WINTER 2012 - National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and ...

Kenneth Oldfield
in these three governmental branches. I especially appreciated the practical
observations and insights Wildavsky (1964) offered in his The Politics of the
Budgetary Process, although eventually I recognized the title’s redundancy; by
definition, the budgetary process is political. But I am quibbling.
TEACHING BY OMISSION
Formal learning teaches by inclusion and exclusion. The subtle lesson
being: If teachers do not cover it, it is probably unimportant. Bachrach and
Baratz (1963) made this point in their landmark article about “non-decisions,”
explaining that power is exercised as much by raising issues as by keeping them
off the agenda. The rest of this section summarizes three examples of how
Bachrach and Baratz’s idea played out in my own formal education in terms of
not applying certain perspectives to socioeconomic inequalities.
First, some of my undergraduate and graduate professors addressed social
class in general, such as mentioning Veblen’s (1899) Theory of the Leisure Class
and how the wealthy engage in conspicuous consumption. I also learned
about Marx and the contest between owners and workers. However, none of
my professors challenged us toward class consciousness by critically viewing
socioeconomic status. For example, we never questioned the legitimacy of
financial inheritances. We discussed welfare programs including whether
recipients should have to earn their government allotments versus getting them
“free.” We never applied the same standard to hereditary wealth. We never
considered whether financial bequests, such as a house, money, stocks, and
bonds, are another form of welfare, assets recipients gained without working, the
supposedly nonexistent free lunch.
Second, by definition, entitlement program benefits are open to anyone
meeting the eligibility criteria. If you qualify, you are entitled to the benefits.
Critics of these programs use entitlement derisively to portray qualified applicants
as people who think they have a right to benefits they should have earned by
laboring but instead got free. None of my professors asked us to apply the same
criticism to people who inherited considerable riches simply by choosing the
right parents. By definition, inheritances are an entitlement program. If your
name is in the will and there are no successful legal challenges to your bequest,
you are entitled to the wealth without earning it. A rose by any other name.
Last, personnel matters are a major focus of PA. We addressed questions
of merit under the heading of “Human Resources.” Although it should be
commonplace, we still pay little heed to the strong relationship between
inherited advantages and one’s odds of possessing enough merit to gain certain
public sector appointments. While our discipline has finally begun confronting
questions relating to how racism and sexism affect personnel outcomes, we
seldom apply the same scrutiny to the role of class in understanding workforce
policy. If you must have an MD to become director of Public Health, what are
34 Journal of Public Affairs Education