Symbolic Culture and Technological Change: The Cultural History of Aluminum as an Industrial Material
研究了铝的象征意义如何通过塑造期望影响其工业史，特别是围绕“现代”与“替代品”两种含义的争论在航空、电线、汽车等领域的表现。
The history of aluminum illustrates how the concept of symbolic meanings can help connect culture with business history. Aluminum's symbolic meanings played a crucial role in its industrial history, largely through the enthusiasm that greeted the introduction and diffusion of the metal. Symbolic meanings influence technological innovation through their role in shaping expectations, a role understood by the historical actors who engage in struggles over the meanings of competing innovations. For aluminum, this struggle centered on the conflict between the material's two major meanings: aluminum as modern and aluminum as ersatz. This debate over meanings has played out differently in aviation, electric wiring, and automobiles.