In search of culture : (Record no. 32772)
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| fixed length control field | 05064naa a2200205uu 4500 |
| 001 - CONTROL NUMBER | |
| control field | 0050313194937 |
| 003 - CONTROL NUMBER IDENTIFIER | |
| control field | OSt |
| 005 - DATE AND TIME OF LATEST TRANSACTION | |
| control field | 20190211171412.0 |
| 008 - FIXED-LENGTH DATA ELEMENTS--GENERAL INFORMATION | |
| fixed length control field | 100503s1996 xx ||||gr |0|| 0 eng d |
| 999 ## - SYSTEM CONTROL NUMBERS (KOHA) | |
| Koha Dewey Subclass [OBSOLETE] | PHL2MARC21 1.1 |
| 041 ## - LANGUAGE CODE | |
| Language code of text/sound track or separate title | eng |
| 100 1# - MAIN ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME | |
| Personal name | KERAUDREN, Philippe |
| 9 (RLIN) | 39794 |
| 245 10 - TITLE STATEMENT | |
| Title | In search of culture : |
| Remainder of title | lessons from the past to find a role for the study of administrative culture |
| 260 ## - PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC. | |
| Place of publication, distribution, etc. | Malden : |
| Name of publisher, distributor, etc. | Wiley-Blackwell, |
| Date of publication, distribution, etc. | January 1996 |
| 520 3# - SUMMARY, ETC. | |
| Summary, etc. | H. Eckstein could say a few years ago that "political culture theory may plausibly be considered one of two still viable general approaches to political theory and explanation proposed since the early fifties to replace the long-dominant formalism-legalism of the field the other being political rational choice theory" (1988, 789). For the last two decades, the rational choice approach has been dominant and thriving in many fields of political science, whether in international relations, political sociology, public administration or public policy; it has greatly reinforced the theoretical and empirical basis of the explanation of human freedom of action. But it has recently shown some signs of intellectual fatigue. Critics now underscore that, assuming that individuals compare expected benefits and costs of actions prior to adopting strategies for action, is valid and useful only in relatively simple choice situations where information is easily available and interpretable (Elster 1989; Dunleawy 1991). Some neo-institutionalists have claimed that rationality comes not as means-end calculus prior to action but rather as an ex-post justification after choice (March, Olsen 1989; Hall 1986, 1520). Others have come to say that the rational choice approach, which explains how people ought to act in order to achieve aims and not what these aims ought to be, totally misses the central question of why it is that people have "preferences" and pursue some aims rather than others (Wildavsky 1987; Cook, Levi 1990; Wildavsky 1994). It does not mean that the rational choice approach should be discarded: there should rather be a "contextualization" of rationality which explains both why the same man in different situations or contexts adopts different rationalities, and why in the same context two men can adopt different rationalities (Wildavsky 1994). |
| 520 3# - SUMMARY, ETC. | |
| Summary, etc. | But the rational choice approach is also showing its limits in the very field where it was born and has blossomed: economics. In a recent issue of a French national newspaper, two articles dealing with economics and development were pointing at the same problem: cultural explanations of economic behavior are needed. In the first article, the former General Secretary of the United Nations, now President of the UNESCO-UNO World Commission on Culture and Development, J. Perez de Cuellar, advocated a cultural approach of the economic development of the Third World countries in order to find, at last, an enduring and practical solution to their endemic problems (1994). In the second article, a journalist reflecting on why the same hard economic therapies have worked in Poland but not in Russia could only refer to the "specific economic culture of Russia" described by economists (Vernholes 1994). |
| 520 3# - SUMMARY, ETC. | |
| Summary, etc. | These clear limits imposed upon the rational choice approach have brought culturalist theory back into favor among social scientists. Does this mean that a well-built culturalist theory might be a new "explanatory panacea, a universal nostrum" (Thompson, Ellis, Wildavsky 1992, 516)? The aim of this article is to try to unravel the cultural approach and assess its potential in the specific field of public administration. To do this, we shall draw on two close but relatively separate disciplines political science and organizational theory which we believe (should) meet to give a richer account of administrative reality. Our purpose is to question the recent interest in and utilization of the cultural metaphor(s) by bureaucrats, politicians, "special advisers" and authors in the analysis and implementation of administrative reform. The reason for this inquiry is that, contrary to analysts of private sector organizations, specialists of public sector organizations have not yet seriously addressed a culturalist theory of public administration while acknowledging that there is or there are public administration culture(s). We therefore hope to evaluate the usefulness of a culturalist theory for public administration. In this rather complex theoretical field, we prefer to take the simple solution to try to explain first the classical culturalist theory, and second, the new culturalist theory. Third, we should see whether there is or should be anything specific about administrative culture and a culturalist theory of public administration. |
| 773 08 - HOST ITEM ENTRY | |
| Title | Governance: An International Journal of Policy and Administration |
| Related parts | 9, 1, p. 71-98 |
| Place, publisher, and date of publication | Malden : Wiley-Blackwell, January 1996 |
| International Standard Serial Number | ISSN 09521895 |
| Record control number | |
| 942 ## - ADDED ENTRY ELEMENTS (KOHA) | |
| Koha item type | Periódico |
| 998 ## - LOCAL CONTROL INFORMATION (RLIN) | |
| -- | 20100503 |
| Operator's initials, OID (RLIN) | 1319^b |
| Cataloger's initials, CIN (RLIN) | Daiane |
| 998 ## - LOCAL CONTROL INFORMATION (RLIN) | |
| -- | 20100505 |
| Operator's initials, OID (RLIN) | 1703^b |
| Cataloger's initials, CIN (RLIN) | Carolina |
No items available.
