Selling the Skies: Economic History of Radio, Aeronautics, & Satellites
STS 354
Spring 2027
| Section:
01
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Radio, airplanes, and satellites are the bread and butter of the military-industrial complex. At the same time, they are consumer technologies that symbolize globalization and free communication and movement. In this class we will study how the skies and heavens became key sites of corporate and state investment. We will answer the questions: What is the role of state investment and industrial policy in the development of these industries? How did corporations drive military innovation and how did the state drive consumer innovation? How did economists, engineers, and lawyers come to think of radio, airspace, and outer space as private property or a commodity? How did organized labor, anti-war activists, and anti-imperialist revolutionaries shape these industries? What is the role of business tycoons in shaping national and international politics? Long before Elon Musk were enigmatic businessmen like Guglielmo Marconi, Theodore Vail, and Howard Hughes. Students will be introduced to methods in business history, social history, critical political economy, and STS. They will conduct their own research on related topics. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS STS |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (Science and Technology Studies) |
| SECTION 01 |
| Instructor(s): Muller,Charli Times: ....R.. 01:20PM-04:10PM; Location: TBA |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 3 | JR major: 4 | | |
| | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 4 | JR non-major: 4 | SO: 0 | FR: 0 |
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