The Social Construction of Public Administration
Interpretive and Critical Perspectives
Published on 1. June 2007
Book
Paperback/Softback
326 pages
978-0-7914-6726-8 (ISBN)
Description
Challenges the limitations of modern public administration theories.
In this conceptual guided tour of contemporary public administration, Jong S. Jun challenges the limitations of the discipline which, he argues, make it inadequate for understanding today's complex human phenomena. Drawing on examples and case studies from both Eastern and Western countries, he emphasizes critical and interpretive perspectives as a counterforce to the instrumental-technical rationality that reduces the field to structural and functionalist views of management. He also emphasizes the idea of democratic social construction to transcend the field's reliance on conventional pluralist politics. Jun stresses that public administrators and institutions must create opportunities for sharing and learning among organizational members and must facilitate interactive processes between public administrators and citizens so that the latter can voice their problems and opinions. The future role of public administrators will be to transcend the limitations of the management and governing of modern public administration and to explore ways of constructing socially meaningful alternatives through communicative action and the participation of citizens.
In this conceptual guided tour of contemporary public administration, Jong S. Jun challenges the limitations of the discipline which, he argues, make it inadequate for understanding today's complex human phenomena. Drawing on examples and case studies from both Eastern and Western countries, he emphasizes critical and interpretive perspectives as a counterforce to the instrumental-technical rationality that reduces the field to structural and functionalist views of management. He also emphasizes the idea of democratic social construction to transcend the field's reliance on conventional pluralist politics. Jun stresses that public administrators and institutions must create opportunities for sharing and learning among organizational members and must facilitate interactive processes between public administrators and citizens so that the latter can voice their problems and opinions. The future role of public administrators will be to transcend the limitations of the management and governing of modern public administration and to explore ways of constructing socially meaningful alternatives through communicative action and the participation of citizens.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Albany, NY
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
US School Grade: College Graduate Student and over
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 228 mm
Width: 151 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
457 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7914-6726-8 (9780791467268)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
02/2012
1st Edition
De Gruyter
€38.49
Available for download
Persons
Jong S. Jun is Professor Emeritus of Public Administration at California State University at East Bay. He has published many books, including Rethinking Administrative Theory: The Challenge of the New Century.
Content
Foreword
Frank P. Sherwood
Preface
1. Introduction
The Limitations of Modern Public Administration
Social Construction in a Democratic Context
Dialectical Possibilities
Learning from a Cross-Cultural Perspective
The Orientation of this Book
2. The Changing Context of Public Administration
Unanticipated Consequences in the Twentieth Century
Lessons for the New Century
Reinterpreting the Meaning of Public Administration
Dialectic in Administrative Action
Conclusion
3. The Social Constructionist Approach
The Limitations of the Functionalist Perspective
The Interpretive Critical Theory, and Postmodern Perspectives
Theorizing the Social Constructionist Approach
Globalization as Social Construction
Reflection
4. Public Administration as Social Design
The Use and Abuse of Metaphor
Design: A Basic Concept
Administrative Science, Art, and Social Design
The Modes of Administrative and Policy Design
Conclusion
5 Social Design in Practice
Coproduction and Community Policing
Bridging the Digital Divide in Silicon Valley
Helping Homelessness
Designing the Public Transit System
The Clinton Health Care Reform Plan: From Social Design to Incrementalism
The Limits of Social Design
Conclusion
6. Understanding Action, Praxis, and Change
The Dialectic of Organizational Action
Praxis and Change
The Praxis-Oriented Administrators
Changing Organizations and Action Research
Conclusion
7. The Self in Social Construction
Social Construction of the Self: Eastern and Western Views
The Self and Sociality: Western Views
Postmodern Views of the Self
Implications of Eastern and Western Views
The Self-Reflexive Individual in a Social Context
The Self and Bureaucracy
Conclusion
8. The Social Construction of Ethical Responsibility
The Ethical Dilemma of the Responsible Administrator
Constructing Ethics in Organizations
A Public Conception of Autonomy: Confucian and Western Views
Civic Virtue and the Public Good
Connecting Administrators and Citizens
Conclusion
9. Civil Society, Governance, and Its Potential
The Civil Society Triangle: A New Form of Governance
From Hierarchical Governing to Democratic Governance
NGOs as a Force for Social Change
A Case of Local Governance: Resolving the Soup Kitchen Controversy
Designing Modern Development Projects
Globalization and Democratization: A Contradiction
Implications
10. Concluding Thoughts
Recapitulation
Making Social Construction Effective
The Tao of Public Administration
Notes
References
Index
Frank P. Sherwood
Preface
1. Introduction
The Limitations of Modern Public Administration
Social Construction in a Democratic Context
Dialectical Possibilities
Learning from a Cross-Cultural Perspective
The Orientation of this Book
2. The Changing Context of Public Administration
Unanticipated Consequences in the Twentieth Century
Lessons for the New Century
Reinterpreting the Meaning of Public Administration
Dialectic in Administrative Action
Conclusion
3. The Social Constructionist Approach
The Limitations of the Functionalist Perspective
The Interpretive Critical Theory, and Postmodern Perspectives
Theorizing the Social Constructionist Approach
Globalization as Social Construction
Reflection
4. Public Administration as Social Design
The Use and Abuse of Metaphor
Design: A Basic Concept
Administrative Science, Art, and Social Design
The Modes of Administrative and Policy Design
Conclusion
5 Social Design in Practice
Coproduction and Community Policing
Bridging the Digital Divide in Silicon Valley
Helping Homelessness
Designing the Public Transit System
The Clinton Health Care Reform Plan: From Social Design to Incrementalism
The Limits of Social Design
Conclusion
6. Understanding Action, Praxis, and Change
The Dialectic of Organizational Action
Praxis and Change
The Praxis-Oriented Administrators
Changing Organizations and Action Research
Conclusion
7. The Self in Social Construction
Social Construction of the Self: Eastern and Western Views
The Self and Sociality: Western Views
Postmodern Views of the Self
Implications of Eastern and Western Views
The Self-Reflexive Individual in a Social Context
The Self and Bureaucracy
Conclusion
8. The Social Construction of Ethical Responsibility
The Ethical Dilemma of the Responsible Administrator
Constructing Ethics in Organizations
A Public Conception of Autonomy: Confucian and Western Views
Civic Virtue and the Public Good
Connecting Administrators and Citizens
Conclusion
9. Civil Society, Governance, and Its Potential
The Civil Society Triangle: A New Form of Governance
From Hierarchical Governing to Democratic Governance
NGOs as a Force for Social Change
A Case of Local Governance: Resolving the Soup Kitchen Controversy
Designing Modern Development Projects
Globalization and Democratization: A Contradiction
Implications
10. Concluding Thoughts
Recapitulation
Making Social Construction Effective
The Tao of Public Administration
Notes
References
Index