Overview

The dream of control over human behaviour is an old dream, shared by many cultures. This fascinating account of the histories of human engineering describes how technologies of managing individuals and groups were developed from the nineteenth century to the present day, ranging from brainwashing and mind control to Dale Carnegie's art of dealing with people. Derksen reveals that common to all of them is the perpetual tension between the desire to control people's behaviour and the resistance this provokes. Thus to influence other people successfully, technology had to be combined with tact: with a personal touch, with a subtle hint, or with outright deception, manipulations are made palatable or invisible. Combining psychological history and theory with insights from science and technology studies and rhetorical scholarship, Derksen offers a fresh perspective on human engineering that will appeal to those interested in the history of psychology and the history of technology.

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9781107057432

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Advance praise: 'Reflecting his own subtlety, sensitivity and wit, Maarten Derksen crafts a persuasive analysis of the tact and technologies involved in the dealings between people and machines, brains and behaviour. Hard to put down once you've started reading!' Douwe Draaisma, University of Groningen, Netherlands Advance praise: 'Histories of Human Engineering: Tact and Technology delivers a radical and thoroughly appealing approach to understanding the aspirations to effectively control human behavior. Eschewing the time-worn critiques of the manipulation of people and notions of human docility that undergird control technologies, Derksen engages empirical evidence from these technologies to show how they demonstrate the vibrant human presence of resistance, judgment, habit, and indeterminacy.' Jill Morawski, Wesleyan University, Connecticut

Author Information

Maarten Derksen is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands. He has authored Iedereen doet aan psychologie (1999) and, with Sybe Terwee, translated Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations into Dutch (1992; 2nd edition 2006). He was an honorary fellow of the Science Studies Centre of the University of Bath, an associate of the 'What makes organization?' research programme at the Copenhagen Business School, and is a member of the editorial board of Theory and Psychology.

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