Technocracy

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Short description: Form of government ruled by experts

A technocracy is a model of governance wherein decision-makers are chosen for office based on their technical expertise and background. A technocracy differs from a traditional democracy in that individuals selected to a leadership role are chosen through a process that emphasizes their relevant skills and proven performance, as opposed to whether or not they fit the majority interests of a popular vote.

This system is sometimes presented as explicitly contrasting with representative democracy, the notion that elected representatives should be the primary decision-makers in government,[1] despite the fact that technocracy does not imply eliminating elected representatives. In a technocracy, decision-makers rely on individuals and institutions possessing specialized knowledge and data-based evidence rather than advisors with political affiliations or loyalty.

The term technocracy was initially used to signify the application of the scientific method to solving social problems. In its most extreme form, technocracy is an entire government running as a technical or engineering problem and is mostly hypothetical. In more practical use, technocracy is any portion of a bureaucracy run by technologists. A government in which elected officials appoint experts and professionals to administer individual government functions, and recommend legislation, can be considered technocratic.[2][3] Some uses of the word refer to a form of meritocracy, where the most suitable are placed in charge, ostensibly without the influence of special interest groups.[4] Critics have suggested that a "technocratic divide" challenges more participatory models of democracy, describing these divides as "efficacy gaps that persist between governing bodies employing technocratic principles and members of the general public aiming to contribute to government decision making".[5]

History of the term

The term technocracy is derived from the Greek words τέχνη (tekhne), meaning 'skill', and κράτος (kratos), meaning 'power', as in 'governance, rule'. William Henry Smyth, a California engineer, is usually credited with inventing the word technocracy in 1919 to describe "the rule of the people made effective through the agency of their servants, the scientists and engineers", although the word had been used before on several occasions.[4][6][7] Smyth used the term Technocracy in his 1919 article "Technocracy—Ways and Means to Gain Industrial Democracy" in the journal Industrial Management (57).[8] Smyth's usage referred to industrial democracy: a movement to integrate workers into decision-making through existing firms or revolution.[8]

In the 1930s, through the influence of Howard Scott and the technocracy movement he founded, the term technocracy came to mean government by technical decision making, using an energy metric of value. It was based on organising and directing economic activity within a geographical region nearly self-sufficient in resources and with a highly developed technology. Scott proposed that money be replaced by energy certificates denominated in units such as ergs or joules, equivalent in total amount to an appropriate national net energy budget, and then distributed equally among the North American population, according to resource availability.[9][1]

The derivative term technocrat is found in common usage. The word technocrat can refer to someone exercising governmental authority because of their knowledge,[10] "a member of a powerful technical elite", or "someone who advocates the supremacy of technical experts".[11][2][3] McDonnell and Valbruzzi define a prime minister or minister as a technocrat if "at the time of their appointment to government, they: have never held public office under the banner of a political party; are not a formal member of any party; and are said to possess recognized non-party political expertise which is directly relevant to the role occupied in government".[12]

Precursors

Before the term technocracy was coined, technocratic or quasi-technocratic ideas involving governance by technical experts were promoted by various individuals, most notably early socialist theorists such as Henri de Saint-Simon. This was expressed by the belief in state ownership over the economy, with the state's function being transformed from pure philosophical rule over men into a scientific administration of things and a direction of production processes under scientific management.[13] According to Daniel Bell:

"St.-Simon's vision of industrial society, a vision of pure technocracy, was a system of planning and rational order in which society would specify its needs and organize the factors of production to achieve them."[14]

Citing the ideas of St.-Simon, Bell concludes that the "administration of things" by rational judgment is the hallmark of technocracy.[14]

Alexander Bogdanov, a Russian scientist and social theorist, also anticipated a conception of technocratic process. Both Bogdanov's fiction and his political writings suggest that he was concerned that a coming revolution against capitalism could lead to a technocratic society.[15]: 114 

From 1913 until 1922, Bogdanov immersed himself in writing a lengthy philosophical treatise of original ideas, Tectology: Universal Organization Science. Tectology anticipated many basic ideas of systems analysis, later explored by cybernetics. In Tectology, Bogdanov proposed unifying all social, biological, and physical sciences by considering them as systems of relationships and seeking organizational principles that underlie all systems.

Characteristics

Technocrats are individuals with technical training and occupations who perceive many important societal problems as being solvable with the applied use of technology and related applications. The administrative scientist Gunnar K. A. Njalsson theorizes that technocrats are primarily driven by their cognitive "problem-solution mindsets" and only in part by particular occupational group interests.[16]

Critiques

Critics have suggested that a "technocratic divide" exists between a governing body controlled to varying extents by technocrats and members of the general public.[5] Technocracy privileges the opinions and viewpoints of technical experts, exalting them into a kind of aristocracy while marginalizing the opinions and viewpoints of the general public.[17]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Berndt, Ernst R. (1982). "From technocracy to net energy analysis: engineers, economists and recurring energy theories of value". Alfred P. Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/2023/SWP-1353-09057784.pdf. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Who, What, Why: What can technocrats achieve that politicians can't?". BBC. November 14, 2011. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15720438. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Technocrats: Minds like machines". The Economist. 19 November 2011. https://www.economist.com/international/2011/11/19/minds-like-machines. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "History and Purpose of Technocracy by Howard Scott". Technocracy.org. http://www.technocracy.org/Archives/History%20&%20Purpose-r.htm. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Obar, Jonathan A. (2016). "Closing the Technocratic Divide? Activist Intermediaries, Digital Form Letters, and Public Involvement in FCC Policy Making". International Journal of Communication 10. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/download/4821/1865. 
  6. ↑ "Who Is A Technocrat? – Wilton Ivie – (1953)". 2001-03-11. http://www.technocracy.org/periodicals/nwtechnocrat/237/who-is-a-technocrat.html. 
  7. ↑ Barry Jones (1995, fourth edition). Sleepers, Wake! Technology and the Future of Work, Oxford University Press, p. 214.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Oxford English Dictionary 3rd edition (Word from 2nd edition 1989)
  9. ↑ "Technocracy - Define Technocracy at Dictionary.com". Dictionary.com. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/technocracy. 
  10. ↑ "Technocracy facts, information, pictures". http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Technocracy.aspx. 
  11. ↑ Wickman, Forrest (November 11, 2011). "What's a Technocrat?". The Slate Group. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2011/11/technocrats_and_the_european_debt_crisis_what_s_a_technocrat_.html. 
  12. ↑ McDonnell, Duncan; Valbruzzi, Marco (2014). "Defining and classifying technocrat-led and technocratic governments". European Journal of Political Research 53 (4): 654–671. doi:10.1111/1475-6765.12054. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261568742. 
  13. ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica, Saint Simon; Socialism
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Bell, Daniel (2008). The Coming Of Post-industrial Society. Basic Books. p. 76. ISBN 978-0465097135. https://archive.org/details/comingofpostindu00bell_0. Retrieved 2014-11-02. 
  15. ↑ Remington, Thomas F. (1984). Building socialism in Bolshevik Russia: ideology and industrial organization 1917-1921. Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0-8229-3809-X. https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A31735057896064/viewer#page/1/mode/2up. 
  16. ↑ Njálsson, Gunnar K. A. (2005). "From Autonomous to Socially Conceived Technology: Toward a Causal, Intentional and Systematic Analysis of Interests and Elites in Public Technology Policy". Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory 52 (108): 56–81. doi:10.3167/th.2005.5210805. 
  17. ↑ Fisher, W. R. (1987). Human communication as narration: Toward a philosophy of reason, value and action. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. 

See also




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