Technocracy : knowledge and power in the information age / Paul O'Connor.
| Author/creator | O'Connor, Paul, 1978- author. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication | Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2026. |
| Copyright Date | ©2026 |
| Description | 211 pages ; 25 cm. |
| Subjects |
| Series | Contemporary liminality Contemporary liminality. ^A1350570 |
| Abstract | "In what is routinely described as a 'knowledge society', this book argues that contemporary knowledge is systematically filtered and distorted by the requirements of the bureaucratic-managerial organisations that constitute the structural core of hypermodernity. As knowledge becomes increasingly politicised, almost every 'fact' with which we are presented serves an agenda. This book traces the historical and conceptual foundations of 'governmental knowledge'. It examines how problematisation, mediation, informationalisation, and substitution translate human life into abstract representations that can be managed, manipulated, and retrojected back onto social reality. The proliferation of experts and managerial intermediaries institutionalises these processes across domains as diverse as public health, education, corporate management, and everyday digital interactions. It argues that, far from being neutral, expert knowledge instrumentalises liminality and subordinates social life and individual conduct to the algorithmic logic of managerialism. Technocracy thus systematically filters out the dimensions of meaning, participation, and embodied existence, constructing a 'second reality' that blinds us to whole ranges of human experience. A compelling study of the politics of knowledge, Technocracy: Knowledge and Power in the Information Age sheds light on the way a certain type of knowledge is used to lay claim to authority, status and resources, and how the endless expansion of such knowledge reshapes society. It will therefore appeal to scholars of sociology, anthropology and social theory with interests in the sociology of knowledge"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 196-207) and index. |
| Issued in other form | Online version http://id.loc.gov/entities/relationships/onlineversion O'Connor, Paul Technocracy New York : Routledge, 2026 9781003434177 |
| Issued in other form | ebook version : 9781040706275 |
| LCCN | 2025052270 |
| ISBN | 9781032561622 |
| ISBN | 9781032561615 hardcover |
| ISBN | 1032561610 hardcover |
| ISBN | 1032561629 paperback |
| ISBN | electronic book |
| ISBN | electronic publication |
| ISBN | electronic book |
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