Technocracy

What Does Technocracy Mean?

Technocracy is an ideology that models government in such a way that emphasizes technical skill and efficiency. In theory, technocracy is pragmatist before it is populist. Ideally, technocratic leadership is assigned based on merit, rather than influence or inheritance. Technocracy is naturally not conducive to career politicians, instead favoring government leaders who specialize in other relevant trades and industries than politics and government.

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Techopedia Explains Technocracy

The idea of technocracy dates back to at least the Great Depression era, but has never been implemented into government in any universally recognizable way. Nevertheless, there have been some notable attempts to establish technocracy as an accepted political movement, and there is reason to believe that it could gain new traction in the twenty-first century.

The movement has intersected with both communist and capitalist circles. It is difficult to identify who coined the term “technocracy,” however it is known for having been temporarily appropriated by a controversial figure named Howard Scott in order to try to start a political movement of sorts in the period between World Wars I and II.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…