Examining the proliferation of reinforced concrete construction in the US after 1900, the author considers how scientific approaches and occupations displaced traditionally skilled labour. She tests the thesis that modern mass production came about as a result of occupational and cultural agendas.

Based on data that includes university curricula, laboratory and company records, organizational proceedings, blueprints, and promotional materials as well as physical evidence such as tools, instruments, building materials and surviving reinforced-concrete buildings, this book tests the thesis that modern mass production in the United States came about not simply in answer to manufacturers' search for profits, but as a result of a complex of occupational and cultural agendas.