself a problematic term. This becomes evident, when it is translated into German, Germany being not only the place where cultural studies originated (W i 11 i a m s , Raymond: Culture and Society. London 1987 [Orig. 1958]), but imbuing them also with a very specific flavor. Generally "meaning" is translated as “Sinn", an ambiguous term connoting both, the content of a term (Bedeutung) as also the ultimate rationale of existence (Sinn des Lebens). In contrast to the majority of Anglo-Saxon writers Germans tend to ignore investigations of symbolic universes and their interrelations with social structures. But on the slightest pretext German social scientists will switch to a discussion of ultimate values, of religion and of Weber’s theodicy; T enbruck, Friedrich FT: Die kulturellen Grundlagen der Gesellschaft Der Fall der Moderne. Opladen 1989. 2 This constitutes no real surprise as other social sciences show similar shortcomings. The disregard in anthropology is insofar a little more disconcerting, as at least in paleo-anthropology consensus exists that the absence of tools at archeological sites disqualifies osseous finds as being human. Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs/Sonderband 7 305
