Reworking the Computer Age: Histories of Emotions, Work, and Gender

Taking a global perspective to the computer age reveals how work, gender, and emotions have shaped its history. Since the 1960s, workplaces have been key sites for the introduction of computers, transforming organizations, future imaginaries, and perceptions of self and others. Yet, contrary to dominant narratives, this process was neither smooth nor universally welcomed. Workers and organizations responded in diverse ways, forming distinct emotional communities amid profound change. Across eight chapters, case studies from Europe, Asia, and Latin America offer new insights into the global computer age and invite reflection on our present relationship with technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and ongoing workplace transformations.

Christiane Berth is a professor of contemporary history at Universität Graz. Her research interests include the global history of communication and technology, food and consumption, trade and migration, as well as the history of Mexico and Central America. She earned her doctorate from Universität Hamburg and has held academic positions at the universities of St. Gallen, Basel, Bern, and Costa Rica.

Michael M. Prentice is a senior lecturer in the School of Languages, Arts and Societies at the University of Sheffield. Trained as a linguistic and cultural anthropologist of Korea, his research broadly focuses on genres and technologies of communication in contemporary South Korea organizations. He did his PhD at the University of Michigan and previously held a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University.