You are here

The Managerial State
Share
Share

The Managerial State
Power, Politics and Ideology in the Remaking of Social Welfare


Other Titles in:
Social Policy (General)

March 1997 | 192 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
This original analysis of the creation of new state forms critically examines the political forces that enabled `more and better management' to be presented as a solution to the problems of the welfare state in Britain.

Examining the micro-politics within public service, the authors draw links between politics, policies and organizational power to present an incisive and dynamic account of the restructuring of social welfare. Clarke and Newman expose the tensions and contradictions in the managerial state and trace the emergence of new dilemmas in the provision of public services. They show that these problems are connected to the recurring difficulties in defining `the public' that receives these services. In particular they question whether the reinvention of the public as either a nation of consumers or a nation of communities can effectively address the implications of social diversity.

 
From the Cradle to the Grave
The Crises of the post-War Welfare Settlements

 
 
Towards the Managerial State?
 
A Change for the Better? The Tyranny of Transformation
 
The Making of Management
Regimes of Power

 
 
Incentives, Institutions and Identities
Shaping the Managerial State

 
 
Capturing the Customer
The Politics of Representation

 
 
Reinventing the Public
 
An Unstable State?

`The Managerial State can be situated as part of a critical literature on public sector managerialism to which it makes a valuable contribution...Clarke and Newman have produced a thoughtful and stimulating book. Their focus is on the British experience and this is unfashionable when this is a sine qua non to produce comparative work in social policy. However, they produce the robust justification of this approach; that as different countries have pursued different attempted solutions to economic recession and crisis and these in turn depend upon a specific combinations of national politics and circumstances then a national focus is fully justified. In the view of this reviewer such an emphasis on Britain serves to enhance rather than diminish the value of the book.' Journal of Social Policy

`A significant contribution to the growing body of work which charts the impact of management theory on welfare organizations in the United Kingdom' - International Social Work

For instructors

This book is not available as an inspection copy. For more information contact your local sales representative.

Purchasing options

Please select a format:

ISBN: 9780803976122
£51.00

SAGE Knowledge is the ultimate social sciences digital library for students, researchers, and faculty. Hosting more than 4,400 titles, it includes an expansive range of SAGE eBook and eReference content, including scholarly monographs, reference works, handbooks, series, professional development titles, and more.

The platform allows researchers to cross-search and seamlessly access a wide breadth of must-have SAGE book and reference content from one source.

SAGE Knowledge brings together high-quality content from across our imprints, including CQ Press and Corwin titles.