How some young engineers became ‘technocrats’

Graduation ceremonies were “pierced” by anti-capitalist and technocratic rhetoric, chained desertions and retraining of young engineers in search of meaning: the winds of protest blow between young engineers and major schools. In these often isolated campuses, populated mostly by boys trained to become a small elite that companies actively pursue, new debates are swirling about the place of technology in the fight against climate change. How are young engineers politicized? Antoine Buzyn, a former engineer who became a doctoral student in sociology at the Émile Durkheim Center (Bordeaux University), offers some explanations.

Between the critical speech, in November 2018, by Clement Choisne, a young graduate of Centrale Nantes, and AgroParisTech’s “Agricultural Dictionary” speech in April, nearly four years have passed, and the distress of the young engineers appears to be worsening. How can these tensions be explained?

My hypothesis is that in these spaces that are faculties of engineering, there are theoretical and conceptual premises that are no longer explained. It is clear that all progress remains good in itself and necessarily involves social progress. This axiom is no longer moot, it is in bad taste to question it and can make you seem cranky.

During an interview conducted as part of my research on the environmental commitment of engineers, an engineer did a thesis on low tech shared with me “disgust” What inspired his subject in the members of his lab. However, this myth of progress – created to legitimize the modernization of society – has always been called into question. Luddites’ revolt [des artisans anglais du textile qui, en 1811-1812, se sont attaqués aux machines à tisser] In this respect it is almost a typical struggle.

around xx^e century, thinkers questioned this implicitly, such as Jacques Ellul, Ivan Illich or Bernard Charbonneau. Among engineers, an idea is gaining ground: the political and economic measures taken in recent years to respond to the urgent need of the crisis have not been effective..

In his graduation speech, Clement Choisin sharply criticized capitalism “overconsumption”, conclude with “I doubt, I go on.” Four years later, the “agricultural manifolds” have the will to point out the chain of responsibilities, and cite a list of “culprits”: capitalism, tech solutions, CEOs, science and technology… It is as if the relationship to science has been discussed again, while the concepts of technological progress have been so far undisputed.

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