La crise contemporaine, une crise de la modernité technique
Financial and ecological crises are manifestations of a deeper crisis pertaining to the ways we relate to nature and society, increasingly instrumental and artificial, as if we were controling every interaction. But however big and powerfull the means and techniques, contemporary societies are becom...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Association Recherche & Régulation
2011-12-01
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| Series: | Revue de la Régulation |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/regulation/9456 |
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| Summary: | Financial and ecological crises are manifestations of a deeper crisis pertaining to the ways we relate to nature and society, increasingly instrumental and artificial, as if we were controling every interaction. But however big and powerfull the means and techniques, contemporary societies are becoming more and more fragile, and looking for efficiency tends to have adverse and contrary effects. Such a phenomenon of counterproductivity, as it was analyzed by Ivan Illich in the seventies, can be seen in finance and in man’s relationship with nature. We hint at its origins : the domination of instrumental rationality, and the relative autonomy of technical development. We continue by studying two empirical expressions of counterproductivity. The unfolding financial crisis highlights how the very means of a more efficient risk managment have contributed to an increase in global risk. Similarily, the pervasiveness of intensive agricultural systems all over the world leads to multiple nuisances and contradictions which, it is believed, will be solved by one more step in the same direction. |
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| ISSN: | 1957-7796 |