Abstract
The title of this address results in part from discontent with much of the literature of Public Administration and Public Policy. It is mild discontent, and I do not want unduly to depreciate our writings. But I stop reading many books and articles disappointed, at finding old or obvious ideas restated in new words; at seeing a useful idea refined by scholasticism into complex and empirically untestable propositions; feeling that I am being “got at”; worst of all, with a sense that the work casts only a fitful or elusive light on the important problems it claims to deal with. Schuyler Wallace said years ago when I was starting my academic career that administrative study had been mainly built on the basis of half‐truths and fictions, 1 and I believe this is still true. If I had remembered this phrase earlier, I might have called the paper “Half‐Truths and Fictions in Public Administration”. If it reflects some real discontents, it is also intended to be a bit jokey. Should the jokes fall flat or degenerate into vulgar abuse, blame the author.
Keywords
ScholasticismBlameReading (process)FeelingAdministration (probate law)ResentmentSociologyIntelligentsiaLawAestheticsLiteraturePhilosophyPolitical sciencePoliticsPsychologyEpistemologySocial psychologyArt
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Publication Info
- Year
- 1981
- Type
- article
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 12-25
- Citations
- 46
- Access
- Closed
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Cite This
R. N. Spann
(1981).
FASHIONS AND FANTASIES IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION*.
Australian Journal of Public Administration
, 40
(1)
, 12-25.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8500.1981.tb00481.x
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.1111/j.1467-8500.1981.tb00481.x