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Like it or not, contemporary man is man-in-bureaucracy. He spends the majority of his waking hours in a bureaucracy; es¬tablishes an identity and status in a bureaucracy; garners most of his satis¬factions and disappointments in a bu¬reaucracy; and, increasingly, he is what he does.Aside from the importance of understand¬ing those institutions that shape our values, behavior, and experience, bu¬reaucracy is a vital area for study because it reveals a wide range of social behavior in a compact and comprehensible way. The abstract and ephemeral problems of society at large are brought down to earth made measurable, comprehensible and visible in the bureaucratic microcosm. Problems of power and influence, change and innovation, intergroup conflict, ambition and aspiration, self-realization versus participative democracy, technology versus humanism: all can be observed and analyzed in human organizations.This volume pinpoints the dilemma of present bureaucratic organizations: the conflict between the need to sustain innovation and bureaucratic drives toward rationality and stability. The essays it contains discuss specific human needs that bureaucracy must meet if it is to continue to attract talented people and takes a step into the future to analyze the kinds of organizations that may be expected to evolve as institutions seek more flexible use of human resources. ... Read more

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This study examines in-depth the 'work first' Welfare-to-Work Grants program as it was implemented in a state that provided relatively generous subsides to low-income workers. The analysis engages in scholarly debates regarding persistent poverty, social welfare policies, and the efficacy of traditional theories of political economy. This study examines the real meaning and achievements of the shift in U.S. social policy for the poor away from the New Deal safety net and toward reliance on markets. Widely known as welfare reform, this policy change integrates caregivers (mostly women) of children living in poverty into the mainstream labor market by instituting a time limit on cash benefits and requiring paid work. The analysis contributes to scholarship by specifying the intersection of current politico-economic conditions and the lived experiences of those impacted by welfare reform. Findings speak to the legitimate authority of the neo-liberal grand narrative, the social embeddedness of both bureaucratic and market-based forms of organization, and the continuing risk of poverty despite relatively generous work supports.Although neo-liberal and liberal perspectives shaped welfare reform, insights from Weberian, cultural studies, and standpoint theories more adequately explain the complex and nuanced experience of the policy shift. ... Read more

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The public services in Britain are undergoing major changes. This book examines these changes across a wide range of policy fields, from health to the police, and sets out to compare the challenges facing the different professions within each of these policy fields. The conclusions drawn give vital insights into the challenges confronting the professions and individual practitioners and their adaptive responses at the end of the 20th century. ... Read more

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AIDS is unquestionably the most serious threat to public health in this century--yet how effective has the United States been in coping with this deadly disease? This sobering analysis of the first five years of the AIDS epidemic reveals the failure of traditional approaches in recognizing and managing this health emergency; it is an extremely unsettling probe into what makes the nation ill equipped to handle a crisis of the magnitude of the one that now confronts us.

Sandra Panem pays particular attention to the Public Health Service, within which the vast majority of biomedical research and public health services are organized, including the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health. We learn in dismaying detail how shortcomings in communication within and among the many layers of the health establishment delayed management of the crisis.

She also investigates other problems that surface during a health emergency, involving issues such as federal budgeting, partisan politics, bureaucratic bungles, educating the public, the complications of policymaking, and the vexing role of the press. Panem makes specific recommendations for a centrally coordinated federal response to health emergencies, including the creation of a national health emergency plan.

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Forsaking Our Children is the story of what happens when an activist sociologist and former welfare rights organizer is hired to reform a child welfare system. The book combines a compelling personal narrative, a critical history of the rise of the welfare bureaucracy, and a practical approach to reform. Hagedorn argues that genuine reform, which delivers critical services to poverty families, is possible even under today's adverse conditions. His contribution to theory draws lesson that apply more broadly to the educational, welfare and criminal justice bureaucracies which play a major role in the lives of the poor. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A superb analysis of the current crisis in child welfare
The failings of the troubled Milwaukee social services system in many respects parallel those of other systems.

Today, some short years have passed since an entrenched child welfare bureaucracy thwarted the reformefforts of Hagedorn and his Youth Initiative.The results have been tragicfor children, and promise to worsen.

After his departure, the AmericanCivil Liberties Union filed suit against the troubled Milwaukee CountyDepartment of Social Services, essentially charging the Department withfailure to provide services to children, and with abuse and neglect of thechildren in its care.

Today, a state takeover of the Milwaukee childwelfare system looms imminent.It has been reported that as the takeovernears that conditions for children and families continue to deteriorate. It is expected that as the state takes over the troubled system, that theremoval of children from their homes will double in number.

All of thiscould have avoided had the bureaucracy not resisted the reform efforts ofthe Youth Initiative.As Hagedorn explains: "The last of our reformteam left the Department of Social Services by the end of 1993.The goodold boys whom we had tried to depose returned victoriously, and completely,to power."

His observations are particularly timely in view of therecent departure of court-appointed receiver Jerome Miller, whose effortsat reforming the troubled District of Columbia child welfare system werechronicled in the Washington Post.Miller recounts that from his earliestdays as receiver, the District's child welfare bureaucracy shored itself upin an effort to thwart his efforts.Once he departed it took theDepartment less than a week to undo the few reforms he had managed toimplement, handing contracts back to favored service providers.

JohnHagedorn takes the reader into the innermost circles--the very nooks andcrannies of the child welfare bureaucracy, explaining not just the how butthe critical why underlying the failure of nearly every effort at reform.

Challenged here are the most cherished assumptions about child welfare,among them the "myth of classlessness."Hagedorn recounts howthe results of a study were suppressed when it was found that the vastmajority of child abuse reports came from impoverished areas of thecounty--contrary to what the report was originally intended to convey.

Also challenged are the commonly held assumptions about high caseloads, thelack of resources, and the core tasks of social workers--those tasks whichdefine what they do on a day-to-day basis.

But there is one mostpervasive myth of all--central to the continued existence of child welfareas we know it--which Hagedorn boldly confronts."It's simply toorisky for bureaucrats to admit that their agency may not be 'doing good.' The erosion of that myth may lead someone to investigate them or evenpropose cutting their budgets."

The failings of the Milwaukeesystem are in many respects typical. Indeed, as of early 1998, legislatorshave called for a complete audit and investigation of the Los AngelesDepartment of Social Services, an "underbudgeted" agency whichsomehow or other manages to spend half a billion dollars per year on fostercare services alone.In New York City, a lawsuit seeks to push thetroubled child welfare agency into court receivership.New York Cityspends more per capita than any other city in the country, notes Children'sRights, Inc.It should have one of the best child welfare agencies in thecountry--instead it has one of the worst.

No other volume serves betterto illuminate the inner workings of the shadowy institution of childprotective services than does Forsaking Our Children. Only Hagedorn answers the questions of how andwhy these more recent efforts at reform are likely tofail. But he does not stop there.He also provides a critical recipe formeaningful and lasting reform.

No student of the child welfare systemshould be without this thoroughly researched and annotated volume.Whilesome others may have learned their lessons in the classroom, Hagedorn haslearned his battling the child welfare bureaucracy head on. ... Read more

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An examination of the role of the citizen in a society in which specialized knowledge confers power
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