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摘要

In his 2005 book, Knowing Capitalism, Nigel Thrift coined the phrase "technological unconscious" to describe the infrastructure that underpins modern society and yet mostly goes unnoticed in everyday life. Electricity is a good example of this. Indeed, so inured to its presence have we become that it is often only the lack of it that brings it to our attention. Such lacks - in the form of sudden and disruptive blackouts - are the subject of a fascinating recent paper from Hugh Byrd and Steve Matthewman in the Journal of Urban Studies. The study examined 50 blackouts that have taken place around the world over the last decade and offers an insight into the "technology and sociology of power failure" - or, to put it another way, the causes and effects of blackouts.