Histories of Human Engineering: Tact and Technology

Maarten Derksen

jun 2017 · Cambridge University Press

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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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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.