you wrote:
>for me, social engineering (SE) is a concept that is used to characterize
>comte and saint simon. but more than that, people characterize
>enlightenment liberal social theories that emerged during the industrial
>and political revolutions as theories that favored, in one form or another,
>social engineering.
>
<snip-snip>
so it's not an explizit concept in Comte or Saint-Simon but more characterization by their interpreters/critics? i mean i'm wondering if its a source (historical) or research concept. (what i've come across lately is Durkheim's 1895 analogy of the sociologist to the doctor, to a "médicin [qui] prévient l¹éclosion des maladies par une bonne hygiène et, quand elles sont déclarées, il cherche à les guérir") i don't have Comte at hand however. what i do have and took a quick look-thru is the doctrine du S-S, and did not see the term there, at least in any recognisable form in the german translation. their keyword's of course "industriel"; but saint-simonistes were more into *civil* engineering than social engineering, nay? maybe the deconstruction of industrial catechism for 'railroad popes'* in spe isn't the right place to look anyway.
well, i guess my understanding's closer to yours, but in more terms of institutions and policies than theory. as to the polemical use of SE by right libertarian americans, i was totally unaware of that.
Anita
*Heine on the brothers Pereire