专业英语 刘亚平 专业英语（第六周）toward a feminist perspective in public administration theory

1、编辑pptToward a Feminist Perspective in Public Administration TheoryCamilla Stivers.编辑pptKey Point Clarify what is a feminist perspective and Sketch out some initial ideas about what a feminist approach to public administration theory might be like. The question of administration knowledge The model o

2、f the ideal public servant The nature of administrative discretion The dimensions of the administrative state.编辑pptFeminist Theory What is a Feminist theory? Feminist theory is critical of existing reality. Feminist view womens historical exclusion from certain human pursuits (such as politics) and

3、confinement to others (such as homemaking) as, if not always deliberate on the part of individual men, certainly not “nature”. Brings up the left out or ignored ideas.编辑pptThree perspectives in feminist theory Addresses the historical dichotomy in sex roles by seeking to wipe it out to various degre

4、es. The perceived differences in mens and womens behavior is largely a side effect of societal sex roles. By opening up existing arrangements to women, such differences will largely disappear. Existing values are accepted, form the basis for critique rather than being the object of it.编辑pptThree per

5、spectives in feminist theory Perceived differences between men and women, whether natural or not, matter. Existing societal systems and norms are seen not as “human” but as the products of male experience and values. Womens experiences and the values emerging from them (nurturance, connectedness, in

6、tuition) are not only different, they are worthy in their own right, and need to be injected in one way or another into existing arrangements.编辑pptThree perspectives in feminist theory Transcend the tension set up by the first two. While the celebratory view of womens experience provides important s

7、upport for neglected values and capacities, it glosses over real differences among women, which have been produced by influences of race, class, history, and culture. There is no “womens values”. Poor black women and upper middle class white women Many if not most feminine values and behaviors have

8、developed within a context of male dominance.编辑ppt The aim should not be to replace one framework with another but to call into question the very terms that constitute the difference between them.编辑pptIn public administration Use rather than ignore the neglected perspectives reflected in particular

9、experiences of particular groups of women. We should Try to open up the discourse of public administration to these perspectives Being willing to be radically critical Building from, rather than casting aside, ideas that are already central and valued in the field.编辑pptThe quest for neutrality Neutr

10、al expertise (Wilson- politics-administration dichotomy) Isolated, self-interested individuals Modern state is build upon the essential connectedness of human beings. Public policy based on mutual needs instead of adjudication of competing claims among disconnected utility-maximizers. Objectivity Li

11、near rational thinking Achieve unbiased knowledge by means of detached observation编辑pptThe quest for neutrality There may not be universal male or female experiences, clearly there are in every society socially constructed genders, which carry with them propensities to look at the world in quite dif

12、ferent ways. We can use this awareness to expose the incompleteness of our understandings编辑pptThe Model of The Ideal Public Servant Ideal personal characteristics of image of the public administrator. What this image ought to be. Feminist examinations of heroism stress the masculinity of the traditi

13、onal physical mode dating back to ancient Greece, which emphasizes culturally male characteristics such as aggressiveness, physical prowess, the performance of visible deeds. A feminist approach to the question of heroism makes it possible to emphasize the challenging, even transformative, potential

14、 of the heroic figure (Transform the heroic figure) Traditionally female acts of compassion and nurturance can also be heroic. Rethink the desirability of public honor and fame: interactive images.编辑pptAdministrative DiscretionBlacksburg Manifesto Administrative governance is the use of bureaucratic

15、 authority for the purpose of system steering. Fragmented nature of our system of government makes this a positive opportunity.Feminist ideas is less hierarchical and more interactive, therefore less elitist and more democratic. A view of power not only as a mode of domination but also as a form of

16、enabling capacity. Leadership as facilitation rather than the giving of orders, and authority as accountable expertise rather than as chain of command.We shall be able to ground administrative legitimacy in accountability that not only is exercised in the privacy of the individual conscience or in t

17、he internal processes of a particular agency, but is also tangible enacted in substantive collaboration with affected others, including members of the general public.编辑pptThe Administrative State We want the state to be an entity capable of significant power; but as administrators, we are reluctant

18、to see this power as oppressive, even potentially. Our mixed feelings about the existence of a positive state have to do with our ambivalence about the nature of freedom and what sort of state is required in order to ensure it.编辑ppt Dichotomy between the public and private realms. Feminist The liber

19、al case against monarchy depend on justifying a societal space beyond the reach of “letat cest moi”（朕即国家）, but they see the development of that space as resting on the exclusion of women from it. Freedom for some (i.e., men) is profoundly dependent on limiting the freedom of others (women).编辑ppt pub

20、lic: depended for its existence on the simultaneous presence of a household where women were confined and where the necessities of life could be taken care of by women and slaves, thus freeing men for the life of action-beyond purpose. A masculine public sphere Women (unless they “become men”, i.e. obliterate t