I’m writing a paper on technology and music. I’m trying to sum it up and I just want to give some mention to the different movements both for and against modern technology in art and music, or anything more generally as well, to envoke the idea of an on-going, ever-changing polarization of points of view as they change over time.
Did that make any sense at all? Basically I want to mention how different generations go back and forth in terms of their willingness to accept technology. I’m thinking of the Ludd and the Italian Futurists and the hippies and the 90’s ravers.
Also, if you could tell me a bit more about the Ludd and the futurists, and just a sentence or 2 about any groups you care to contribute, so I can be sure of using them in the right context, that would be great. Oh, and it’s due tomorrow!
The Luddites were more like 200 years ago. If you want to learn more about them, I suggest a Google search on “General Ludd textiles”. (This is a polite way of saying, “Do your own research.”)
Moe: You could do worse than checking out Christopher Hill’s writing on the Luddites. Something you should bear in mind is that the Luddites were not opposed to the use of new technology per se. What they were opposed to was that they would be displaced from their traditional occupations. What most of them wanted was local control over the introduction of any new technology – they wanted time to adapt to it and to come up with mechanisms that would allow local producers to control the equipment (Marx’s “the workers will control the means of production” two centuries or more before he coined the phrase).
You’ll want to look at the Arts and Crafts movement in the first decade or two of the 20th century. It’s also known as Art Nouveau. It was a reaction against the rise of mass produced decorative items.
As a quasi-hijack, you could also look into the history of technology as applied to making music. The electric guitar and the synthesizer have predominated music since the middle of the twentieth century. You might also look at how the introduction of records and radio effected the marketing of music.
