Cowan, Ruth Schwartz

Cowan, Ruth Schwartz. 2010. Looking Back in Order to Move Forward John McDermott, Technology The Opiate of the Intellectuals. Technology and Culture 51, no. 1 (January) 199-215. 

Cowan, Ruth Schwartz (1983) More Work for Mother The Ironies of Household Technology Irom the Open Hearth to the Microwave, New York. 

It is easy enough to describe and even quantify domestic energy use as it has changed over the centuries and particularly since 1900, but it is much more difficult to assess how these changes have affected society, culture, and individuals for better or for worse. Ruth Schwartz Cowan argued in More Work for Mother (1983) that this new domestic technology resulted in the disappearance of domestic ser-... 

On the history of housework and cleanliness, see Ruth Schwartz Cowan, More Work Hoy, Chasing Dirt and Tomes, Gospel of Germs. 

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