Legitimacy and Public Administration
Constructing the American Bureaucratic Fields
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3759290 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thomas J Catlaw (Arizona State University, Phoenix), Qian Hu (0000-0002-8675-9637, Arizona State University, Phoenix) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 458-481 |
| Publication date | 2009-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0002764209338803 |
| OpenAlex | W2069969710 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 51 |
Legitimacy claims can only be made and processes of legitimation can only unfold in a specified context. This article uses Pierre Bourdieu's concept of the social field to name this context and to analyze the construction of the bureaucratic or public administrative field in the United States. Field is meant in a triple sense-public administration as a general, institutionalized field in the structure of government; public administration as a professional field; and public administration as an academic field of study. Thus, rather than the bureaucratic field, the relationship of these bureaucratic field s or an "ensemble of fields" is analyzed to consider how each field both bounds its own legitimation struggles and draws from other fields for symbolic resources-what Bourdieu called symbolic capital -to establish its legitimacy and position. The multifield quality of public administration is used to show how the nature of the general bureaucratic field is distinct from other fields insofar as it purports to represent a universal, general interest. This difference is used to theorize a distinction between "general" and "specific" legitimation processes
Bureaucracy · Context (archaeology) · Field (mathematics) · Legitimacy · Legitimation · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research · Social and Cultural Dynamics
(A)Political administration? The public manager’s portrait and selection factors
Administração (a)política? O retrato e os fatores de seleção do dirigente público
Transcended power of the state
Governance and Accountability in Reshaping Public Services
Public Administrators’ Use of Social Media Platforms
Reputation management during a public health crisis
Power and Justice
The Science of Public Administration
Public Management Reform
Building a New American State
Gender Images in Public Administration
Public Administration and the Public Interest
Bowling alone
The Power of Identity
Democracy, Bureaucracy, and the Study of Administration
The Culture of Exception
The Origins of American Social Science
The Sources of Social Power
The Forms of Capital
The New State
Socializing Capital
The Human Condition
The Human Condition
The global management revolution
Professionals and the Conflicting Forces of Administrative Modernization and Civic Engagement
Dillon's Rule and the Cooley Doctrine
The Phoenix Project
The Administrative State
The New State
The Impact of Citizen Participation on Public Administration
Yankee Leviathan
The People's Welfare
Yankee Leviathan
Political Science and Public Administration
Media Performance
An invitation to reflexive sociology
Citizens, Accountability, and Service Satisfaction
The Public Interest Reconsidered
Citizens and the Administrative State
Democratizing the Administrative State
Power to the People
Facilitating Community, Enabling Democracy
Dealing with Cynical Citizens
The Science of Public Administration
Breaking through Bureaucracy
A Re-assessment of the Concept of Political Support
Psychological Perspectives on Legitimacy and Legitimation
A Public Management for All Seasons
The Sources and Structure of Legitimation in Western Democracies
The Study of Administration
Public Administration and the Public Interest
"The Public Interest" in Administrative Decision-Making
The Founding of the American Political Science Association
The Condition of Postmodernity
Rethinking the State
Pierre Bourdieu and the Practices of Language
The social space and the genesis of groups
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,41 |
| Citation span | 2009 - 2025 (17) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 7 |