Exposing and dismantling White culture in public administration

Abstract

This paper examines the ways dominant White culture shapes the foundational assumptions within U.S. public administration, and how these embed oppressive power dynamics within the field are impeding effectively addressing racial inequities. Toward that end, we offer a primer on White culture as a specific form of dominance culture with unique assumptions, values, power dynamics, institutional structures, and procedures. We argue that this hegemonic culture has shaped public administration’s primary schools of thought. Examination of these schools demonstrates that efforts to reform public administration will continue to fail in producing socially just outcomes if the underlying White culture is not dismantled. To achieve social justice, we must transform underlying assumptions through pluricultural integration (as opposed to multicultural pluralism), generating a culture that fosters equitable and inclusive power dynamics that empower all social identities through the development of power-within (self-efficacy), power-with (solidarity), and power-to (agency).