Cultures of Power: Electrification, Politics, and Visibility in Greater Los Angeles

“Cultures of Power” tells the story of the electrification of greater Los Angeles from the first introduction of electric light in 1882 through 1969. Whereas scholars have previously examined how electrification has either preceded urbanization or amended pre-existing urban forms, in Southern California these two processes took place simultaneously, with each indelibly shaping the other. The result was not only a new model of American urbanism, but also a transformative approach to electric system development that shaped that industry’s growth worldwide. Greater Los Angeles and its electric systems, I argue, emerged from a decades-long process of co-creation fueled by differing perceptions of local landscapes, regional political conflict, and an emerging local mass culture fixated on electric symbols and products. I use this decades-long arc to illustrate how electricity’s social prominence shifted in response not merely to the passage of time and the growing familiarity of electric technologies, but rather as a consequence of choices made by Angeleno institutions and individuals.