This bit "Thermodynamic theories served a society committed to laissez-faire competition." is just ... I don't know where to begin. Of course it inevitably lea

This bit "Thermodynamic theories served a society committed to laissez-faire competition." is just ... I don't know where to begin. Of course it inevitably leads into the idea that if we had just thought differently about the "sense of energy" and whatnot, things would be different. It has the ominous hint of Irigaray's bit about E=mc^2 being sexist because it "privileges" the speed of light ... No, physics is always there, and it doesn't matter if the original science was done by cutthroat capitalists or gulag-exiling communists. If you want a decent sociological perspective of the realities of physics, I would instead suggest building on just how uncomfortable a given reality seems to make some, everything else is window dressing and justifications.