An archaeology of innovation : approaching social and technological change in human society / Catherine J. Frieman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Frieman, Catherine, 1982-

Series:

Social archaeology and material worlds.

Social archaeology and material worlds

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Technological innovations--Social aspects--History.

Technological innovations.

Technology--Anthropological aspects.

Technology.

Social archaeology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 238 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2021.

Summary:

This book is the first monograph-length investigation of innovation and the innovation process from an archaeological perspective. We live in a world where innovation, innovativeness, creativity, and invention are almost laughably over-used buzzwords. Yet comparatively little research has been carried out on the long-term history of innovation beyond and before the Industrial Revolution. This monograph offers both a response and a sort of answer to the wider trans-disciplinary dialogue on innovation, invention, and technological and social change. The idea of innovation that permeates our popular media and our political and scientific discourse is set against the long-term perspective that only archaeology can offer in dialogue with a range of social theory about the development of new technologies and social structures. The book offers a new version of the story of human inventiveness from our earliest hominin ancestors to the present day. In doing so, it challenges the contemporary lionization of disruptive technologies, while also setting the post-Industrial-Revolution innovation boom into a deeper temporal and wider cultural context. It argues that the present narrow focus on pushing the adoption of technical innovations ignores the complex interplay of social, technological, and environmental systems that underlies truly innovative societies; the inherent connections between new technologies, technologists, and social structure that give them meaning and make them valuable; and the significance and value of conservative social practices that lead to the frequent rejection of innovations.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

List of figures

List of tables

Acknowledgments

List of abbreviations

Introduction

1 Innovation as discourse

2 Messy narratives/ flexible methodologies

3 Invention as process

4 Power, influence, and adoption

5 Pass it on

6 Tradition, continuity, and resistance

7 Create/ innovate

Conclusion

References

Index

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 03 Feb 2026).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-5261-6110-9

1-5261-3266-4

1-5261-3265-6

OCLC:

1237409881