technocracy

American  

[tek-nok-ruh-see] / tɛkˈnɒk rə si /

noun

• technocracies
  plural

1. a theory and movement, prominent about 1932, advocating control of industrial resources, reform of financial institutions, and reorganization of the social system, based on the findings of technologists and engineers.

2. a system of government in which this theory is applied.

3. any application of this theory.

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technocracy British  

/ tɛkˈnɒkrəsɪ /

noun

1. a theory or system of society according to which government is controlled by scientists, engineers, and other experts

2. a body of such experts

3. a state considered to be governed or organized according to these principles

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technocracy ¹ Cultural  

1. The control of government and society by people with technical skills, especially engineers.

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technocracy ² Cultural  

1. A type of society marked by the dominant role of people with specialized technical skills, particularly engineers.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• technocrat
  noun
• technocratic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• technocracies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of technocracy

First recorded in 1919; techno- + -cracy

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

technocracy technocracies

Even before Labour's law change, the then-director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Paul Johnson, argued that we should be "highly cautious" about moving towards what he described as a "more powerful fiscal technocracy".

From BBC ● Nov. 24, 2025

Not that we need much of a reminder, but we are presently backsliding into the future in a way that makes the technocracy Scott introduced in 1979 more plausible than ever.

From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2025

Like Muskism, technocracy took its inspiration from science fiction and rested on the conviction that technology and engineering can solve all political, social and economic problems.

From New York Times ● Nov. 4, 2021

To highbrow commentators such as the social critic Lewis Mumford, computers were instruments of a creeping technocracy that threatened to extinguish personal freedom.

From The Guardian ● May 3, 2018

And without machinery and complex scientific technocracy there could be no weapons.

From The Skull by Philip K. Dick

This has resulted in a number of half-baked supremacists within the tech industry who advocate either for authoritarian technocracies or, more bizarrely, monarchy.

From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2019