In this podcast, Dr. Kaufmann discusses what she means by the term “sociotechnical,” and “paddy field predicament,” the fact that in the area she researched, paddy fields need to be continuously planted or they become damaged and less productive. We also discuss her argument that technology is not simply a matter of linear progress, and whether her argument is really different from the “appropriate technology” argument of the 1960’s and ‘70s. Furthermore, given that her data covers almost a decade, she discusses whether what she describes is just a transitional situation of multiple technologies, and whether there is a strong tendency for labor saving technology. We also talk about deskilling, and what she calls the “skill turn.” At the end, we talk about how her book was published “Open Access.”
Lena Kaufmann is the author of the new book “Rural-Urban Migration and Agro-Technological Change in Post-Reform China” published this year by Amsterdam University Press (available for download open access from the publisher here or from JSTOR here.
