Racial Bias: A Buried Cornerstone of the Administrative State

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (10) ◽  
pp. 1470-1490
Author(s):  
Jennifer Alexander ◽  
Camilla Stivers
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Diversity Training ◽  
Social Equity ◽  
Representative Bureaucracy ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Administrative State ◽  
Public Agencies ◽  
Administrative Practices ◽  
Self Image

Historians of American public administration have largely perpetuated its self-image of neutrality and scientific detachment. Yet public agencies are shaped by their political and cultural environments. Long-standing myths and historical narratives about the meaning of America reveal not neutrality but racial bias dating back centuries, a pattern sustained, in part, by failure to recognize its existence. This article explores how historical understandings of the administrative state have neglected the influence of racial bias on the development of administrative practices. We suggest that a reconstructed understanding may strengthen support for anti-racism efforts, such as diversity training, representative bureaucracy, and social equity.

Making People Matter: Moving Toward a Humanity-Based Public Administration

2021 ◽  
pp. 009539972110302
Author(s):  
Michael R. Ford
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Social Equity ◽  
State Interaction ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Administrative State ◽  
Value Conflicts ◽  
Human Emotion

In this article, I demonstrate how a humanity-driven approach to Public Administration (PA) can be used to resolve macro-level value conflicts. I define a humanity-driven approach to PA as one that prioritizes human emotion, lived-experience, perceptions, and acceptance at all stages of governing. I then present three value conflicts in PA, and apply a humanity-driven approach to reclassify conflicts into value hierarchies that provide a roadmap for conducting future research and theory development. The work builds on existing research prioritizing social equity, lived experience, and the resident-state interaction in the application of the administrative state.

Developing a curriculum designed to overcome intolerance: A conceptual approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-201
Author(s):  
Michael B. Hinner
Keyword(s):  
Multicultural Education ◽  
Diversity Training ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Foreign Language Instruction ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Cultural Diversity Training ◽  
Self Image ◽  
Low Levels

Abstract The paper examines the theoretical foundation of intolerance and explores potential topics for a curriculum designed to overcome intolerance. Previous research has shown that a negative self-image and low self-esteem seem to foster intolerance. Likewise, individuals with low levels of self-awareness tend to be more willing to express intolerance while paying less attention to the impression their behaviour and communication has among others. Individuals with a negative self-image and low self-esteem often resist change and tend to look for information that confirms and reinforces their existing viewpoints while ignoring information that contradicts their viewpoints. The research of Kruger and Dunning (1999), though, suggests that instruction in metacognition can overcome these negative characteristics. Especially if metacognitive training is coupled with multicultural education, cultural diversity training, and foreign language instruction as other research has revealed.

scholarly journals A Conceptual Content Analysis of 75 Years of Diversity Research in Public Administration

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 248-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghna Sabharwal ◽  
Helisse Levine ◽  
Maria D’Agostino
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Social Equity ◽  
The State ◽  
Central Issue ◽  
Analysis Approach ◽  
Conceptual Content ◽  
Diversity In The Workplace ◽  
Over Time

Diversity is an important facet of public administration, thus it is important to take stock and examine how the discipline has evolved in response to questions of representative democracy, social equity, and diversity. This article assesses the state-of-the-field by addressing the following question: How has research on diversity in the field of public administration progressed over time? Specifically, we seek to examine how the focus of diversity has transformed over time and the way the field has responded to half a century of legislation and policies aimed at both promoting equality and embracing difference. We utilize a conceptual content analysis approach to examine articles published on diversity in seven key public administration journals since 1940. The implications of this study are of great importance given that diversity in the workplace is a central issue for modern public management.

Racialized Emotional Labor: An Unseen Burden in the Public Sector

2021 ◽  
pp. 009539972110375
Author(s):  
Nicole M. Humphrey
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Public Organizations ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Public

Discussions of race have often been on the periphery emotional labor scholarship. This piece considers the link between race and emotional labor, arguing that racial bias in public organizations creates disparities in emotional labor among employees. To make this argument, this piece explores white normativity in public administration and the implications this has for people of color when managing their emotions at work. Following this discussion, the article identifies key themes from the literature, before providing a framework for future research on emotional labor and race.

Rebuilding the Public

2020 ◽  
pp. 283-297
Author(s):  
Chiara Cordelli
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Educational Program ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Administrative State ◽  
The Public ◽  
Democratic Practices ◽  
Representative System ◽  
Policy Proposals

The chapter sketches a way out of the privatized state, by defending certain constitutional limits on privatization. It articulates, in broad terms, some policy proposals for rebuilding a more democratic and representative system of public administration, such as an educational program for the civil service. It also emphasizes how the education of the civil service should share many of the features of the civic education of citizens. The chapter discusses proposal concerns the introduction of democratic practices within the administrative state through arrangements like codetermination. It examines the purpose of arrangements that strengthen the democratic legitimacy of the administrative state and the citizens' trust in it without compromising its independence from undue political pressures.

From the Politics of Bureaucracy to the politics of representative bureaucracy

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 494-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eckhard Schröter
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Representative Bureaucracy ◽  
Organisational Performance ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Treat All

The Politics of Bureaucracy provides an important impetus for the research of representative bureaucracy and at the same time serves as an analytical frame for a research agenda on representativeness in the public sector. The major impetus comes from one of the book’s core messages that public administration is tightly interwoven with politics and society. As a reform paradigm, representative bureaucracy aims for a public sector workforce that mirrors the social composition of the society it is supposed to serve. If successful, this measure is expected to improve organisational performance, relations with social groups and also overall political legitimacy. However, representativeness is no panacea to treat all problems of diverse societies and non-responsive bureaucracies. Rather, potential benefits have to be discounted against likely pitfalls and extra costs incurred through the pursuit of representativeness. What is more, the inherent tensions with competing reform paradigms have to be taken into account.

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