{"product_id":"the-government-machine-paperback-by-jon-agar","title":"The Government Machine Paperback by Jon Agar","description":"\u003cbody\u003e\n                \n                    \n                        \u003ch2\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n                        \u003cul\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cb\u003eThe MIT Press\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e(2016-12-16)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLanguage\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003eEnglish\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePaperback\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e564\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cb\u003epages\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eISBN-13\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e9780262533881\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eItem Weight\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e368.55\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cb\u003egrams\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e0.0 x 0.0 x 0.0\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cb\u003ecm\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                        \u003c\/ul\u003e\n                        \u003cbr\u003e\n                        \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn examination of technology and politics in the evolution of the British \"government machine.\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Government Machine,\u003c\/i\u003e Jon Agar traces the mechanization of government work in the United Kingdom from the nineteenth to the early twenty-first century. He argues that this transformation has been tied to the rise of \"expert movements,\" groups whose authority has rested on their expertise. The deployment of machines was an attempt to gain control over state action—a revolutionary move. Agar shows how mechanization followed the popular depiction of government as machine-like, with British civil servants cast as components of a general purpose \"government machine\"; indeed, he argues that today's general purpose computer is the apotheosis of the civil servant.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOver the course of two centuries, government has become the major repository and user of information; the Civil Service itself can be seen as an information-processing entity. Agar argues that the changing capacities of government have depended on the implementation of new technologies, and that the adoption of new technologies has depended on a vision of government and a fundamental model of organization. Thus, to study the history of technology is to study the state, and vice versa.\u003c\/p\u003e\n                        \u003ch3\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n                        \u003cp\u003eJon Agar directed the UK National Archive for the History of Computing from 1994 to 2001. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eScience and Spectacle: The Work of Jodrell Bank in Postwar British Culture\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTuring and the Universal Machine: The Making of the Modern Computer\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eConstant Touch: A Global History of the Mobile Phone\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n                    \n                \n            \u003c\/body\u003e","brand":"Best Bookstore","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":46552573018273,"sku":"BBSNIJ9780262533881","price":71.1,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/2084\/5473\/files\/9780262533881.jpg?v=1781709634","url":"https:\/\/www.bestbookstore.ca\/products\/the-government-machine-paperback-by-jon-agar","provider":"Best Book Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}