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Article ID: CBB615126328

Inching toward Modernity: Industrial Standards and the Fate of the Metric System in the United States (Spring 2022)

Business History Review
Volume: 96
Issue: 1
Pages: 47-76

URI: http://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/business-history-review/article/inching-toward-modernity-industrial-standards-and-the-fate-of-the-metric-system-in-the-united-states/38402785BD8C4E78AD1D447F3EDEF6AB

DOI: 10.1017/S0007680521000751

Publication Date: Spring 2022
Edition Details: Special issue on Standards and the Global Economy
Language: English

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Technology and State Modernity Engineers Standards and standardization Metric system Scientific management 20th century 19th century United States

That the United States stands almost alone among nations in its failure to adopt the metric system has long been blamed on conservative, reactionary forces. This paper argues against this interpretation, which passes for conventional wisdom in both academic and popular circles. It instead contends that attacks on the metric system in the late nineteenth and twentieth century originated with progressive engineers, entrepreneurs, and industrialists who had taken the lead in setting the nation's first industrial standards. Far from being backward-looking reactionaries, they enjoyed reputations as cutting-edge leaders in the development of the machine-tool industry, the railroads, and the metal-working industries. Many of them pioneered new methods of management that privileged rationality, efficiency, and systemic approaches; indeed, they strongly influenced the development of what became known as scientific management. These individuals deftly advanced their cause through the nation's political institutions, thwarting the metric cause.

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Associated with

Article Yates, JoAnne; Murphy, Craig N. (Spring 2022) Introduction: Standards and the Global Economy. Business History Review (pp. 3-15). unapi

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB615126328/

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