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...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Hélène Tordjman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association Recherche & Régulation 2011-12-01
Series:Revue de la Régulation
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/regulation/9456
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832577918907187200
author Hélène Tordjman
author_facet Hélène Tordjman
author_sort Hélène Tordjman
collection DOAJ
description 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.
format Article
id doaj-art-bdc9cd85bc7f41f09db4b2ec4f7cd86c
institution Kabale University
issn 1957-7796
language English
publishDate 2011-12-01
publisher Association Recherche & Régulation
record_format Article
series Revue de la Régulation
spelling doaj-art-bdc9cd85bc7f41f09db4b2ec4f7cd86c2025-01-30T14:26:24ZengAssociation Recherche & RégulationRevue de la Régulation1957-77962011-12-011010.4000/regulation.9456La crise contemporaine, une crise de la modernité techniqueHélène TordjmanFinancial 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.https://journals.openedition.org/regulation/9456financial crisisinstitutionsagriculture and environmentcounterproductivity
spellingShingle Hélène Tordjman
La crise contemporaine, une crise de la modernité technique
Revue de la Régulation
financial crisis
institutions
agriculture and environment
counterproductivity
title La crise contemporaine, une crise de la modernité technique
title_full La crise contemporaine, une crise de la modernité technique
title_fullStr La crise contemporaine, une crise de la modernité technique
title_full_unstemmed La crise contemporaine, une crise de la modernité technique
title_short La crise contemporaine, une crise de la modernité technique
title_sort la crise contemporaine une crise de la modernite technique
topic financial crisis
institutions
agriculture and environment
counterproductivity
url https://journals.openedition.org/regulation/9456
work_keys_str_mv AT helenetordjman lacrisecontemporaineunecrisedelamodernitetechnique