Alternating Currents : : Nationalized Power in France, 1946-1970 / / Robert Frost.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Cornell University Press Archive Pre-2000
• VerfasserIn: Frost, Robert,
• Place / Publishing House: Ithaca, NY : : Cornell University Press, , [2019]; ©1991
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (288 p.)

Examining the historical trajectory of France's bold experiment in nationalizing all electrical power services, Alternating Currents offers the fullest history of Electricité de France (EDF) available in any language. EDF, which was established in 1946, was intended to give France both the relatively inexpensive infrastructure considered necessary for rapid economic growth and the institutional framework for a more egalitarian social structure in which workers would play a more decisive role in social and economic decision making. As Robert Frost demonstrates, EDF was spectacularly successful in meeting its technological and economic goals, but failed to fulfill the social and political vision of its founders.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Abbreviations Used in the Text -- Introduction -- 1. Prelude to a Nationalization -- 2. The Politics of Nationalizing Electricity -- 3. The French State and EDF's Corporate Culture, 1946-1934 -- 4. The Relations of Production: EDF Managers and French Political Economy -- 5. The Means of Production: Technological Choice at EDF -- 6. The Forces of Production: Work and Work Life at EDF, 1934-1970 -- Epilogue -- Appendix -- Selected Bibliography -- Index