What Is Technocracy?
Technocracy means government by technicians guided by the imperatives of their technology: technical experts, rather than elected politicians or business leaders, make decisions. Part of the Technocratic family.
Definition
Technocracy means government by technicians guided by the imperatives of their technology: technical experts, rather than elected politicians or business leaders, make decisions.
Core ideas
- Control of industry should pass from business to engineers.
- Technological abundance would make economics based on scarcity obsolete.
- The price system would be replaced by a technocratic order.
Origins
The United States early in the 20th century, as part of the Progressive movement; it drew wide interest during the Great Depression.
Associated thinkers and leaders
Thorstein Veblen, Howard Scott
Definition based on Britannica: Technocracy (checked October 20, 2026).
Where Technocracy sits on the Atlas maps
| Map dimension | Score (0–100) | Position | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economic Collective / planned ↔ Market | 50 | near the center | |
| Social Progressive ↔ Traditional | 32 | toward progressive | |
| Authority Libertarian ↔ Authoritarian | 56 | near the center | |
| National identity Cosmopolitan ↔ Nationalist | 36 | near the center | |
| Foreign policy Non-intervention ↔ Intervention | 53 | near the center |
All nine underlying dimensions
| Dimension | Score | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Economic ownership Collective ownership ↔ Private ownership | 64 | near the center |
| Civil liberties Civil liberty ↔ State restrictions | 46 | near the center |
| National identity Cosmopolitan ↔ Nationalist | 36 | near the center |
| Social and cultural values Progressive ↔ Traditionalist | 35 | near the center |
| Political governance Democratic ↔ Autocratic | 65 | near the center |
| Equality and hierarchy Egalitarian ↔ Hierarchical | 65 | near the center |
| Economic management Free market ↔ State planning | 72 | toward state planning |
| Military intervention Non-intervention ↔ Intervention | 53 | near the center |
| Religion and government Secular state ↔ Religious authority | 25 | toward secular state |
These positions are estimates on the Atlas’s nine-dimension scale, produced by running the tradition’s core principles through the same questions and scoring used for test-takers. They are interpretations for comparison, not objective measurements. How scores are made.
Estimated positions on key questions
| Statement | Position | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Religious doctrine should take precedence over civil law when they conflict. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| The means of production should ultimately be owned collectively. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Preserving a historic national majority is a legitimate immigration objective. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| People should be free to criticize the government without fear of legal punishment. | Strongly agrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Same-sex couples should have the same right to marry as opposite-sex couples. | Strongly agrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Opposition parties should be free to compete in elections. | Agrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Class distinctions should gradually disappear. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Regulations on business should be minimized whenever possible. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Non-intervention should be the default even when allies request military assistance. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Laws should be based on secular reasoning rather than religious teaching. | Strongly agrees | estimated from doctrine |
Related ideologies
Main differences from the closest ideologies
- Compared with Democratic Technocracy, Technocracy sits 23 points further toward authoritarian on the authority dimension.
- Compared with Developmentalism, Technocracy sits 33 points further toward cosmopolitan on the national identity dimension.
- Compared with Technocratic Authoritarianism, Technocracy sits 27 points further toward libertarian on the authority dimension.
Figures with the closest estimated positions
Closeness of estimated positions only; this does not mean these people identify with Technocracy.
Sources
- Britannica: Technocracy
- Wikipedia: Technocracy (Wikipedia search)
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Democracy
Position last reviewed: not yet reviewed individually.