Architects and Engineers: Two Types of Technocrat and Their Relation to Democracy. Issue 1 (2nd July 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Moore, Alfred
• Is Part Of: Critical review. Volume 32:Issue 1/3(2020)
• Page Start: 164
• Page End: 181
• Publication Date: 2020-07-02
• Subjects: democratic technocracy -- epistocracy -- exitocracy -- naïve technocratic realism -- public ignorance -- radical ignorance -- technocracy; Libertarianism -- United States -- Periodicals; 320.512
• DOI: 10.1080/08913811.2020.1857610
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0891-3811

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Technocracy is a contested concept, but it is typically associated with the exercise of political power justified by claims to expertise, and is often contrasted with populist forms of politics. In Power Without Knowledge, Jeffrey Friedman reframes the concept of technocracy as a form of politics oriented to solving social and economic problems, and thereby extends it to cover not only epistemic elites but ordinary people. This move usefully challenges the simplistic framing of populism and technocracy as opposites, but at the expense of effacing other dimensions of democratic politics. Friedman also suggests that maximizing individuals' exit opportunities will allow them to take advantage of their relatively reliable personal knowledge. The architecture of "exitocracy" would itself, however, be designed by experts who, as such, might be tempted to insulate the institutional architecture they design against democratic interference.