Bureaucracy as a Vocation: Governmentality and administration in nineteenth-century Britain

Abstract This paper focuses upon ethical conduct and liberal mentalities of government in the context of the historical sociology of administrative expertise in nineteenth century Britain. After a brief consideration of theories of moral regulation, the paper pursues, by way of a discussion of the government of India and of the famous Northcote-Trevelyan Report on the Civil Service, the issue of the establishment of an appropriate bureaucratic persona in the nineteenth century.