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OverviewServants of the State traces the halting rise of a pluralistic attitude in hiring and promotion procedures within the federal government. Ranging from the Great Depression to World War II to the early days of both the civil rights movement and the Cold War, Margaret Rung reveals how circumstances in each of these eras shaped how federal managers conceptualized merit for female and African American workers. At the same time, Rung shows how labor relations, as practiced by the nation's most prominent employer, reflected and fostered broader social and cultural debates concerning American identity in a diverse and democratic society. Rung draws on an impressive array of sources, including previously unexamined archival materials, oral histories, and personnel manuals, as she tells how federal administrators and employees destabilized earlier patterns of discrimination based on white male privilege - only to confront new challenges engendered by personnel trends grounded in sociology and psychology. In the end, a renewed commitment to democracy and social justice in the 1930s and 1940s did not entail a complete restructuring of government labor relations policy or the merit system. By midcentury, labor segmentation based on race and gender within the federal civil service still existed, as did the tension between managers' desire to support individual initiative and their desire to remedy categorical discrimination against blacks and women. Questions of individual merit versus group rights remain central to our discussions about the relationship between equality and pluralism. Servants of the State highlights the fluid meaning of merit by focusing on this critical concept in the public-sector workplace. By covering an area frequently ignored by historians, it adds an important historical dimension to current affirmative action debates and other issues that touch on pluralism and individual opportunity. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Margaret RungPublisher: University of Georgia Press Imprint: University of Georgia Press Dimensions: Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.60cm , Length: 22.90cm Weight: 0.592kg ISBN: 9780820323626ISBN 10: 0820323624 Pages: 312 Publication Date: 31 August 2002 Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate , Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print  This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Language: English Table of ContentsReviews[A] well-research study . . . A valuable contribution to the growing number of studies on how individuals negotiate with and within the federal government to create change in society.-- Law and History Review An interesting study that traces the slow rise of pluralistic attitude in hiring and promotion procedures with the United States federal government . . . By focusing on the concept of individual merit versus group rights in the public-sector workplace, the author underlines an important movement in the United States public sector workplace. -- International Review of Administrative Sciences Author InformationMARGARET RUNG is an associate professor of history at Roosevelt University. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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