고려시대의 기술관은 대체로 의관(醫官)·역관(譯官)·일관(日官)·산관(算官)·율관(律官)·화원(畵員)·서관(書官, 사자관: 寫字官) 등을 말하는데, 이들은 대체로 해당 기술관서의 실무를 맡고 있던 관원이었다. 따라서 고려 사회를 이끌어 가는 데 있어서 이들 기술관의 활동이 차지하는 의미는 매우 큰 것이었다. 기술관은 직제가 정비된 의관이 가장 원활하게 승진하였으며, 일관은 거의 오랜 기간 일관직 계통에서 근무하였으며, 그 안에서 이동 내지는 승진도 이루어졌다. 그러나 후기에는 의관과 역관들 중에는 문관으로 진출한 자들도 있고, 또 그중 일부는 재상급에까지 승진한 사람들도 여러 명 있었다. 또한 일관도 문반이나 재상급에까지 승진한 경우는 매우 드물었지만 후기에는 재상급에까지 등장한 경우도 여러 명 있었던 것을 보면, 이들 기술관의 정치·사회적 지위가 점차 상승하고 있었다는 것을 알 수 있다. 기술관도 근무하는 대가로 전시(田柴)와 녹봉(祿俸)을 지급받음으로써 관인으로서의 경제적 지위를 어느 정도는 보장받았다고 할 수 있다. 그러나 이들은 잡과 출신의 하급관리였기 때문에 문·무관에 비하여 전시와 녹봉을 지급받는데 있어서 낮게 받음으로서 대체로 차별을 당하였으며, 사회적 활동이나 정치적 활동에는 많은 제약이 있었다. 반면 고려는 조선보다 기술관의 사회적 지위가 비교적 높은 편이었고, 또 무신의 집권과 몽고의 침입 이후로는 사회가 문란해지면서 특히 역관과 같은 기술관이 고위직으로 승진하는 등 신분제도를 비롯한 사회적 변화에 큰 몫을 담당함으로써 기술관의 사회적·경제적 지위 향상에 영향을 주었던 것이다.

Technocrats of Goryeo age include medical officer, interpretation officer, astronomy officer, accounting officer, legal officer, painting artist and recording officer in general, and they were the government officers who were in charge of administrative works of technical departments concerned. Accordingly, the activities of the technocrats carried very significant meaning in leading the society of Goryeo Dynasty. Among those technocrats, medical officers could be promoted the most smoothly as the position structure was well organized. In the case of astronomy officer, they were assigned to the astronomical position system for very long period of time, during which they were given the opportunities for transfer and promotion to higher positions within the system. At the later part of Goryeo age, some medical officers and interpretation officers were given opportunities to advance to civil officials, some of whom were promoted as high as up to minister level. Based on the fact that some technocrats were promoted up to minister level at the later part of Goryeo age even if the number of persons promoted to minister level were not many, we can see that the political and social positions of technocrats at that time were gradually upgrading. As the compensation for their services, technocrats were also given free land and salary, which means that their positions were guaranteed in terms of economic status to some extent. However, as their positions were classified as lower class officers who were employed through the government examination but in miscellaneous fields, they were discriminated in general as their compensation level was lower compared to civil officials and military officers. Moreover, there were a lot of constraints in their social and political activities. On the other hand, social status of technocrats in Goryeo age was comparatively higher as compared to that in Joseon age. Since military officials` grasping political power and the invasion of Mongolia, society was in disorder situation and thus technocrats especially interpretation officers got promotion to high positions playing significant role in the social change including position system, which resulted in influencing to the enhancement of the social and economic status of technocrats in Goryeo age.