Civil Service Reform and the Political Culture of Governmentality: Massachusetts 1952-1981

Abstract

Civil service reform has usually been viewed in one of two ways: as the triumph of integrity over greed, or as the triumph of elitism over party democracy. This paper takes a third path and interprets reform as an exemplar of what Michel Foucault called governmentality, a practice of governance under which society promotes certain practices of individuality which in turn promote specific practices of sociality, for instance professionalism and expertise. The paper contrasts this form of governance with that of sovereignty and then uses textual exegesis to tease out the meanings of key terms–“responsibility,” “democracy,” “sophistication”–in the reform literature of the times. By linking reform to suburban-managerial political culture, and suburban culture to governmentality, one gains a heightened perspective on the ambiguous relation between governance andfreedom as well as the possibilities for a democratic ethos in public administration.