The Conditions of Care

Reframing the Debate about Public Sector Ethic

Bibliographic Data

ID6366451
AuthorsHelena Olofsdotter Stensöta (0000-0003-0117-8217, University of Gothenburg, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume70
Issue2
Pages295-303
Publication date2010-02-11
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePublic Administration Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0033-3352 • E-ISSN: 1540-6210
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1540-6210.2010.02137.x
OpenAlexW1995678619
LanguageEN
Citations received32
References cited43

While a growing body of research argues for increased attention to ethics within public administration, scholars diverge on how to conceptualize the character of public ethics. Likewise, empirical evidence regarding the role that ethics plays in the quality of service delivery is rare. The author argues that the concept of a public ethics of care is useful for public administration in welfare states. She examines the idea empirically through a large‐N analysis of frontline bureaucrats within the Swedish Social Insurance Administration. The analysis develops two general measures of a public ethics of care as well as a public ethics of justice. The author proceeds to show a clear presence of an ethics of care in the Swedish public sector. Further, analysis shows that these two ethics measures are supplementary, not contradictory, and that age is the main individual determinant behind ethics of care, strongly correlating with number of years in office. The conclusion underscores how public ethics of care results from acquired experience in fulfilling care‐oriented tasks

Applied ethics · Cognitive reframing · Economic Justice · Ethics of care · Information ethics · Meta-ethics · Nursing ethics · Political science · Public sector · Public Service Motivation · Sociology · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Psychology · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research · Social Psychology