fense requirements rather than of economic goals. "Military-industrial" policy, which created the atomic bomb and the aerospace industry, also gave birth to the computer industry. Only subsequently did corporations begin to develop and market computers for commercial use.
Much later still, in the mid-seventies, developments in computer technology rendered computer technology inexpensive enough that it became available to hobbyists. At this point distinctly American cultural traditions took hold; a tradition of technological utopianism, and a kindred tradition of hobbyist-entrepreneurs. Only this distinct cultural pattern, having no equivalent in Japan, made possible the development of the personal computer. Likewise, only the American culture of entreneurial small business and volunteerism provided the customer base that made the personal-computer industry profitable and allowed it to mature.
We may now turn to the role of culture in shaping the development of technology policy. At the most basic level, culture is the primary determinant not only of the restraints placed upon governmental policy makers, but of the whole manner in which they perceive their task. This may be made much clearer by looking at the cultural environment in which technology policy is shaped in Japan, where a centralized approach to technology policy has emerged naturally out of the culture. In Japan, the leading role of government in shaping the planning and development of technology is taken for granted. Acceptance of this role is of a piece with the broader Japanese acceptance of active, dirigiste governmental intervention in economic life, and it is ultimately rooted in the way that the Japanese people look at themselves and their society.
The Japanese social and economic system, with its tradition of lifetime employment and its corporate anthems, has been aptly characterized as industrial feudalism (Sayles, 1992). To characterize the...