Suchergebnisse

'This book overturns the conventional thinking about organization and identity and puts in its place a wholly new theoretical synthesis. It is not just an extraordinarily incisive commentary on modern life but it is also a key to thinking about identity in new ways which will prove an indispensable guide as we move beyond social constructionism. Remarkable' - Nigel Thrift, Vice-Chancellor, The University of Warwick

In this provocative new study, Paul du Gay makes a compelling case for the continuing importance of bureaucracy. Taking inspiration from the work of Max Weber, du Gay launches a staunch defence of `the bureaucratic ethos' and highlights its continuing relevance to the achievement of social order and good government in liberal democratic societies. Through a comprehensive engagement with both historical and contemporary critiques of bureaucracy and a careful examination of the policies of organizational change within the public services today, du Gay develops a major reappraisal of the so-calle

The realms of consumption have typically been seen to be distinct from those of work and production. This book examines how contemporary rhetorics and discourses of organizational change are breaking down such distinctions - with significant implications for the construction of subjectivities and identities at work. In particular, Paul du Gay shows how the capacities and predispositions required of consumers and those required of employees are increasingly difficult to distinguish. Both consumers and employees are represented as autonomous, responsible, calculating individuals. They are consti

Explores the process by which historically specific "self- interested" behaviors were conceptualized. It is contended that "self- interested" behavior is in fact real, but it is not a fixed & timeless human essence. It is demonstrated how, in a particular historical era & in relation to particular objectives, a specific type of self-interested personhood was invented. The historical context in which this mode of "self-interest" appeared as a normative creed whose dissemination was characterized as a possible medium for salvation is examined. The singular notion of "self" promoted by this creed, & its performative function as a strategy intended to establish social pacification, is emphasized. The chapter's overall aim is to suggest a more sympathetic treatment of the historical plurality of self-interested behaviors. K. Coddon

This article explores different conceptions of 'enterprise' and seeks to indicate the extent to which they are non-reducible. Its main focus is on one particular conception of enterprise that has underpinned a powerful critique of public sector organizations and which has been translated into a variety of specific organizational strategies for restructuring or modernizing the public services. This conception, it is argued, is very different from that informing much of the prescriptive and descriptive literature on entrepreneurship within management studies, for instance. The article also attempts to question the opposition between 'bureaucracy' and 'enterprise' that frames this self-styled 'entrepreneurial' approach to organizational reform. This epochal 'bureaucracy/enterprise' dualism, it is argued, is best viewed as a rhetorical move in a political polemic, but one with real effects.

The paper focuses upon a particular discourse of organizational 'change' as it has appeared in a specific context—the contemporary field of public administration—and seeks to explore its role as a rhetorical device in reshaping the identity of public service. It does so first by seeking to indicate the epochalist bent of much theorizing about contemporary economic and organizational change—in both its academic and its more managerial manifestations. Second, it seeks to show how a particular discourse of organizational change mobilizes support for attempts to 're-invent' or 'modernize' the public administration as an institution of government. Finally, it seeks to offer a few words in support of the seemingly unfashionable art of 'piecemeal reform' or ' organizational casuistry'.