Simulacra and spectacle

The role of negative public values in the re-enchantment of U.S. politics

Bibliographic Data

ID12450804
AuthorsAaron Smith-Walter (0000-0001-8314-2036, University of Massachusetts Lowell, corresponding author), Christian Angelucci (University of Massachusetts Lowell)
Year2021
Volume43
Issue4
Pages412-430
Publication date2021-03-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAdministrative Theory & Praxis (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1084-1806 • E-ISSN: 1949-0461
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10841806.2021.1891797
OpenAlexW3134345881
LanguageEN
References cited30

This paper details the manner in which Trump’s brand image and use of political spectacle attempt to displace political authority reliant on rationality in decision making, which has long legitimated public bureaucracy. The corresponding threat to contemporary governance arrangements has undermined the sense of stability, and this paper examines Trump’s use of media spectacle to exploit neoliberal administration’s inability to appreciate aspects of the human condition outside of abstracted modeling, as detailed by Baudrillard’s concept of simulation. We argue that this weakness in contemporary public bureaucracy is tied to a reticence to acknowledge and confront the animating role of negative public values in public administration in the U.S. We argue that Trump’s brand image filled this vacuum by providing a counterweight to a public bureaucracy unable to convince citizens of its commitment to the common good

Bureaucracy · Political science · Politics · Rationality · Sociology · Spectacle · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Public Administration · Visual Culture and Art Theory

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