This book develops a particular stance on the subject of public service. It does so in large part by indicating how early modern political concepts and theories of state, sovereignty, government, office and reason of state can shed light on current problems, failings and ethical dilemmas in politics, government and political administration. Simply put, public service is an activity involving the constitution, maintenance, projection and regulation of governmental authority. Public service therefore has a distinctive character because of the singularity of its 'official' object or 'core task' - namely, the activity of governing in an official capacity through and on behalf of a state. In pursuing this activity, public servants - civil, juridical and military - have a range of tasks to perform. It is only once the nature of those tasks is appreciated that we are able to identify the unique character of public service. The authors employ early modern political concepts and doctrines of state, sovereignty, government, office and reason of state in order to critically analyse contemporary political issues and offer solutions to problems concerning the status and conduct of public service. This book aims to remind public servants of the status of their 'calling' as office-holders in the service of the state, a daunting task given the rising tide of populism and the widespread prevalence of anti-statist, bureaucrat-bashing political discourse. It stresses the governmental dimension of the work of public servants as occupants of official roles in the service of the state, in order to reinforce their legitimate position in articulating public interests against the excesses of private interests and intense partisanship that continue to dominate many societies. This timely and thought-provoking book will be of great interest to those working within a range of fields in the humanities and social sciences, including political science, history, sociology, philosophy, organization studies and public administration.

This book develops a particular stance on the subject of public service. It does so in large part by indicating how early modern political concepts and theories of state, sovereignty, government, office and reason of state can shed light on current problems, failings and ethical dilemmas in politics, government and political administration. Simply put, public service is an activity involving the constitution, maintenance, projection and regulation of governmental authority. Public service therefore has a distinctive character because of the singularity of its 'official' object or 'core task' - namely, the activity of governing in an official capacity through and on behalf of a state. In pursuing this activity, public servants - civil, juridical and military - have a range of tasks to perform. It is only once the nature of those tasks is appreciated that we are able to identify the unique character of public service. The authors employ early modern political concepts and doctrines of state, sovereignty, government, office and reason of state in order to critically analyse contemporary political issues and offer solutions to problems concerning the status and conduct of public service. This book aims to remind public servants of the status of their 'calling' as office-holders in the service of the state, a daunting task given the rising tide of populism and the widespread prevalence of anti-statist, bureaucrat-bashing political discourse. It stresses the governmental dimension of the work of public servants as occupants of official roles in the service of the state, in order to reinforce their legitimate position in articulating public interests against the excesses of private interests and intense partisanship that continue to dominate many societies. This timely and thought-provoking book will be of great interest to those working within a range of fields in the humanities and social sciences, including political science, history, sociology, philosophy, organization studies and public administration.

?These are not the best days for bureaucracy?? With these opening words Paul du Gay sets the stage for his provocative new study of institutions, ethics and contemporary society. The book reassesses management as a definitive phenomenon of the `modern' era and goes on to explore its possible future configurations. Above all the positive, even creative potential of bureaucratic order in a time of complexity, uncertainty and disorder is analyzed. Central to the nature and role of the bureau is the relationship of individuals and institutions: by taking this as his starting point Paul du Gay offers a powerful new critique of organizational action and ethics. Reviewing key theorists from Weber to MacIntyre and Bauman, the text charts the rise and fall of the 'bureau critique', and suggests important ways in which the ideals of bureaucratic order have influenced and may in future shape social action. The book provides a context for re-evaluating structure and action. As a major contribution to organization theory The Bureaucratic Ethos will be essential reading for students and researchers of organization everywhere: at the same time the breadth and liveliness of the examples on which it draws make it a valuable supplement to courses on management and culture studies.

