Electrical Jerusalem
Electrical Jerusalem
Chapter 6 is devoted to the domestication of electricity in the 1940s and the emergence of new sociopolitical friction points. With the economic upturn of the war years, electricity entered people’s homes, and the appliances it powered became essential to daily life. It created new categories of crime, such as electricity theft, and new public and domestic hazards, such as electrocution. Electricity flowed through some communities, uniting them, and between others, marking their separation. Most notably, the rolling blackouts in effect during World War II became a flashpoint of social, political, and economic conflict, as inhabitants throughout the country had come to rely on electricity for such public goods as policing, medical treatment, religious practice, and commerce.
Keywords: domestication of electricity, electricity theft, electrocution, blackouts
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