View source for Jacques Ellul

The French social philosopher Jacques Ellul published "The Technological Society" in 1953 (it was not published in English until 1964). In this ground-breaking work Ellul expanded the notion of "techniques" to cover all procedures for social and administrative management, including the collection and use of statistics, the development of bureaucratic organisations, and the governmental regulation of private life through the mobilisation of social workers. 

Ellul's radical conclusion was that the interrelated system of techniques takes on a life and logic of its own, so that the techniques themselves come to determine human decisions, rather than the contrary. This conclusion he summed up as follows: "efficiency is no longer an option but a necessity imposed on all human activity." The bureaucratic system thus tends to impose whatever solutions are perceived to be the most efficient, regardless of any other considerations, such as morality, human well-being or social justice. 

==References==
*Jacques Ellul, "The Technological Society" (1953)

==Links==
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellul%2C_Jacques

[[Category:Historical Roots]]