Sensations of a New Age

Abstract

This chapter discusses the new sensations perceived as a result of the cultural and industrial shifts of modernity. It considers the new institutions which were since established at the dawn of the modern age and their emphasis on efficiency and social discipline, in the form of the drill, which shaped not only military bodies but also permeated schools, prisons, and museums as well. In addition, the chapter looks at how the nineteenth-century individual would come to experience tactile sensations in a vastly different city and domestic space from that of the Middle Ages. Moreover, it examines other new facets for sensuality in the modern, industrial age—the advent of electric power and the department store.

Collaborative Robots and Tangled Passages of Tactile-Affects

“…The intimacies of touch and embodiment within the material, social, and experiential conditions of labour have been mapped by cultural historians that attune their analysis to the sensory character of work, e.g. [20], [21]. Reviewing such scholarship uncovers 'tactile histories' of technologies in industry (for a detailed review of glass manufacturing see [2]).…”

Filtering Touch: An Ethnography of Dirt, Danger, and Industrial Robots

“…For glassmakers touch no longer operated through the tool-mediated feel when crafting objects, rather they now served machines ensuring that production lines do not stop and by feeding machines with oil (a manual practice called swabbing). Mechanization across industries distanced laborer’s and their touch from their products in both tangible and abstracted ways ( Classen 2012 ). Moreover, active tactile experiences of tool use gave way to a metallic and unresponsive alien tactility, where the “worker’s touch appeared automatic, almost unfeeling, simply part of the production process.…”

“…Our approach builds from the body to focus on touch. We refine this approach by drawing on perspectives from sensory history ( Classen 2012 ; Lindenlauf 2000 ) and an extended view of touch ( Jewitt et al 2020 ) to foreground touch within broader social and sensory dynamics. In doing so, we elevate touch through descriptions of workers’ experiences and identity formation.…”

“…Secondly, to articulate the benefits of attending to touch in these industrial contexts, we build our approach and argument upon historical perspectives that have analyzed the sociosensorial transformations of labor ( Classen 2012 ; Lindenlauf 2000 ). Here we recognize that workplaces evolve over time as new technologies are developed.…”