Scientific autonomy and planned research: the case of space science

Scientific research that requires space flight has always been subject to comparatively strong external control. Its agenda has often had to be adapted to vacillating political target specifications. Can space scientists appeal to one or the other form of the widely acknowledged principle of freedom of research in order to claim more autonomy? In this paper, the difficult question of autonomy within planned research is approached by examining three arguments that support the principle of freedom of research in differing ways. Each argument has its particular strengths and limitations. Together they serve to demonstrate particular advantages of scientific autonomy, but in the case of space science, their force ultimately remains limited. However, as the arguments highlight the interrelations between scientific autonomy, the democratic process and the collective interest in scientific knowledge, they suggest that a coherent and sustained space science agenda might best be ensured by increasing the transparency of science policy decisions and involving the democratic public.     

Technology and the Conflict of Professionals in Bureaucratic Organizations*

This paper reports upon a secondary analysis of Richard Hall's (1968) data, indicating that two major trends–the increasing professionalization of the labor force and the increasing bureaucratization of organizations–are not necessarily incompatible. Because the bureaucratic and professional models imply different forms of organization, most research has been directed toward isolating the sources of conflict; the major emphasis being upon the incompatibility of professional and bureaucratic control. Using Thompson's (1967) classification of technology, the present research has focused upon two dimensions of professionalism (self-regulation, and autonomy) and three dimensions of bureaucracy (rules, procedures, and technical competence). The results suggest that the relationships between these dimensions vary by organizational technology and the nature of the professional tasks.     

THE EFFECTS OF NON-CLEARING LABOR MARKETS ON THE DEMAND FOR PUBLIC SPENDING

The median-voter model suggests the causal sequence: distribution → spending → bureaucracy, whereas the bureaucratic model proposes the chain: bureaucracy → spending → distribution. In the presence of labor-market distortions and underemployment labor contracts, we argue that an initial link must be added to each causal chain; namely, the excess supply of labor in the private sector. Empirical estimates of both the median-voter and bureaucratic models indicate that inter-country differences in per-capita public spinding are an increasing function of differences in wage rates.     

A New Breed of Social Actionist Comes to Social Work: The Community Organization Student

Professionals in all fields are pressing for more autonomy in their work. Social work has never achieved full professional status because of its reluctance to grant autonomy to practitioners. The hierarchical bureaucratic structure of social agencies, which enforces prolonged individual supervision of workers, has achieved uniformity of practice at the expense of creativity and innovation. The author proposes Georg Simmel's model of superordination—subordination as a framework for considering new forms of supervision. Peer group supervision, consultation, and in-service training are potentially more democratic training methods than individual supervision, and could encourage self-confidence and creativity.     

Public Sector Management and the Democratic Ethos: A 5-Year Study of Key Relationships in Israel

This article deals with the nexus between bureaucracy and democracyin a management-oriented public sector. The article developsthe idea that public administration plays a major role in determiningcitizens’ political attitudes and behaviors. A theoreticalmodel is suggested to examine the relationship among citizens’perceptions of involvement and participation in administrativedecision making, perceived managerial quality, perceived publicsector performance, and democratic participatory behavior (i.e.,trust in administrative agencies, political participation, andcommunity involvement). A sample of 2,281 Israeli citizens providedinformation on the research variables over a 5-year period (2001–05).Findings reveal that citizens’ perceptions of involvementand participation in administrative decision making are positivelyrelated with perceived managerial quality but are not relatedwith perceived public sector performance. In addition, perceivedmanagerial quality is positively related with trust in administrativeagencies as well as with political participation and communityinvolvement. Finally, public sector performance is a mediatorin this relationship. These findings lead to a discussion aboutthe linkage between the bureaucratic and the democratic ethosin modern managerial governance, theoretical and practical implications,as well as suggestions for future studies.     

Actualizing the "Democratic Family"? Swedish Policy Rhetoric versus Family Practices

In this article, we examine empirically a key element of individualizationtheory—the democratic family. We do so using the "acidtest" of family policy, and family practice, in Sweden. First,we review the progress of family policy in Sweden since the1960s, which has expressly promoted an agenda of gender equalityand democracy in families, with individual autonomy for bothadults and children as one key element. We then turn to familypractice, looking particularly at negotiation and adult equality,lifelong parenting after separation, and children's autonomy.While Swedish policy makers and shapers seem to have developedthe idea of the democratic family long before the sociologistAnthony Giddens, the results in practice have been more ambivalent.While there has been change, there is more adaptation to pre-existinggender and generational norms.     

