Abstract :
In his book Growing Up Absurd, the social critic Paul Goodman postulates this model of the youth of today: they see themselves growing up in an apparently closed room, that of the highly organized establishment, in which there is a large rat race as the dominant center of attention, and in which there is little leeway for them to live and work satisfactorily as individuals. In a more specialized sense, an important question for the community of professional engineers is whether or not the young engineers of today do not also see something of the closed-room aspect before them when they behold the giant organizations founded principally on the engineering arts. How do engineers view their chances for satisfaction and success, for doing worthwhile work, in today´s technological situation which is generally admitted to be so different from that prevailing a generation ago? In actual fact, what are their chances?
