| Of all that is written and said about the American 1960's, one thing remains undisputed---it was a decade of significant change. In fact, change is probably the most perceivable characteristic historians use to approach the 1960's as distinct from those decades surrounding it. Even those too young to have experienced it for themselves can tell you about the activism, turbulence, reform and cultural diversity that the decade produced. It is what we read in history books, see on television, and hear from parents---the 60's were special, different.; For many of those witnessing the approach of the 1960's, American society was in need of renovation and American thought, redirection. Consequently, much of the literature in the social science in the late 50's and early 60's reflected an eagerness for innovative research, theory and even action. The old clothes didn't fit anymore, and it was time to tailor a fresh approach to society's new challenges.; One of those challenges was the organizational and sociological implications of a vast and dominant bureaucracy. The administrative arm of the U.S. government's executive branch had certainly gained in size and strength in the aftermath of the New Deal and World War II legislation. However, many began to question not only the efficacy and efficiency of bureaucratic product, but also the moral implications of its goals, values, structure and character. In the 1950's and 60's, bureaucracy seemed a likely target for criticisms about American society, government, and culture. In time, quiet criticism would galvanize discontent.; The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the American New Left's largest and most visible intellectual and student activist group of the 1960's, served as the major expression of discontent youth in that decade. Critical of their nation's sanctimonious liberal administrative state and society, SDS sought to re-align espoused American principles with its practice by organizing around common values of democracy, community, humanism and freedom. Antithetical to such values was what SDS regarded as a dehumanized, hierarchical, anti-democratic bureaucracy---a sprawling institution characterized by complaisance and conformity, largely unresponsive to the interests and needs of the American public.; Despite being regarded as the classical organizational concept for efficiency, Max Weber's 'Bureaucratic Ideal' was in need of serious revision by the mid-20 th century. And, the New Left wasn't the only intellectual group eager to revise it. In fact, SDS, perhaps without even knowing it, influenced thousands of middle-class students, who carried New Left values into their respective professional fields. The field of public administration was one of those disciplines affected by the principles of the Left.; In Sept of 1968 young public administration students and professors met in Minnowbrook, near Syracuse University for a convention that would serve as a turning point in the theory of public administration. Acknowledging New Left influence, these advocates of a New Public Administration, as they called it, were more interested in social equity, democratic procedure, and a responsive bureaucracy than traditional bureaucratic values of efficiency, economy and rationality.; Using New Public Administration as an example, I argue that SDS would have been bettered served had it remained focused on the campuses, its original base-camp, as well as on the young middle-class residents of the university. This is where they had significant, if unrealized, success transforming those students going into fields of social science, including Public Administration. Having internalized many of the values the New Left was espousing on campuses across the nation, these Public Administration students entered the field as professors or practitioners---a sizable group armed with not only New Left rhetoric, but New Left values, ready to reform the subject of their study and work. |
