Control Science. How Management Made the Modern World

Throughout history, from the sprawling plantations of the Caribbean in the 17th century to the bustling Amazon warehouses of today, the powerful have continually crafted innovative methods to manage their workforce, along with new rationalizations for such control. Techniques initially honed on the factory floor have gradually permeated into broader aspects of our lives, influencing personal choices, political freedoms, national policies, and even the global economy. Thinkers like William Petty and John Locke in the 17th century posited that individuals were inherently self-serving entities needing external control for their own benefit. By the following century, figures such as Jeremy and Samuel Bentham sought to encapsulate this idea through their notorious Panopticon prison concept. As 19th-century Japanese leaders absorbed European manufacturing techniques, they evolved new political control theories to legitimize these changes. Post-World War II, General Electric strategically crafted internal propaganda aimed at weakening union influence, enlisting actor and future president Ronald Reagan to disseminate these ideas nationwide. Today, billionaires aspire to apply the level of control seen in Amazon's algorithm-driven warehouses to all facets of life. In "Control Science," Henry Snow presents an enthralling and insightful historical narrative that interweaves intellectual, economic, and labor history. He exposes how supposed common sense regarding labor, economics, and human nature was deliberately constructed and underscores the urgent need to reassess these societal norms.