Maybe It Is Time to Rediscover Bureaucracy

This article questions the fashionable ideas that bureaucraticorganization is an obsolescent, undesirable, and non-viableform of administration and that there is an inevitable and irreversibleparadigmatic shift towards market- or network-organization.In contrast, the paper argues that contemporary democraciesare involved in another round in a perennial debate and ideologicalstruggle over what are desirable forms of administration andgovernment: that is, a struggle over institutional identitiesand institutional balances. The argument is not that bureaucraticorganization is a panacea and the answer to all challenges ofpublic administration. Rather, bureaucratic organization ispart of a repertoire of overlapping, supplementary, and competingforms coexisting in contemporary democracies, and so are market-organizationand network-organization. Rediscovering Weber's analysis ofbureaucratic organization, then, enriches our understandingof public administration. This is in particular true when we(a) include bureaucracy as an institution, not only an instrument;(b) look at the empirical studies in their time and context,not only at Weber's ideal-types and predictions; and (c) takeinto account the political and normative order bureaucracy ispart of, not only the internal characteristics of "the bureau."     

Politics of innovation and development: The role of industry associations in integrating political,bureaucratic, industrial and health systems in India and South Africa

Integrating political, bureaucratic, industrial and healthcare systems has been a major challenge for politics of innovation and development policy in low‐ and middle‐income countries. This challenge has so far been understood in terms of separate industrial and health‐related innovation policies without paying adequate attention to the institutional roles of biopharmaceutical and other umbrella associations. This article seeks to examine such roles in the developmental contexts of South Africa and India. The argument put forward is that, in both countries, biopharmaceutical and umbrella associations have evolved from lobbying organizations to institutional partners who influence the politics of innovation and development—and therefore the degree of integration and fragmentation—of political, bureaucratic, industrial innovation and health systems.     

The Inevitability of Client Alienation: a Counter Argument*

We argue that earlier characterizations of clients are inadequate in considering the complexities of organizational-client relations. Some writers assume that client alienation is an inevitable outcome of certain types of bureaucratic structures (e.g., welfare). We show that in the face of large service organizations, some clients fail to experience significant amounts of alienation by forcing organizations to vacate traditional bureaucratic forms and processes. The lack of alienation is accounted for by clients' expertise, political organization, and their access to bureaucracy.     

Procedural Control of the Bureaucracy, Peer Review, and Epistemic Drift

Regulatory peer review—in which independent scientistscomment on the technical underpinnings of proposed regulations—isa recently pursued form of political control of the bureaucracy.This article situates regulatory peer review in the contextof both the history of technical advice to government and theprincipal-agent perspective often used to explain the presenceof administrative procedures. Much of the academic discussionof attempts to influence bureaucratic decision making has utilizedprincipal-agent theory. We introduce two novel concepts to accommodateregulatory peer review into the principal-agent framework. Thefirst is "technocracy" where the preferences of technical expertsdisplace public preferences. The second is "epistemic drift,"a change in embodied knowledge that contributes to departuresfrom the policy intentions of an enacting coalition of policymakers. In addition to introducing these concepts, we arguethat regulatory peer review is more complex than other administrativeprocedures and that its efficacy critically depends on the detailsof its implementation. We hypothesize that regulatory peer reviewwill cause nongovernmental participants in regulatory conflictsto devote more effort to creating research and other epistemicresources. But we also hypothesize that, just as courts havebecome more politicized with their role in regulatory policy,peer review and regulatory science will become increasinglypoliticized as well.     

AGENCY GROWTH, SALARIES AND THE PROTECTED BUREAUCRAT

In contrast to numerous assertions in the literature on bureaucratic behavior that government employees seek to promote the growth of their agencies to increase their salaries, this paper offers empirical evidence indicating the absence of a significant positive relationship between agency growth and salaries. The impact of agency growth on salaries is estimated using a random sample of individual federal white-collar employees. Inspection of civil service rules reveals that most federal employees are highly insulated from fluctuations in agency staffing or budget appropriations. The existence of a highly protected bureaucracy raises questions about the control and performance of federal workers.     

The logic of social policy expansion in a neoliberal context: health insurance reform in Korea after the 1997 economic crisis

In the aftermath of the economic crisis of the late 1990s, the Korean government reformed health insurance system to enhance social equity and solidarity. This article identifies the institutional features and political dynamics involved in completing the reform. The Korean case suggests a model of counter-movement that differs from the historical experiences of both democratic corporatist and liberal welfare states. Two institutional conditions within the politics of crisis contributed to the reform. A legacy of limited state welfare was critical in providing the impetus for reforming health insurance system. More importantly, the crisis maximized the state’s coordination capacity by mobilizing a coherent bureaucracy under the presidential authority, and by limiting interest politics. The Korean experience has important implications for the study of economic crisis and social policy response. The way in which a crisis provides new contexts for welfare and policy making institutions, rather than the institutions themselves, should be the main focus in analyzing policy responses. The focus on the political dynamics of an economic crisis helps us acknowledge the limit of ideological forces of a crisis in facilitating a particular policy response.     

