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What price evidence? The ethics of office and the ethics of social science in British cultural policy.
- Source :
- Journal of Cultural Economy; Apr2016, Vol. 9 Issue 2, p127-140, 14p
- Publication Year :
- 2016
-
Abstract
- This paper considers the use of evidence for government decision-making using ethnographically informed data from the lived experiences of those involved in British cultural policy. It does this in order to engage and extend work that has sought to defend bureaucratic forms of activity. The paper offers an empirical case study of how the civil servants’ ethic of office [DuGay, P. (2008) ‘Max weber and the moral economy of office’,Journal of Cultural Economy, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 129–144] is reinforced by the identity of the social scientist. The use of social science in policy advice is a moment where the bureaucrats are able to distance themselves from political decision-making, thus reasserting an important aspect of civil service practice and identity. However, as the latter part of the article illustrates, the dynamics of cultural policy-making, in particular the use of economics, situate the role of social science as paradoxical. It is both supportive and corrosive of the bureaucratic ethic. This paradox is the basis for a critical perspective on the ethic of office as deployed in contemporary government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- ETHICISTS
PHILOSOPHERS
CULTURAL policy
INTELLECTUAL life
ETHICS committees
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 17530350
- Volume :
- 9
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Cultural Economy
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 113251403
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/17530350.2015.1100649