From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsocial engineeringˌsocial engiˈneering noun [uncountable] PPPthe practice of making changes to laws in order to change society according to a political idea
Examples from the Corpus
social engineering• But attempts at social engineering usually lead to downfall.• Policy strategies which attack the social and economic determinants of ill-health are dismissed as futile attempts at social engineering.• Law, the realists argued, was not a matter of abstract logic but a practical exercise in social engineering.• Third, New Towns constituted experiments in social engineering - well in tune with the psychological requirements for post-war reconstruction.• Nicholas engaged in a long-term programme of social engineering.• This is sometimes described in terms of social engineering, and the resources that law brings as machinery are distinguished from its social goals.• This brave new world of social engineering produces the opposite of community contact. 