Ursula Franklin

Ursula Franklin
CC OOnt FRSC
Franklin in 2006 during the launch of The Ursula Franklin Reader at Massey College in Toronto
Born
Ursula Maria Martius

(1921-09-16)16 September 1921
Munich, Germany
Died22 July 2016(2016-07-22) (aged 94)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
NationalityCanadian
Alma mater
Known for
Spouse
Fred Franklin
​
(m. 1952)​
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
InstitutionsUniversity of Toronto

Ursula Martius Franklin CC OOnt FRSC (16 September 1921 – 22 July 2016) was a Canadian metallurgist, activist, research physicist, author, and educator who taught at the University of Toronto for more than 40 years.[1] Franklin is best known for her writings on the political and social effects of technology. She was the author of The Real World of Technology, which is based on her 1989 Massey Lectures; The Ursula Franklin Reader: Pacifism as a Map, a collection of her papers, interviews, and talks; and Ursula Franklin Speaks: Thoughts and Afterthoughts, containing 22 of her speeches and five interviews between 1986 and 2012. Franklin was a practising Quaker and actively worked on behalf of pacifist and feminist causes. She wrote and spoke extensively about the futility of war and the connection between peace and social justice.[2] Franklin received numerous honours and awards, including the Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case for promoting the equality of girls and women in Canada and the Pearson Medal of Peace for her work in advancing human rights. In 2012, she was inducted into the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame.[3] A Toronto high school, Ursula Franklin Academy, as well as Ursula Franklin Street on the University of Toronto campus, have been named in her honor.[4]

For Franklin, technology was much more than machines, gadgets or electronic transmitters. It was a comprehensive system that includes methods, procedures, organization, "and most of all, a mindset".[5] She distinguished between holistic technologies used by craft workers or artisans and prescriptive ones associated with a division of labour in large-scale production. Holistic technologies allow artisans to control their own work from start to finish. Prescriptive technologies organize work as a sequence of steps requiring supervision by bosses or managers.[6] Franklin argued that the dominance of prescriptive technologies in modern society discourages critical thinking and promotes "a culture of compliance".[7]

For some, Franklin belongs in the intellectual tradition of Harold Innis and Jacques Ellul who warn about technology's tendency to suppress freedom and endanger civilization.[8] Franklin herself acknowledged her debt to Ellul as well as to several other thinkers including Lewis Mumford, C. B. Macpherson, E. F. Schumacher, and Vandana Shiva.[9] She recognized that this list had few women.[10] In addition to the philosophy of technology, she believed that science was "severely impoverished because women are discouraged from taking part in the exploration of knowledge".[11]

  1. ^ Lumley, Elizabeth (editor) (2008), Canadian Who's Who 2008. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 439.
  2. ^ Franklin (Reader), pp. 2–5.
  3. ^ "U of T Engineers Inducted into Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame". Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, University of Toronto. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  4. ^ Lumley, p. 439.
  5. ^ Franklin (Real World), p. 12.
  6. ^ Franklin (Real World), pp. 18–20.
  7. ^ Franklin (Real World), p. 24.
  8. ^ Rose, Ellen. "An Interview with Heather Menzies (2003)." Antigonish Review. 1 January 2004, p. 113.
  9. ^ see Franklin (Reader) p. 210, for example, as well as the more comprehensive list on pp. 367–368.
  10. ^ Franklin, Ursula M. (1985). Will women change technology or will technology change women?. Ottawa: Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women / Institut canadien de recherches sur les femmes. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-919653-09-2. OCLC 16180074.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).