å Wednesday, October 12th, 2016

Hi Maggie,

Keep in mind that relating these terms to Crawford’s work is an open-ended and exploratory task. That said, I chose this passage because in it Crawford is describing something about the nature of work that has shifted, a shift that he is relating to “technology.” One place to start would be to ask what Crawford is defining as shopcraft and to relate this to the work ethic that Weber describes. Both are interested defining a quality of work that can be connected to a “reality” of the world. For Weber, this reality might have something to do with the economic rationalism he points to when writing about the spirit of capitalism. I know this is vague. Just remember part of what I want you to do is read these pieces again and begin to create your own conclusions about how they relate to one another.

I hope this helps!

Elizabeth

Hello Everyone (including the Professor),

I am working on Part A of the midterm and am having trouble.  I began by defining all of the terms we need to include and I feel that I have a pretty good understanding of all of them.  I am having trouble linking them to Crawford, specifically the passage, “At such a moment, technology is no longer a means by which our mastery of the world is extended, but an affront to our usual self-absorption.”.  Are we supposed to be linking them to this passage?  And what does Crawford mean by “reality and reliability of the human world”? I don’t understand how Weber’s work ethic (and does this mean the Protestant work ethic?) is related to the “reality and reliability of the human world”.  Sorry for all of my questions. I am just really confused by this question.  Any help or guidance in the right direction is appreciated!

Maggie Wiesner