Wendell Berry And Luddism Essay

The Industrial Revolution was a major shift of technological, socioeconomic, and cultural conditions that occurred in the late 18th century and early 19th century in some Western countries. It began in Britain and spread throughout the world as industrialization. It marked a major turning point in human social history; almost every aspect of daily life and human society is, eventually, in some way influenced.

It continues to develop as it changes the society and every individual in it. When it began, it could not stop. As what Sales once said, "…the machines may change but their machineness does not…" (1995). It was perhaps his way of saying that when a machine is developed, one may invent something more effective than that particular machine but the result will still be a machine – nothing would change that. Thus, people will continue to be dependent on machines more than anything else. Kirkpatrick Sales is a well-known leader of Neo-Luddism today. He believes that the advance of technology will someday lead to the downfall of the world.
This study will have to focus on luddism especially on the various forms of luddism which are still present up to now.
This study is inspired by what Wendell Berry said, "I do not see that computers are bringing us one step nearer to anything that does matter: peace, economic justice, ecological health, political honesty, family and community stability, good work.". Berry is a known essayist and poet who does not use computers because they represent the system he opposes in his writing. He never said that he is a luddite but it goes to show that he is through his
writings.

"The Luddites were a social movement of English textile artisans in the early nineteenth century who protested — often by destroying textile machines — against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which they felt threatened their livelihood." (wikipedia)

The Luddites were known as a great organization who probably knows more than just to destroy computers. This can be proven with its well-planned operations and destructive revolts. They were very organized from the beginning. However, they did not cause much change for the future of technology.

The Neo-Luddites today have one main difference from the original Luddites. The Luddites of the 1800s were fighting for their lives, whereas today they are just fighting for a return to simpler times. The Neo-Luddites do not "fight" like the way the early Luddites did. Of course, they do not sabotage machines or computers to be recognized and listened to. Through their works, whatever forms they may be, the Neo-Luddites can convey what they want others to realize.

The characteristics that define luddism can be discovered in the Romantic poets, in the writings of Thomas Carlyle, John Ruskin, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. They can be found in the life and work of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement; in the work of potters such as Bernard Leach and his followers. Resistance to technology is a thread that winds through the writings of the Southern Agrarians and the novels of such diverse authors as Wallace Stegner, Iris Murdoch and John Fowles. It reaches its heights in such recent cult figures such as Robert Pirsig and Edward Abbey. Modern poets from Robinson Jeffers and Gary Snyder to W.S. Merwin express their anger against the technological juggernaut and its rampage across the landscape. These people are often considered as Neo-Luddites although not all of them claimed that they were.