This article aims to discuss the problem of autonomy and control exerted upon technicians in the contemporary world. This question calls for attention to researchers in different fields. Since Marx, sociology of work discusses a crisis of technical gesture combined with a complexification of production systems. Innovation economics points the dilemmas that economic systems face while technicians must attend management determinations. On one hand, the sociology of science has provided much attention regarding the transformations of the scientific field and the many challenges that technicians and experts face in reaching autonomy for their practices. Philosophers of techniques join the debate pointing out an expansion of the technological system mixed with a crisis of technical gesture. In the end, our intention is to show similarities within these trends to understand the problems faced by technical agents.
technicians; scientists; autonomy; innovation; scientific field; technical gesture