Silences in Public Policy Discourse: Organizational and Policy Myths

In: Journal of public administration research and theory, Band 2, Heft 4, S. 399-423

Abstract

Not solely the province of "prescientific" peoples, who created myths to explain the origins of their universe, myths are constructed by modern Western peoples in the arena of public policy to direct attention away from equally valued but contradictory societal principles. Policy myths & their related organizational myths are constructed at those points where the implementing agency is most vulnerable, ie, around actions undertaken to achieve goals that are publicly unspeakable because there is no explicit public consensus underlying them. Policy myths fill silences in discourse about public policy matters, & facilitate the tacit understanding of & communication about verboten goals. These points are illustrated in a case analysis of the Israel Corporation of Community Centers, an agency created to implement national social policies. 52 References. Adapted from the source document.