What might be done to improve the human condition for all? Over the last 50 years, relying on the advice of ordained "experts," such as political and social scientists, ministers and politicians, and a sprinkling of well-and not-so-well-intentioned foreign others, we've been encouraged to trust State-led "social engineering" as the answer.
Supposedly, in its various forms and schemes this type of engineering would improve society: tackle crime and violence, reduce family sizes, end the drug trade, produce minds of the future, provide "developed"-nation status by 2020, bring prosperity for all, and more.
The only problem is such social problems were not fixed and solved. If anything, social disasters like economic inequality and poverty got worse. One way to imagine failures of state-led social change might be to say the State itself is part of the problem.
One reason behind the failures of successive government-led social change projects is the "magic jellybeans" school of thought that those who make the decisions find most seductive. Instead of a magic beanstalk they put their faith in the alchemy of science, including social science, the most magical of sciences.
This dream world is exempt from the irrational and daily realities of family, work, play and survival. Instead, rational thinking and planning by technical experts in specialist language that excludes most people from the conversation–what Norman Girvan calls the "technification of language"–devise one-stop plans for social change.Let's take Gate. Who would argue against a state pursuing western tertiary education as a way to improve the human condition?
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