Domesticating Electricity:

Technology, Uncertainty and Gender, 1880–1914

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Graeme Gooday

Science and Culture in the Nineteenth Century

This is an innovative and original socio-cultural study of the history of electricity during the late Victorian and Edwardian periods. Gooday shows how technology, authority and gender interacted in pre-World War I Britain. The rapid take-up of electrical light and domestic appliances on both sides of the Atlantic had a wide-ranging effect on consumer habits and the division of labour within the home. Electricity was viewed by non-experts as a potential threat to domestic order and welfare. This broadly interdisciplinary study relates to a website developed by the author on the history of electricity.

Sample pages

• Domesticating Electricity: Index
• Domesticating Electricity: Introduction

Readership

History of Science, Nineteenth Century Studies, Gender Studies

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