Socializing the Technosphere.

Scholarly interest in the technosphere is exploding. Most analyses define the technosphere as massive, modern, and autonomous. This article constructively critiques these claims, focusing on scale, time, and power. First, it suggests that the technosphere exists at multiple scales that intersect in myriad ways. Second, it shows that the technosphere has a three-million-year history, meaning that Homo sapiens and the technosphere coevolved. This coevolution implies that the technosphere is a profoundly social entity. Third, its history is about how human groups (usually white, male ones) have used technology to build a physical world that works to their advantage and is thus also an issue of power. As histories of pollution, climate change, and many other things show, the technosphere does not exist outside a powerless, undifferentiated humanity. Social and technological formations are thoroughly interwoven. Clark and Szerszynski have urged scholars to "socialize the Anthropocene." This article urges scholars to "socialize" the technosphere, to interrogate and explore its social dimensions.

Hippophagy in the UK: a failed dietary revolution.

This study explores the history of horseflesh consumption in modern Britain and France. It examines why horsemeat became relatively popular in France, but not Britain. These reasons include the active role of scientists, philanthropists, journalists and butchers. These figures did not actively promote horsemeat in Britain. These factors are as important as cultural and economic ones in explaining dietary transformation.