PAPM 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: John Kenneth Galbraith, The New Industrial State, Technostructure

• School: Carleton University
• Department: Public Affairs and Policy Management
• Course: PAPM 1000
• Professor: Marc Andre Gagnon

Document Summary

John kenneth galbraith (1908-2006): canadian economist who became economic advisor for. Worked in office of price administration, us office that helped decide prices in war times. The new industrial state (1967)--> the organization of society has nothing to do with the free market. There is the state, large corporations, and large unions. The leaders of these groups work together and form the elite. Managers of corporations often make decisions that benefit them over shareholders, the public, etc. In order to get things done, technical experts (high rank engineers, public administration, etc. ) make sure production happens. They are the technostructure, and they focus on production>profit (industry>business). The technicians make sure everything actually works, and they are the ones in control. For a while, galbraith maintained that people could improve the economic system, but with time he was more pessimistic as he saw people continuously being stupid.