Kafkaesque Bureaucracies as Natural Breaching Experiments: Interactional Failures and the Search for Institutional Agency

In accord with scholars who have suggested extending the symbolic interactionist perspective to investigate interactions with macrolevel structures, we argue that symbolic interactionism provides valuable tools to understand how bureaucratic breakdowns are interpreted by individuals. In this article, we use the experience of interacting with a Kafkaesque bureaucracy as a natural breaching experiment in order to outline the subjective effects of large‐scale institutional failure. In particular, we look at homeowners' interpretations of a flawed program initiated by the Obama administration to stem the tide of foreclosures. We conclude that persistent interaction failures with the bank divisions charged with modifying mortgages led frustrated and confused homeowners to question the nature of the bureaucratic interaction. This produced a search for a blame‐worthy agency and revealed the ways that agency was conceptualized in this complex and obscure institutional setting.     

Autonomy and Monitoring on Hospital Wards

This paper describes the systems of relationships and manner of operation of several hospital wards. Data from these settings suggest three concepts of understanding the behavior of the participants. One is elastic autonomy: the autonomy of an actor is not fixed, but expands and contracts according to others' assessments of his professional competence. The second is accountability: an actor is held to be accountable or responsible for his decisions and actions. Third is monitoring: the process by which actors keep track of each other's performance. Contingencies affecting autonomy are discussed, as are the relationships between these concepts and those of bureaucratic theory.     

THE SOCIAL DYNAMICS OF ELDER CARE: RITUALS OF BUREAUCRACY AND PHYSICAL NEGLECT IN NURSING HOMES

This research concerns nursing home rituals involving bureaucracy and physical neglect. It uses 40 ethnographies, biographies, and autobiographies to explore various symbolic themes expressed through everyday interaction in nursing homes. The themes involve bureaucratic concepts such as staff separation, rules, documentation, and efficiency. They also involve ideas of physical neglect, such as medical dereliction, personal negligence, environmental negligence, and bodily harm. Relying on structural ritualization theory, this work argues ritualized symbolic practices of bureaucracy unintentionally manufacture attitudes and acts of mercilessness for workers in both for-profit and nonprofit nursing homes. This aids in the development of rituals facilitating the physical maltreatment of residents.     

文化、制度与结构:中国社会关系研究

非正式关系渗透在政治和经济领域的正式组织和科层体系之中,被认为是中国社会关系的重要特征。本文梳理韦伯以来讨论中国社会关系的重要研究,归纳出四种讨论中国社会关系的不同路径:"特殊主义"和科层制、庇护主义、儒家社会理论与"关系",以及社会网络研究。这些路径在理论背景、研究主题和写作时间上各有特点,有些路径中还隐藏着不同程度的价值判断。梳理显示出三支讨论社会关系的脉络:侧重特定政治经济背景的制度视角、侧重伦理涵义的文化视角,以及社会网络分析所代表的结构视角。本文认为,应当将文化、制度与结构视角相结合,分析社会关系的结构特征与伦理内涵为转型社会的科层制建设以及制度变迁提供了怎样的基础。     

Self–organization and trade union democracy

This article is an offshoot of a three year study into the self–organized groups for women, black members, disabled members and lesbians and gay men which have been enshrined in the constitution of the UK’s public sector union UNISON. The argument is that self–organization has become a significant axis around which trade union democracy is being reconstituted in the late twentieth century. However, our understanding of this phenomenon has been obscured by the ascendancy of mainstream union perspectives over self–organized perspectives, which has unfortunately been compounded by academic researchers. A re–conceptualization of self–organization proceeds in three stages. First, it is contextualized politically and theoretically in terms of trade union histories, new social movements and models of a diversified democratic polity. Second, it is re–signified by attending to its actual unfolding over the past two decades and the self–understandings of its activists. Third, is problematized with reference to exogenous pressures towards bureaucracy and oligarchy, and endogenous pressures towards essentialisms and exclusions.     

Bureaucratic Role Characteristics and Member Affective Response in Organizations*

This study examines the relationship between three bureaucratic role-structure dimensions and affective responses in organizations. Contrary to much theory, it is hypothesized that formal structuring of activities has a positive effect on members' satisfaction and perceived climate; consistent with bureaucratic theory, it is hypothesized that both role constraints and rule enforcement have negative effects. Results from a sample of 332 members of work organizations largely support this model. In addition, structural analysis techniques demonstrate no significant group-level effects, suggesting that the influence of bureaucratic structure is mediated largely through individual roles. These results demonstrate contradictory, rather than consistent negative, effects of bureaucratic structure on members. Specifically, members react favorably to well-delineated rules, though they dislike the restricted autonomy and personal enforcement that generally accompany them.     

THE IMPURITY OF REPRESENTATION AND THE VITALITY OF DEMOCRACY

This article compares the conceptions of democratic representation found in the work of Ernesto Laclau and Hanna Pitkin. Whereas Laclau takes Pitkin as his foil, I contend that her treatment of representation has much more in common with Laclau's than he gives her credit for. Pitkin made a bold critique of foundationalist notions of responsiveness and acknowledged representation's constitutive function. Yet, her antipathy to symbolic representation made Pitkin recoil from the most radical implications of her argument: she would see as a threat to democratic politics that which Laclau casts as its vitality. Laclau's work, then, does not merely refute Pitkin's but advances a line of argument that she set into motion.