Social Engineering (Political Science)

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Social engineering [ 'səʊʃl ˌendʒɪ'niəɹɪŋ ] ( English "applied social science", literally social engineering) or social technology is called in social science or in political science efforts to create or improve social structures . The term was introduced by Karl Popper in his book The Open Society and Its Enemies in 1945 .

Popper criticized the idea that one could imagine an ideal society and then proceed to realize this ideal ; In contrast, social engineering advocated by Popper consists in only intervening in parts of society by creating suitable institutions in order to solve specific problems.

The term became popular in the early 1970s as an expression of the optimism with which it was believed at the time that human society could be transformed for the better with rational or engineering methods. In contrast to Popper's attitude, manipulative methods were not rejected.

Strictly speaking, this category goes back to John Broadus Watson , the founder of the American school of behaviorism. Watson's original intention behind this term was the socially critical idea that he could make whatever he wanted out of every child. The thesis was primarily directed against the view that the children of blacks are less intelligent than the descendants of the whites due to biogenetic factors. Watson wanted to use social engineering to prove that intelligence is primarily a socio-cultural, not a biological factor, i.e. it is primarily dependent on learning processes.

In the framework of the liberal market economy , the experimental methods of behaviorism have also been used to research human behavior “objectively” through tests in order to manipulate it according to certain interests. According to authors such as Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno , the interests behind the "objective" method are never identified or reflected upon as such in the sense of the objective self-image of "positive" science. Accordingly, they describe positive or empirical science as the most prominent manifestation of instrumental reason ( see also the Frankfurt School , Critical Theory ).

From the perspective of research on social engineering , a group of authors around the Institute for Contemporary History and an international group of researchers under the leadership of Martina Steber and Bernhard Gotto dealt with the central social vision of the Nazi era , the concept of the “ national community ”. This order model is examined for effects and appropriation practices in the social politics of Germany at the time. Social engineering as a cross-national approach in historical studies examines commonalities in the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century in order to understand similar methods of social formation in a larger context of ideas that emphasizes continuities rather than historical breaks. The focus is on the racial ideology and the General Plan East of the National Socialists, forced migrations after World War II, communist collectivization and the bureaucratized command economy of the Soviet Empire.

In the socio-political sense, the term has a rather negative connotation. Under social engineering today, all forms of government in the broadest sense (are legislative , executive , judiciary ) and non-governmental ( fourth power = Press, Media, Propaganda ) understood action, governed by which social coexistence and social change processes are started or blocked. The term assumes a purpose-oriented and rather technocratic ( technocracy ) approach of the respective actors that incorporates scientific knowledge .

Recent developments

In Richard Thaler's and Cass Sunstein's book Nudge . Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness is social engineering through decision design , i.e. the design of questionnaires, opt-in vs. Opt-out for organ donation cards and the like operated. Citizens should be allowed to make all decisions, but decisions that are viewed as positive should be made easy in the sense of libertarian paternalism. Such strategies are now being implemented politically .

See also

literature

  • Thomas Etzemüller (ed.): The order of modernity. Social engineering in the 20th century . Bielefeld 2009.
  • David Cake Book: Orderly Fellowship. Architects as social engineers - Germany and Sweden in the 20th century . Bielefeld 2010.
  • Timo Luks: The company as a place of modernity. On the history of industrial work, orderliness and social engineering in the 20th century . Bielefeld 2010.
  • Diana Siebert: Techniques of rule in the swamp and their ranges. Landscape interventions and social engineering in Polesia from 1914 to 1941 . Wiesbaden 2019. ISBN 978-3-447-11229-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martina Steber (Ed.), Bernhard Gotto (Ed.): Visions of community in Nazi Germany: social engineering and private lives . Oxford University Press , Oxford 2014, ISBN 9780199689590 , in English (Copac: bibliographic reference .)
  2. ^ Institute for Contemporary History : Visions of Community in Nazi Germany. Social Engineering and Private Lives . Review on www.ifz-muenchen.de
  3. ↑ Piotr Madajczyk; Paweł Popieliński (Ed.): Social Engineering - Between totalitarian utopia and “piecemeal pragmatism”. In: academia.edu. Institute for Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, 2014, accessed August 11, 2019 .