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Enhancing Professional Socialization Through the Metaphor of TraditionSummaryFrom this professional socialization process view, role conception isenvisioned as a problem of scholarship, practice, and public perception. It canbe studied from the perspective of those constructing the role (scholars), thosetaking the role (practitioners), or those interacting with the role (electedofficials, other administrators, and citizens). While internal role conceptionsand externally prescribed role conceptualizations are clearly interrelated, thisarticle focuses on the latter, and the manner in which theory describes andpromotes roles for the public administrator. It seeks to describe the constitutiveelements of unique role conceptualizations, define how they are mutuallyexclusive in terms of legitimacy logic, and explain how the field attempts topromote them through pedagogy.ROLE CONCEPTUALIZATIONS AND DEMOCRATIC LEGITIMACYAs noted by Morgan (1986), images and metaphors are used not only asdescriptors, but also as prescriptive guides for attitudes and action. Roleconceptualizations depict what we wish social actors to be and do. In this case,images of identity stem from “legitimating myths” about the enterprise of publicadministration within our political system (Kass, 1990). In fact, a historicalreview of the field “shows that the debate over defining the role of theadministrator in governance has actually been a struggle of political ideology”(McSwite, 1997, pp. 229-230). For example, Waldo (1984) brought theproblem of political philosophy into public administration theory: “Are trainingin the mechanics of administration and codes of professional ethics enough? Orshould our new Guardian Class be given an education commensurate with theirannounced responsibilities and perhaps be imbued with a political philosophy?”(p. 202). While the field for the most part has accepted this charge, the specificsflow “from different, often conflicting, ideas in American political philosophy”(Kettl, 2000, p.14).Perhaps in part because of this phenomenon, there is widespreaddisagreement about the legitimate role of government actors. This has beendescribed as a “crisis of legitimacy” (King, et al., 1998) for which a variety ofsolutions has been offered. In fact, the resulting identity crisis has beenrecognized as one of the most pressing concerns for the field in the newmillennium. A 2006 symposium in the International Journal of Public SectorManagement described a competition between the traditional bureaucratic ethosand the managerialist ethos promoted by the New Public Management andrelated theories. Elsewhere, competing democratic and bureaucratic ethos aresimilarly described (Pugh, 1991). Each ethos has a specific logic, ethicalframework, and corresponding role identity for public administrators (Newland,2003). Such competition among ethos is described as an “identity project” that294 Journal of Public Affairs Education
Enhancing Professional Socialization Through the Metaphor of Traditionis thought to be changing the professional culture of public service (Du Gay,1996), along with the associated practitioner identity (Cooper, 1984; Horton,2006; van Bockel & Noordegraaf, 2006). To a large extent, these references toalternative ethos and professional identities are just different ways to say“competing bases of democratic legitimacy.”The notion that the ethos and the corresponding role conception of publicadministrators can and perhaps should change suggests the need to makeinformed choices. A better understanding of these role conceptualizationsshould benefit this effort. Research on public service motivation and thequestion of what causes individuals to adopt the role of public administrator isone approach (Brewer & Selden, 1998; Brewer, Selden, & Facer, 2000; Downs,1967; Perry, 1996, 1997; Rainey, 1982; Selden, Brewer, & Brudney, 1999).Related literature about a vocation or calling also explores the motivation toenter public service, and assumes a role conceptualization related to some typeof moral purpose (J.V. Denhardt & R.B. Denhardt, 2003; Kass & Catron,1990; Staats, 1988). A similar area of inquiry provides typologicalconceptualizations of the role conceptions held by individual administrators(R.B. Denhardt & deLeon, 1995; Svara, 2006).In sum, these varying conceptualizations of the public service role includecategorizations by cognitive type, social level of concern, type of personal affector commitment, orientation toward technical and democratic concerns, andrelationship to politicians. However, while empirical approaches are importantin linking value systems to specific functions, organizational missions, or jobclassifications, they may not explain competing and mutually exclusive bases oflegitimacy. For this, an ideal-type model is required.Reconsidering these role conceptualizations using legitimacy as an analyticallens also highlights an important theoretical problem: they frequently offerparadoxical or conflicting normative prescriptions. For example, in some roleconceptualizations, administrators are charged with being both discretionaryand obedient to external masters (e.g., managers, politicians, and law). Thesetwo characteristics are based on two very different bases of legitimacy (expertiseand the constitutional order, respectively), and it is questionable whether theycan be successfully integrated. Perhaps certain elements of various approaches topublic administration can be combined into one role conceptualization, whileothers cannot. The framework presented here seeks to remedy this deficiency bydevising ideal role types derived from three distinct bases of democraticlegitimacy that are present in public administration literature. Generatingcoherent sets of administrative practices and role conceptualizations that areassociated with mutually exclusive bases of legitimacy may help scholars evaluateand select which one(s) to promote or to practice.Journal of Public Affairs Education 295
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