Call for papers: Technological Optimism in 1970s and 1980s Popular Culture: Innovation, Creativity, Prosperity, and Freedom

 Call for papers: Technological Optimism in 1970s and 1980s Popular Culture: Innovation, Creativity, Prosperity, and Freedom - Mainz 04/2026

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This conference seeks to explore the cultural and intellectual roots of technological optimism in the 1970s and 1980s, decades that tend to be better known for their pervasive undercurrents of pessimism about threats to the natural environment and human well-being. Nonetheless, significant technological advances continued, and transformative visions of progress gained traction, paving the way for the techno-utopianism of the 1990s. We aim to examine how the popular culture and creative expression of the era captured and amplified positive beliefs in technology’s power to foster innovation, creativity, prosperity and freedom.

Technological Optimism in 1970s and 1980s Popular Culture: Innovation, Creativity, Prosperity, and Freedom

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John C. Wood / Thorsten Wübbena (Leibniz Institute of European History) (Leibniz Institute of European History, Mainz), 55116 Mainz (Deutschland)

15.04.2026 - 17.04.2026

Bewerbungsschluss: 11.09.2025

We invite scholars, historians, technologists and cultural critics to submit papers addressing the historical and cultural dimensions of technological optimism during this pivotal era.

Debates surrounding technology’s place in our lives are highly polarised. Its critics highlight the dangers and crises technology brings: climate change, pervasive surveillance, ever-deadlier weapons, behavioural manipulation and an alleged dehumanisation in work and private life. At the same time, there are many vehement assertions of technology’s transformative and liberating potential, whether as a solution to environmental crisis, a way to extend human possibility, a vehicle for individual expression or simply as an engine of progress generally.

While technology itself is constantly changing, the topics that it raises — and even the language in which it is debated — are far from new. Through this conference, we aim to explore the historical roots of present discussions, focusing on the 1970s and 1980s and issues such as:

- Why did optimistic beliefs in technology thrive despite the challenges of the time?

- What strategies did techno-optimists use to counter the arguments of technological pessimism?

- How did technological optimism build upon previous developments and/or shape the development of subsequent innovations?

We encourage papers that situate technological optimism within this broader historial context, connecting the period’s cultural, political, and social currents to its technological innovations.

We also hope to account for the complex geographic landscape of technological optimism and thus welcome contributions that address, for example, visions of technological optimism behind the Iron Curtain or those to be found beyond Europe and North America in the period in question. 

More detailed information about the conference’s themes, aims and topics is available at its website: https://ieg-dhr.github.io/techno_optimism/

Please submit an abstract by 11.09.2025 of no more than 500 words (references  excluded) to the organisers at digital@ieg-mainz.de for a 20-minute presentation (plus discussion), clearly  outlining your proposed paper’s focus, methodology, and relevance to the  conference theme. Include your name, institutional affiliation, and contact information with your abstract.