Technocracy: The Rule of Expertise in a Modern World

This scholarly book explores how modern societies increasingly rely on managerial expertise and technical knowledge to organize and govern social life. The author argues that in a so-called knowledge society, information isn’t neutral — it’s shaped by bureaucratic and managerial forces that filter facts to serve specific agendas. O’Connor traces how “governmental knowledge” transforms human experience into abstract data that can be controlled, managed, and manipulated, producing what he calls a second reality. The book examines this process across areas like public health, education, corporate management, and everyday digital life, showing how expert-driven logic often sidelines meaning, participation, and lived experience. It’s positioned as a compelling study of the politics of knowledge suitable for scholars in sociology, anthropology, and social theory.