Social engineering occurs in two forms: large scale and small scale. The debate surrounding these two approaches to the design of social institutions constitutes a fundamental issue in the ethics of science and technology. To what extent is it possible and legitimate for scientific expertise to serve as the basis for social policy and action? Can humans use science to rationally design and successfully implement an enduring society? Different concepts of scientific knowledge and technological action supply different answers to these questions and variously support large scale versus small scale engineering efforts.

Large Scale Social Engineering

Large scale efforts to improve the human condition are a modern phenomenon. Such endeavors require technical knowledge, political muscle, and economic resources. In supporting these claims, James Scott (1998) characterizes the rise of high modernism in social-political, agricultural, industrial, and architectural contexts during the last two centuries. High modernism encompasses a...