Ideology of Administration, The: American and Soviet Cases

Despite their differences, the USA and the USSR converge in many aspects of one ideology: the ideology of administration, which would convert issues of power and privilege into issues to be resolved by technical experts. This is demonstrated in Michael E. Urban's study of the ideology of administration in the United States and the former Soviet Union. Dr. Urban interviewed some 61 Soviet and American officials and analyzed published and unpublished works in both countries to bring an empirical and comparative perspective to his study. He reveals ways in which the ideology in both countries is still rich in contradictory symbols and shows how modern industrialism is changing traditional thinking about how government works and how power is maintained.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction Part One: The General Ideology of Administration 1. Administrative Ideology: Concept and Method What Is Ideology? Ideology, Myth and Symbols A Method of Analysis 2. Modern Industrialism and the Phenomenon of Bureaucracy Preliminary Remarks Technological Determination The Bases of Bureaucracy Rationality and Bureaucracy: The General Outlines of Administrative Ideology The Transformation of the Concept "Rationality" in the Modern World The Rationality of Science Technical Rationality as the Logic of Bureaucracy Variants of Modern Industrialism: The United States and the Soviet Union Constitution of the Governing Class The Structure of Relations within Bureaucratic Organizations Political Relations in Modern Industrial Society 3. Contradictions in Administrative Rationality The Immanent Rationality of Administration as a General Ideology The Dialectic of Efficiency and Effectiveness Part Two: Special Ideologies of Administration 4. Ideologies of Administrative Leadership: the Mantle of Science The Problem of Authority The "Scientific Management" of Frederick W. Taylor An Assessment 5. Ideologies of Adminstrative Leadership: "Humane" Administration Images of Leadership Tools of Leadership Human Relations Advanced Human Relations Some Empirical Findings Soviet Practitioners and Academics American Practitioners and Academics Concluding Observations 6. Ideologies of Democratic Bureaucracy in the United States Redefining the Normative Context Administration and Democratic Leadership Representative Administration and Democratic Bureaucracy Empirical Findings 7. Administrative Communism in the Soviet Union Representative Bureaucracy in Soviet Garb Administrators and Leadership Redefining "Communism" Empirical Findings 8. Conclusions and Implications Notes Index

About the Author :
Michael E. Urban is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the State University of New York, Oswego.