Technocracy
A Technocracy is defined as a system in which people with a lot of knowledge about science or technology control a society.[1] William Henry Smyth has been recognized as inventing the word "technocracy" in 1919 to describe as he put it: "the rule of the people made effective through the agency of their servants, the scientists and engineers"[2]. Smyth had Industrial Democracy in mind when he coined the term[3].
James Burnham
In his seminal work The Managerial Revolution, Burnham lists Technocracy as one of four managerial ideologies alongside Communism, Nazism, and New Dealism.
Technocracy and Socialism
Technocracy has drawn comparison with early socialist theorists such as Henri de Saint-Simon.
In addition, Upton Sinclair was very excited[4] about the coming Technocracy movement and lauded its arrival. He wrote:
| â | Socialists have been saying pretty much the same thing for the past two generations. But then, nobody pays much attention to us Socialists. This time, however, it is the leading experts of the engineering profession who are speaking - the sort of people the American public looks up to.[5] | â |
Stuart Chase, an early member of the Technical Alliance, was also an ardent socialist.
See Also
References
- â technocracy: definition. Merriam-Webster.
- â Jones, Barry. Sleepers, Wake! Technology and the Future of Work. Oxford University Press, 214.Â
- â Smyth, William H.. Technocracy Parts I-IV., Working Explosively, A Protest Against Mechanistic Efficiency. Working Explosively Versus Working Efficiently. Berkeley Gazette. âTechnocracy Part III., "Technocracy" - Ways and Means To Gain Industrial DemocracyâÂ
- â Arthur M. Schlesinger (2003). The Crisis of the Old Order, 1919-1933 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, p. 463.
- â "Technocracy's Theory Lauded by Socialists", 23 December 1932.Â