The philosophy of technology makes an increasing emphasis on the role of precisely the technical intelligentsia in the model of today's world. Back in the middle of the last century, the concept of technocracy, which was the result of stunning progress in science, gained popularity among specialists.
Thorstein Veblen and his work
What is technocracy? A brief definition of this concept, which implied the power of engineers, appeared and was developed in the works of Torstein Veblen. To a large extent, this applies to the social utopia of his authorship, entitled “Engineers and the Price System, ” published in 1921. In it, experts in the field of technology and science act in the service of progress in industry and society, they are in power to replace financiers and the highest circles of society for the common good. According to Veblen's ideas, in the twentieth century the time came to unite technicians and become the main places in the rational control of society. At that time, one could say that technocracy is a successful concept, and Veblen's speeches found a special response from Burl, Frisch and others.
The emergence of the movement of technocrats
In the third decade of the twentieth century in the United States, when society was undergoing an economic crisis, a movement such as technocracy arose. The definition of his program and principles was based on the idea of an ideal social mechanism, which fully corresponded to Veblen's ideas. Adherents of technocracy proclaimed the coming new time, a society in which all needs are satisfied, a society in which engineers and technicians will take the lead. They also provided for the regulation of the economic sphere without crises, the correct distribution of resources and other issues.
The movement of technocrats gained momentum. There were more than three hundred organizations that dreamed of an industrial revolution and scientific planning applicable to the whole country.
Technocracy in the works of Bernheim and Galbraith
In 1941, James Burnheim, a sociologist from America, published the book Managers' Revolution. In it, he argued that technocracy is a real political line in several countries. He noted that the technocratic revolution affects society so much that it is not socialism that replaces capitalism, but a "society of managers." Control is associated with property, in the absence of one there is no other. Ownership and control in the state and large corporations are divided. Bernheim believed that the property should belong to controlling, that is, managers.
In the 60-70s, the idea of technocracy was developed in the works of John Kenneth Galbraith "Economic Theories and Goals of Society" and "New Industrial Society." The concept of "technostructure" is the basis of the Galbraith concept. It is a public hierarchy of specialists in the technical field, it is a "carrier of collective intelligence and solutions."
The more actively industrial society develops, the “technostructure” becomes more and more important not only in economic issues, but also in public administration. It is for this reason that political authority should be concentrated among technical specialists who apply knowledge and science to manage society.
Technocracy is the basis of the theory of the “technotronic society” of Zbigniew Brzezhinsky and the “post-industrial society” of Daniel Bell.
Technocrat Daniel Bell
Daniel Bell is a sociologist and professor at Harvard, representing the technocratic direction in philosophy. In the 60s, he introduced the theory of post-industrial society. In it, Bell set out a vision of the changes in capitalism as a result of the influence of progress in science and technology, its transformation into a new system that would be different from industrial society and would be freed from its paradoxes.
Criticism of technocratic principles
The reality of the technocrats' predictions has long been beyond doubt. In the second half of the twentieth century, it was time for amazing discoveries, growing productivity and better living standards in many countries. Along with positive processes, technological progress has led to the intensification of many negative phenomena that put human existence at risk. Criticism of technocracy, idealized perspectives was expressed in a selection of works of art, which included anti-utopias: Utopia 14 by Carl Vonnegut, 451 degrees Fahrenheit Ray Bradbury, Oh, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, 1984 by George Orwell and others.These works are a threat to humanity, a condemnation of the totalitarian society of technocrats, in which the spread of freedom and individuality of man by extremely developed science and technology.
