As I recall, `social engineering'(tm) was introduced by Karl Popper
precisely to distinguish cautious, provisional, targeted change from
large-scale, ideologically-driven or grandly coercive changes to the
socio-economic order. Somehow in general conservative usage (at least in
Australian political discourse, and yours seems in line with that) it has
got turned around to imply the opposite.
Damien
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr Damien Broderick / Associate, Dept. English and Cultural Studies
University of Melbourne, Parkville 3052, AUSTRALIA
@: damien@ariel.its.unimelb.edu.au
bio/biblio: http://www.vicnet.net.au/~ozlit/broderic.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------