A STUDY OF ADMINISTRATIVE PLURALISM

259 Pages·12.217 MB·English

by  BEALL, CHARLES PORTER

A STUDY OF ADMINISTRATIVE PLURALISM
BY
CHARLES PORTER BEALL
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the Doctor of Philosophy degree
in the College of Liberal Arts
Indiana University
August, 1952
Accepted by the faculty of the Graduate School in partial
fulfillm ent of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy,
Indiana University.
Director of Thesis
Doctoral Committee: , Chairman
ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The w riter wishes to extend his thanks to the many instructors
who have influenced and encouraged him in his academic studies. It is
difficult to name particular individuals without fear of excluding
those whose guidance and encouragement have had more indirect yet none
the less profound effect upon the w riter’s work. However, the author
desires to single out in his acknowledgment W. C. Wilson, his high
school instructor, whose encouragement and personal interest proved a
determining factor in the author’s continuation of advanced study in
political science.
This thesis would not have teen possible were it not for the
patient help and encouragement given by Lynn Bradley Beall, the author’s
wife, during the difficult period of its preparation.
C. P. B.
iii
TABLE OP CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................... 1
II. THE ROLE OP PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION.................................................... 5
III. THE DEVELOPMENT OP PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION.............................................11
IV. THE ADMINISTRATIVE LEVIATHAN......................................................................35
V. THE GROUP AND THE POLITICAL PROCESS.....................................................53
VI. PIDEALISM IN COMMUNITY ADMINISTRATION.................................................99
VII. PLURALISTIC ADMINISTRATION IN SWEDEN...................................................12*7
VIII. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS.............................................................................I78
BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................19^
APPENDIX..............................................................................................................205
Appendix A: Letters to Political Candidates from
Associations ..................................................................... 206
Appendix B: Porms and Report of the Port Wayne Social
Planning Council ............................................................ 2l6
Appendix C: Reports of the St. Louis Social Planning
Council....................................................................................222
iv
LIST OP TABLES
Table Page
1. Sample List of Large National Organizations in the United
States Including Date Pounded and Membership ............................... 70
2. List of Group Types and Number of Organizations in Each
C ategory........................................................................................................... 73
3. List of National Unofficial Organizations Belated to
Public Administration . . . » ................................................................ 8^
A. Number of States Having Professional Examining Boards
Appointed by Listed Professional Associations ................................ 89
5. List of Member Organizations of the Port Wayne Social
Planning Council ......................................................................................... 110
v
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
1. Sample Political Ticket Distributed by Political Action
Committee of the C IO ................................................................................... 76
2. Diagram Showing Individual's Belationship to Government
Through Group M embership.......................................................................... 95
3. Organizational Chart of the Fort Wayne Social Planning
Council..........................................................................................................115
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"Governments therefore should not he the only
active powers: associations ought, in democratic
nations, to stand in lieu of those powerful private
individuals whom the equality of conditions has swept
away. . . . In democratic countries the science of
association is the mother of science: the progress
of all the rest depends upon the progress it has
made. Amongst the laws which rule human societies
there is one which seems to he more precise and
clear than all the others. If men are to remain
civilized, or to become so, the art of associating
together must grow and improve in the same ratio
in which the equality of conditions is increased."
—de Tocqueville
vii
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The rapid increase in the number of social functions coming under
the administration of government is a matter of serious concern to all
thinking persons. The extension of governmental activities itself is
not cause for this concern but rather the manner and the areas in which
it has been carried out.
Government is the political organization of the state, performing
those functions considered essential to the political well-being of the
state and its inhabitants. Political organization, however, is but one
of the numerous social institutions essential to society and to the
well-being of the social man. Besides the political institution of
government, men have developed religious, educational, social, and
economic associations to satisfy their numerous wants. Yet the politi­
cal institution in society has become so dominant and has so broadened
the scope of “political needs" and “political well-being" as to encroach
upon functions of other social institutions.
It cannot be denied that the various social, political, economic,
and spiritual needs of man are interrelated and require interrelation­
ship of the institutions created to satisfy these needs. But such
interrelationship does not necessarily mean subordination of all cor­
porate bodies to one.
Indeed, unity of effort and unity of purpose are desirable goals
only if they are accomplished by synthesis of coordinate and coequal
bodies affecting each other by interpenetration rather than dominance.
2
The continual flow towards centralization of the functional performance
of social needs into one institution cannot hut create a centralization
of power in a body exterior to the broadest social control and exterior
to the diversity of social need. The danger that, in our striving for
unity and integration, we may create a monolithic society is not en­
tirely fanciful. It is not just democratic government we seek but a
democratic society, insuring areas of rights and areas of responsibility
for the many social institutions in society.
If we are to extend the meaning of "political needs" and of
"political well-being" as is constantly being done, we must just as
readily realize that the political organization of society encompasses
more than the institution of government. Political organization then
becomes a plurality of social organizations entrusted with social con­
trol and social planning.
The individual is given purpose and direction by the institutions
which he has created or which have developed to give expression to his
social, economic, political, and religious needs. These various insti­
tutions are the materialized organizational expression of the plurality
within man himself. If we are considering man a9 a social animal is he
not but the product of the various forces in the society in which he
lives; is his personality not the sum total of his experiences and the
stimuli received admittedly susceptible to his o%m peculiar neuro­
muscular structure which organizes his own peculiar emotional and per­
haps rational reaction? Is it not logical then to assume that the man
in harmony with himself and society is the one who has been acted upon
and who reacts upon a society that gives expression and structural form
to hie various needs?
It is the contention of numerous writers that the various insti­
tutions and social organizations so necessary as an outlet for man's
various needs are "being increasingly absorbed or weakened "by the grow­
ing influence of the state. This has been recognized for some time by
sociologists, psychologists, and political scientists. It was perhaps
the political pluralists writing in the first quarter of the twentieth
century who brought to public attention the significance of group as­
sociations in our social structure as media for furthering democratic
aims in society. The pluralists were concerned with the fact that as-
sociational groups were not being given their due responsibilities and
rights in the formal political process.
Pluralistic writers of the first quarter of the 20th century
realized this dilemma and believed that the plurality of needs and
functions of the individual as represented in various organizations,
social, economic, and religious, should be represented in the political
process where the plurality of needs and of values could find a harmo­
nious synthesis.
Pluralistic political theory and its advocates declined rapidly
in significance and prestige, partly because of their obsession with
theories of sovereignty, partly because of the confusion and contradic-
tions in their attitudes toward the state. 1 ^-But they did stimulate an
appreciation of the significance of associations and groups and empha­
sized the importance of these groups in society and the role they play
^See Chapter V (pp. 59-65) for a summary of the principal con­
cepts of the political pluralists.