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Becoming Bureaucrats : Socialization at the Front Lines of Government Service / Zachary W. Oberfield.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: American Governance: Politics, Policy, and Public LawPublisher: Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2014]Copyright date: ©2014Description: 1 online resource (248 p.) : 33 illusContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780812246162
  • 9780812209846
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 305.9/35173 23
LOC classification:
  • JF1601 .O24 2014
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Chapter 1. Bureaucratic Socialization -- Chapter 2. Dispositions and Institutions -- Chapter 3. The Long View: How Veteran Workers See Their Worlds -- Chapter 4. Entry: An In-Depth Account -- Chapter 5. In the Service of Others? Motivation, Altruism, and Egoism -- Chapter 6. Bureaucratic Identity: Rules and Loyalty -- Chapter 7. Attitudes: Social Problems, Race, and Deservingness -- Chapter 8. Change and Continuity at Government's Front Lines -- Appendix A. Research Design -- Appendix B. Recruitment and Job Requirements -- Appendix C. Measurement and Analysis -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- Acknowledgments
Summary: Bureaucrats are important symbols of the governments that employ them. Contrary to popular stereotypes, they determine much about the way policy is ultimately enacted and experienced by citizens. While we know a great deal about bureaucrats and their actions, we know little about their development. Are particular types of people drawn to government work, or are government workers forged by the agencies they work in? Put simply, are bureaucrats born, or are they made?In Becoming Bureaucrats, Zachary W. Oberfield traces the paths of two sets of public servants-police officers and welfare caseworkers-from their first day on the job through the end of their second year. Examining original data derived from surveys and in-depth interviews, along with ethnographic observations from the author's year of training and work as a welfare caseworker, Becoming Bureaucrats charts how public-sector entrants develop their bureaucratic identities, motivations, and attitudes. Ranging from individual stories to population-wide statistical analysis, Oberfield's study complicates the long-standing cliché that bureaucracies churn out bureaucrats with mechanical efficiency. He demonstrates that entrants' bureaucratic personalities evolved but remained strongly tied to the views, identities, and motives that they articulated at the outset of their service. As such, he argues that who bureaucrats become and, as a result, how bureaucracies function, depends strongly on patterns of self-selection and recruitment.Becoming Bureaucrats not only enriches our theoretical understanding of bureaucratic behavior but also provides practical advice to elected officials and public managers on building responsive, accountable workforces.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780812209846

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Chapter 1. Bureaucratic Socialization -- Chapter 2. Dispositions and Institutions -- Chapter 3. The Long View: How Veteran Workers See Their Worlds -- Chapter 4. Entry: An In-Depth Account -- Chapter 5. In the Service of Others? Motivation, Altruism, and Egoism -- Chapter 6. Bureaucratic Identity: Rules and Loyalty -- Chapter 7. Attitudes: Social Problems, Race, and Deservingness -- Chapter 8. Change and Continuity at Government's Front Lines -- Appendix A. Research Design -- Appendix B. Recruitment and Job Requirements -- Appendix C. Measurement and Analysis -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- Acknowledgments

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Bureaucrats are important symbols of the governments that employ them. Contrary to popular stereotypes, they determine much about the way policy is ultimately enacted and experienced by citizens. While we know a great deal about bureaucrats and their actions, we know little about their development. Are particular types of people drawn to government work, or are government workers forged by the agencies they work in? Put simply, are bureaucrats born, or are they made?In Becoming Bureaucrats, Zachary W. Oberfield traces the paths of two sets of public servants-police officers and welfare caseworkers-from their first day on the job through the end of their second year. Examining original data derived from surveys and in-depth interviews, along with ethnographic observations from the author's year of training and work as a welfare caseworker, Becoming Bureaucrats charts how public-sector entrants develop their bureaucratic identities, motivations, and attitudes. Ranging from individual stories to population-wide statistical analysis, Oberfield's study complicates the long-standing cliché that bureaucracies churn out bureaucrats with mechanical efficiency. He demonstrates that entrants' bureaucratic personalities evolved but remained strongly tied to the views, identities, and motives that they articulated at the outset of their service. As such, he argues that who bureaucrats become and, as a result, how bureaucracies function, depends strongly on patterns of self-selection and recruitment.Becoming Bureaucrats not only enriches our theoretical understanding of bureaucratic behavior but also provides practical advice to elected officials and public managers on building responsive, accountable workforces.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)