Appropriate Technology and Social Values: A Critical Appraisal

In 1978, an international conference on technology choice and social values in the developed and developing nations was held at the Wingspread Conference Center of the Johnson Foundation in Racine, Wisconsin. The conference, organized by the American Academy, the International Pugwash Council, and the U.S. Pugwash Committee, was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Johnson Foundation, and the Exxon Corporation. A number of the papers prepared for the symposium have been edited by Franklin A. Long (Cornell University) and Alexandra Oleson (American Academy of Arts and Sciences) for publication in a volume to be issued early in 1980 by the Ballinger Publishing Company. What follows is Mr. Long's introduction to the volume.