[Themaintainers] Talk: Philip Scranton 'Spare Parts: Conceptualizing a Modern Problem' Maintenance & Philosophy SIG Thursday December 14th (1800-1915 UTC+1)

[mark young]

Dear all,


We’d like to announce the next session of the Maintenance and Philosophy of
Technology SIG on Thursday 14th of December (1800-1915 UTC+1). In this
session, we’re very excited to welcome Philip Scranton who’ll be talking
about a new book manuscript he’s been working on which charts the history
of spare parts through the twentieth century. Join us on Thursday for an
exploration of a neglected area in the history of technology, and a
valuable contribution towards understanding the history of maintenance
itself. If you'd like a link for the talk, please email me at
mark at markthomasyoung.net


*Spare Parts: Conceptualizing A Modern Problem*

Philip Scranton (Rutgers University)

Thursday 14th December (1800-1915 UTC+1)

*Abstract*: Spare parts are the ambiguous legacy of one of
industrialization’s most noted achievements: interchangeability. In both
market and planned economies the gains in efficiency, time-saving and cost
derived from having “off-the-shelf” replacements for failed components can
readily be offset by difficulties in identifying, finding and securing the
needed part. Also entailed by interchangeability is non-substitutability:
only the proper part will do the job – installing something “close to it”
usually is foolish. Thus in maintenance and repair, spare parts represent
both resources and obstacles. Eliminating them through whole-object
obsolescence and modularity has become a goal, at least in the West at
least since the 1970s. In this talk, I’ll undertake to sketch the
conceptual bases/clusters that inform my research on spare parts’
trajectories from World War Two through the late Cold War in both
capitalist and socialist societies. Three conceptual domains frame the
larger inquiry: questions about language, materiality and organization;
introducing them is the goal for this presentation.


(In order to avoid confusion regarding the timing of the talks - the
following table clarifies when the talks begin in different locations)
New York:   12:00
San Francisco: 09:00
London:   17:00
Amsterdam:   18:00


Best,

Mark

Mark Thomas Young
Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Vienna
https://univie.academia.edu/MarkThomasYoung
<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://univie.academia.edu/MarkThomasYoung__;!!PAKc-5URQlI!7-wPKQdIkKD8lUhdsVh_P2UG8MEH4Asdrxk0L_hi5OyR1etOB2klc3uvmH6_QbAjnX1nx7h2o52Aln_jjGg_lWdk$>
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