The cult of efficiency / Janice Gross Stein.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stein, Janice Gross.

Series:

Massey lectures series

The Massey lectures series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political obligation.

Political participation.

Government productivity.

Educational accountability.

Public health administration.

Responsibility.

Physical Description:

xvi, 307 pages ; 21 cm.

Edition:

Revised edition.

Place of Publication:

Toronto ; Niagara Falls, N.Y. : House of Anansi Press, 2002.

Summary:

This thought-provoking discourse on the unquestioned pursuit of "efficiency" reveals how the discussion of efficiency in the delivery of public goods, such as education and health care, has risen to prominence in postindustrial society. Stein's provocative argument, reminiscent of the thinking of Lewis Mumford, demonstrates that efficiency can too often be a cloak for political agendas, and that pressure for efficiency can actually be a detrimental rather than a positive force. Citizens in public schools, community clinics, and hospitals are shown engaging directly with such agendas, redrawing the face of the state as they impose new ways of delivering public goods. Stein demonstrates how they are calling not only for efficiency but for accountability and choice as they confront the dilemmas of democratic processes in a global age.

Contents:

I The Cult of Efficiency 1

II Efficiency and Accountability in the Post-industrial Age 45

III Efficiency and Choice: Public Education and Health Care 83

IV Measuring Up: Constructing Accountability 137

V The Culture of Choice 189

VI Security in the Post-industrial Age 227.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0887846785

OCLC:

48941905