The Ruling Class's Love Affair with Technologists
The world is increasingly becoming technocratic. Why do the ruling class love the technologists?
The ruling class—the people in power and authority—loves technologists, the champions of humanity's technological advancement. Technology is neutral and universally beneficial when properly applied, or so the story goes.
I should clarify my use of 'technologists' here. While the term could encompass anyone working with technology, including social scientists, I'm focusing on a specific breed: those who specialize deeply in STEM fields like Computer Science and who concentrate almost entirely on technical mastery. These are the technologists who pride themselves on being purely technical, supposedly above the messy complications of social context.
These technologists wield a privilege that even the ruling class envies, regardless of whether those in power are politically left or right. It's the privilege of neutrality—appearing to transcend politics, claiming to serve only humanity's best interests, shielded from any accusations of perpetuating bias or enabling oppression.
You see, technologists are people of science. Science is all about rationality. Science sees no difference among people. Science pursues absolute truth. Technologists do science, so naturally, all they care about is benefiting humanity. They don't care about politics—they just want to do good science that will ultimately benefit the world. Everything is fair and square when it comes to technology. At least in principle. This is precisely why the ruling class loves technologists. Because technologists claim to care only about science. The messy matters of society and subjectivity are just distractions. All they care about is doing good science. Of course, as long as they're paid well and kept comfortable.
And here's the best part for the ruling class: this arrangement works perfectly. They love being associated with technologists because these brilliant minds are all about doing good to the world without really question the larger injustices that the ruling class might be perpetuating. As long as it doesn't affect them directly.
See, I'm not painting technologists as bad people. They're definitely good people, and importantly very smart people. But they're also naive, with a limited understanding of society's complexities. This might seem like a blanket criticism, but I think it makes logical sense.
The Case of IITians
Let's examine IITians—the prodigies from India's premier technical institutes called IITs. These students slog most of their pre-university years preparing for a coveted IIT seat. They spend most of their waking hours studying scientific principles and mathematical equations to crack the dreaded JEE, leaving hardly any time to learn about or think critically about society. For many ambitious prodigies determined to become world-class technologists, this trend continues throughout university. They continue grinding, attempting to master their technological expertise to land that coveted internship at a fancy tech company or secure a research position at a foreign university. The pattern persists: get the dream job, pursue the PhD at a top university, chase promotions, secure post-docs, win awards, obtain grants—on and on it goes.
Crucially, all of this happens within a social framework where the upper and upper-middle classes remain relatively insulated from harsh social injustices. A significant portion of the IIT demographic—both faculty and students—comes from privileged sections of society1. This existing privilege, combined with the knowledge and social capital they accumulate through their technical expertise, provides further cushioning against harsh social realities. The very success of their technical pursuits reinforces their insulation from societal problems, and the cycle continues—each achievement in the technical realm further distancing them from the lived experiences of those facing systemic injustices.
The fundamental point is this: developing strong technical and scientific expertise demands so much time and devotion that it often comes at the cost of understanding societal realities. This dynamic works great for the ruling class. They get super-smart people capable of building brilliant technologies who won't necessarily question the underlying social injustices the ruling class perpetuates. Why? Because these technologists are too busy building technologies to think about such things.
Why it matters
This Social Science versus Technology dichotomy is quite evident in Indian universities. Students at Social Science-focused institutions like JNU are often more politically and publicly engaged than IITians. Active involvement in social systems automatically involves questioning. We question to understand, to ensure inclusion, to challenge injustice, and most importantly, to challenge power. As Marx observed, "the ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class," calling for critical analysis of these ideas to avoid internalizing oppressive or self-serving narratives and to work towards a more just society. Historically, time and again, we've witnessed that the ruling class despises being questioned because it challenges their power and authority.
Consider how during the Emergency in India, Indira Gandhi's government particularly targeted universities and intellectuals who dared to question state's draconian authority. Students and faculty from institutions like JNU were arrested, publications were censored, and academic freedom was crushed precisely because critical questioning threatened the ruling establishment's narrative of absolute authority. The very act of questioning—of refusing to accept the ruling class's version of reality—was treated as sedition.
This pattern hasn't disappeared—it has simply evolved with technology. In recent years, we've witnessed similar trends of ruling class-reinforced unjust censorship on social media platforms. Dissenting voices are silenced through content takedowns, account suspensions, and algorithmic suppression. The tools have changed, but the intent remains the same: to control the narrative and suppress questioning of authority. What's particularly troubling is how seamlessly these digital censorship mechanisms operate, often under the guise of combating "misinformation" or maintaining "public order." The irony is stark—the very technologies that could democratize information and empower critical discourse are being weaponized to achieve the opposite.
For a good society, it is our fundamental responsibility to question the ruling class, no matter who they are, because as humans, we are fallible. Power corrupts, and unchecked power corrupts absolutely. This is precisely why technologies often become tools of oppression and exploitation. When brilliant minds create powerful tools without questioning who controls them or how they'll be used, those tools inevitably serve the interests of those in power. Technologists rarely engage in such questioning because they're doing "neutral" science that benefits everyone. But neutrality in the face of injustice is itself a political stance—one that serves the status quo.
No wonder the ruling class loves technologists.
https://www.dw.com/en/why-indias-top-tech-universities-cant-shake-off-caste-bias/a-72116876