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Abstract
During the second half of the 20th century, at the time of the foundation of the Fifth Republic, French engineers endorsed enthusiastically technocratic ideals. Their attitude was not only the product of a specific context. It was rooted in a long tradition of connection between French engineering and social preoccupations. This connection emerged at the time of the creation of the first corps of State engineers in the 17th and 18th centuries. Indeed, State Weber engineers were from the start convinced that they had a social mission. Subsequent episodes, like the Saint‐Simonian reflections on the eve of industrialization, or the discussions held in the think tank X‐Crise in the aftermath of the 1929 economic crisis contributed also to shape the engineers’ sensitivity to social issues. Dwelling on these episodes, but also trying to go beyond their standard assessment, we would like to propose here a more general interpretation of the complex set of relations between French engineering and social thought. In this perspective, the Post‐World War II French engineers’ technocratic concerns come at the end of a long and complex evolution. This case study should enable a better understanding of the more general connivance between engineering culture and technocratic ideals.
Notes
[1] On the US origin of the term, see infra. Since elements constitutive of technocratic ideals can be traced back to former historical periods, it is possible to use the term for these periods. This is what Bruno Belhoste and Konstantinos Chatzis have chosen to do in their article ‘From Technical Corps to Technocratic Power’ published in the present issue. We prefer to reserve the term for 20th‐century movements.
[2] Von Hayek, The Counter‐Revolution; Alder, Engineering the Revolution; Hecht, The Radiance of France; Belhoste, La formation d’une technocratie.
[3] Blanchard, Les ingénieurs du ‘Roy’.
[4] This crucial point is missing from Eda Kranakis otherwise excellent comparative study: Kranakis, Constructing a Bridge.
[5] The work of Jules Dupuit is perhaps the best example of this early interest. Cf. Ekelund and Hebert, Secret Origins. For a broader picture of the contribution of engineers to economics and economic calculation, see Etner, Histoire du calcul economique; Vatin, Le travail.
[6] See among others Blanco, Stato e funzionari; Picon, L’invention de l’ingenieur; Thépot, Les ingenieurs des mines.
[7] Cf. Taton, Enseignement et diffusion; Gillispie, Science and Polity.
[8] This conception represents a major difference between French engineers and their British counterparts. See on that subject Picon, ‘Technological Traditions’.
[9] Cf. Picon, Les Saint‐Simoniens.
[10] Hayek, The Counter‐Revolution.
[11] The comparison between the political itineraries of French alumni of the Ecole Polytechnique and of some of their Foreign colleagues is especially revealing in that respect. See Karvar, ‘Les polytechiens etrangers’. On the Greek case, one should mention the definitive work of Antoniou, Oi Ellines Michanikoi. See also Antoniou et al., ‘The National Identity,’ in this issue.
[12] See for instance Weiss, The Making of Technological Man; Auclair, Les ingénieurs et l’equipement; Garçon, Entre l’etat et l’usine.
[13] Cf. Layton, The Revolt of Engineers; Akin, Technocracy.
[14] X‐Crise, De la récurrence.
[15] Brun, Technocrates et technocratie.
[16] On the French situation created by the 1929 crisis, see Grelon, Les ingenieurs de la crise.
[17] On this tendency to conceive grand programs, see Smith, ‘The Longest Run’. On the ‘Plan Calcul’, see Mounier‐Kuhn, ‘Le Plan Calcul’.
[18] Cf. Laborie et al., La politique française.
[19] See for instance Hughes and Hughes, Systems, Experts; Light, From Warfare to Welfare.
[20] See for instance on that key French legal and economical notion: Guérard, Regards croisés.
[21] Porter, Trust in Numbers.
[22] The engineers of the Mines Corps have a long tradition of social concern. They were especially present in the Saint‐Simonian movement and later in movements like X‐Crise. This social concern has also permeated the other alumni of the Ecole des Mines, and the civil engineers such as Michel Callon, for example.
[23] The Third Republic represents in that respect an exception. See Marnot, Les ingénieurs au parlement.
[24] On the episode of the ‘revolutionary productions’, see Dhombres and Dhombres, Naissance d’un nouveau pouvoir.
[25] Machine builders were not considered as engineers. Cf. Edmonson, ’From Mécanicien to Ingénieur.’
[26] See for instance Alleaume, ‘L’Ecole Polytechnique’; Gouzévitch et al., La formation des ingenieurs.