What’s Wrong with Technocracy? (bostonreview.net)

Overview & Context 🔎

In this August 22, 2022 essay for Boston Review, political scientist Matthew Cole critiques technocracy—government by experts—arguing it poses deep threats to democracy due to concentrated power and flawed notions of expertise.

🧩 Core Arguments

• Unjust Power Concentration
  Expert rule can sideline citizens and centralize decision-making in unaccountable elites. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}

• Flawed Theory of Knowledge
  Experts might be ill-equipped to resolve the full spectrum of public concerns, especially value-laden and procedural questions outside technical domains.

⚠️ Democratic Implications

• Democratic empowerment must extend beyond material outcomes—it should allow public participation in shaping the values, norms, and processes that define policy.
• Policies designed to benefit “the public good” often hide value judgments and normative assumptions that merit democratic debate—not just expert implementation.

📚 Citation

Cole, M. (2022, August 22). What’s Wrong with Technocracy? Boston Review. Retrieved from https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/whats-wrong-with-technocracy/
Summary generated by ChatGPT (GPT‑4).