Visions of a Digital Nation
Why the privatization of British Telecom signaled a pivotal moment in the rise of neoliberalism, and how it was shaped by the longer development and digitalization of Britain's telecommunications infrastructure.When Margaret Thatcher sold British Telecom for £3.6 billion in 1984, it became not only,...
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| Aineistotyyppi: | Online |
| Kieli: | englanti |
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The MIT Press
2024
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| Linkit: | ONIX_20241025_9780262375528_83 |
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| _version_ | 1869519813917802496 |
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| author | Ward, Jacob |
| author_browse | Ward, Jacob |
| author_facet | Ward, Jacob |
| author_sort | Ward, Jacob |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | Why the privatization of British Telecom signaled a pivotal moment in the rise of neoliberalism, and how it was shaped by the longer development and digitalization of Britain's telecommunications infrastructure.When Margaret Thatcher sold British Telecom for £3.6 billion in 1984, it became not only, at the time, the largest stock flotation in history, but also a watershed moment in the rise of neoliberalism and deregulation. In Visions of a Digital Nation, Jacob Ward offers an incisive interdisciplinary perspective on how technology prefigured this pivot. Giving due consideration to the politicians, engineers, and managers who paved the way for this historic moment, Ward illustrates how the decision validated the privatization of public utilities and tied digital technology to free market rationales.In this examination of the national and, at times, global history of technology, Ward's approach is sweeping. Utilizing infrastructure studies, environmental history, and urban and local history, Ward explores Britain's nationalist and welfarist plans for a digital information utility and shows how these projects contested and adapted to the “market turn” under Margaret Thatcher. Ultimately, Visions of a Digital Nation compellingly argues that politicians did not impose neoliberalism top-down, but that technology, engineers, and managers shaped these politics from the bottom up. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-146705 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publishDateRange | 2024 |
| publishDateSort | 2024 |
| publisher | The MIT Press |
| publisherStr | The MIT Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1467052024-10-25T13:17:39Z Visions of a Digital Nation Ward, Jacob Science, Technology & Society/History of Technology thema EDItEUR::T Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Industrial processes::TJ Electronics and communications engineering::TJK Communications engineering / telecommunications::TJKT Telephone technology thema EDItEUR::T Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Industrial processes::TB Technology: general issues::TBX History of engineering and technology Why the privatization of British Telecom signaled a pivotal moment in the rise of neoliberalism, and how it was shaped by the longer development and digitalization of Britain's telecommunications infrastructure.When Margaret Thatcher sold British Telecom for £3.6 billion in 1984, it became not only, at the time, the largest stock flotation in history, but also a watershed moment in the rise of neoliberalism and deregulation. In Visions of a Digital Nation, Jacob Ward offers an incisive interdisciplinary perspective on how technology prefigured this pivot. Giving due consideration to the politicians, engineers, and managers who paved the way for this historic moment, Ward illustrates how the decision validated the privatization of public utilities and tied digital technology to free market rationales.In this examination of the national and, at times, global history of technology, Ward's approach is sweeping. Utilizing infrastructure studies, environmental history, and urban and local history, Ward explores Britain's nationalist and welfarist plans for a digital information utility and shows how these projects contested and adapted to the “market turn” under Margaret Thatcher. Ultimately, Visions of a Digital Nation compellingly argues that politicians did not impose neoliberalism top-down, but that technology, engineers, and managers shaped these politics from the bottom up. 2024-10-25T13:17:37Z 2024-10-25T13:17:37Z 2023 book ONIX_20241025_9780262375528_83 9780262375528 9780262546294 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/146705 eng History of Computing image/jpeg n/a https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14210.001.0001 The MIT Press The MIT Press 10.7551/mitpress/14210.001.0001 10.7551/mitpress/14210.001.0001 ae0cf962-f685-4933-93d1-916defa5123d 9780262375528 9780262546294 The MIT Press 344 Cambridge open access |
| spellingShingle | Science, Technology & Society/History of Technology thema EDItEUR::T Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Industrial processes::TJ Electronics and communications engineering::TJK Communications engineering / telecommunications::TJKT Telephone technology thema EDItEUR::T Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Industrial processes::TB Technology: general issues::TBX History of engineering and technology Ward, Jacob Visions of a Digital Nation |
| title | Visions of a Digital Nation |
| title_full | Visions of a Digital Nation |
| title_fullStr | Visions of a Digital Nation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Visions of a Digital Nation |
| title_short | Visions of a Digital Nation |
| title_sort | visions of a digital nation |
| topic | Science, Technology & Society/History of Technology thema EDItEUR::T Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Industrial processes::TJ Electronics and communications engineering::TJK Communications engineering / telecommunications::TJKT Telephone technology thema EDItEUR::T Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Industrial processes::TB Technology: general issues::TBX History of engineering and technology |
| topic_facet | Science, Technology & Society/History of Technology thema EDItEUR::T Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Industrial processes::TJ Electronics and communications engineering::TJK Communications engineering / telecommunications::TJKT Telephone technology thema EDItEUR::T Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Industrial processes::TB Technology: general issues::TBX History of engineering and technology |
| url | ONIX_20241025_9780262375528_83 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT wardjacob visionsofadigitalnation |