READING QUESTIONS
Marvin, Carolyn. 1988. When Old Technologies Were New.
(Chap. 3)

1. The sub-title of this chapter is "competing authorities." Who are the competing authorities? (Hint: they are related to groups identified in earlier chapters)
2. Why does Marvin focus on the body?
3. What do you think she means when she states that the body is at the juncture of nature and culture?
4. What are the views of electrical experts vs. lay people about nature and electricity, according to Marvin?
5. Find examples of expression of people's hopes and fears about electrical utopias in Marvin's cites from the primary literature
6. What are the various ways religious authorities addressed electricity's potential, according to Marvin?
7. What social codes or values (for example, about gender) can you detect in the sections "the Electrically Transformed Body" and "Special Powers of the Body and the Body Inscribed"?
8. Marvin argues that electricity as a theme was used to frame pre-existing concerns about fate, and to exploit pre-existing public fascinations with "freaks," fantastic entertainments, etc. Find examples.
9. What kinds of man-machine comparisons does Marvin find in the primary literature? What hopes and fears might these comparisons express?
10. What hopes and fears were expressed about electricity's use in war or for executions?
11. Critique Marvin's arguments in this chapter.

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