Feldionisation

Feldionisation is a concept used in political theory and cultural studies to describe a process by which a society’s institutions increasingly adopt a field-oriented, technocratic logic. In this view, governance, economics, and social regulation converge around standardized measures, data-driven decision making, and cross-sector harmonization of norms and procedures, often at the expense of local specificity and plural forms of knowledge.

Origins of the term are debated, but it is commonly discussed in speculative, critical, and policy-oriented literature as a lens to examine how globalization, digital infrastructures, and administrative reform reshape state capacity. The core idea is not a single policy program, but a trend in which diverse domains—education, healthcare, labor, security, and regulation—become organized around comparable field standards, performance metrics, and centralized expertise.

Key features commonly associated with feldionisation include the diffusion of quantitative benchmarks, the expansion of technocratic expertise, and the diffusion of regulatory templates across borders. Proponents argue the process can improve efficiency, accountability, and coordination in complex systems, while critics caution that it may marginalize local knowledge, reduce political deliberation, and increase surveillance or social homogenization. The balance of perceived benefits and drawbacks tends to depend on governance capacity, civil society resilience, and the availability of alternative value frameworks within a given context.

Further reading and related topics include technocracy, standardization regimes, datafication, governance, and global regulatory networks.