"A spectacular collection of essays by the most noted theorists of identity. The book well frames the issues around identity that presently are defining living in the early 21st century ... A must read." - Patricia Ticineto Clough, City University, New York "A wonderfully disparate and impressively distinguished set of authors to address the question of identity. The result is exciting and fruitful. No other book connects so elegantly sociological notions of individualization with the psychoanalysis of melancholy." - Scott Lash, Goldsmiths, University of London Identity in Question brings together in a single volume the world's leading theorists of identity to provide a decisive account of the debates surrounding self and identity. Presenting incisive analyses of the impact of globalization, postmodernism, psychoanalysis and post-feminism upon our imaginings of self, this book explores the complexity, contentiousness and significance of current debates over identity in the social sciences and the public sphere. As these contributions make clear, mapping the contours and consequences of transformations in identity in our globalizing world is not simply an academic exercise. It is a pressing concern for public and political debates. As identity continues its move to the centre of political life, so too do the possibilities for creatively re-imagining how we choose to live, both individually and collectively, in an age of uncertainty and insecurity. Identity in Question is essential reading for all students of self, identity, individualism and individualization.

"Arguably the most famous book in its field... In theoretical terms, the legacy of Doing Cultural Studies confirms that this classic read is not just about the Walkman itself, but represents a series of clear observations about the symbolic meanings of culture." - LSE Review of Books Why think about the Walkman in the 21st century? Can the Walkman help us understand today's media and cultural practices? Through the notion of the 'circuit of culture', this book teaches students to critically examine what culture means, and how and why it is enmeshed with the media texts and objects in their lives. Students will: Unpack the key concepts of contemporary culture, such as mobility, materiality, consumption and identity Learn to think about some of the cultural conundrums of the present and their relation to the past, such as branding culture Look with fresh eyes at today's media world and the cultural practices it gives rise to Gain practical experience with the historical comparative method Practice their critical skills with up-to-date exercises and activities This book takes students on a journey between past and present, giving them the skills do to cultural analysis along the way. It remains the perfect 'how to' for students in media studies, cultural studies, design and sociology.

The realms of consumption have typically been seen to be distinct from those of work and production. Consumption and Identity At Work examines how contemporary rhetoric and discourse of organizational change and reform are breaking down such distinctions--with significant implications for the construction of subjectivities and identities at work. Drawing on his own research, author Paul du Gay builds a cogent and sophisticated picture of how discourses of reform take hold in particular contexts, how they construct particular subject positions for employees to occupy, and how the latter negotiate these identities in their everyday working lives. In this intriguing study, du Gay shows how the capacities and predispositions required of customers and those required of employees are increasingly difficult to distinguish. Both customers and employees are represented as autonomous, responsible, and calculating individuals in society. They've been constituted as such in the language of consumer culture and the all-pervasive discourses of enterprise whereby persons are required to be entrepreneurs of the self, at work at play, and in all aspects of their life. Combining theoretical and empirical research on the new articulations that are emerging in the government of organizational life, and organizational and personal identity, Consumption and Identity at Work will be essential reading for academics and students in organization theory and behavior, management studies, sociology, and cultural studies.

"Arguably the most famous book in its field... In theoretical terms, the legacy of Doing Cultural Studies confirms that this classic read is not just about the Walkman itself, but represents a series of clear observations about the symbolic meanings of culture." - LSE Review of Books Why think about the Walkman in the 21st century? Can the Walkman help us understand today's media and cultural practices? Through the notion of the 'circuit of culture', this book teaches students to critically examine what culture means, and how and why it is enmeshed with the media texts and objects in their lives. Students will: Unpack the key concepts of contemporary culture, such as mobility, materiality, consumption and identity Learn to think about some of the cultural conundrums of the present and their relation to the past, such as branding culture Look with fresh eyes at today's media world and the cultural practices it gives rise to Gain practical experience with the historical comparative method Practice their critical skills with up-to-date exercises and activities This book takes students on a journey between past and present, giving them the skills do to cultural analysis along the way. It remains the perfect 'how to' for students in media studies, cultural studies, design and sociology.

Identity provides an essential resource of key statements drawn from cultural studies, sociology, and psychoanalytic theory, and includes three editorial essays, which place the readings in their theoretical and historical context. Divided into three parts: Language, Ideology and Discourse; Psychoanalysis and Psycho-Social Relations; and Identity, Sociology and History, this book invites readers to compare and contrast cultural studies approaches with psychoanalytic and historical and sociological accounts of identity formation. The Identity Reader will be an essential sourcebook for students of cultural studies, gender studies, social psychology, and sociology. The key statements are from the work of: Louis Althusser, Jessica Benjamin, Emile Benveniste, Homi K Bhabha, Pierre Bourdieu, Judith Butler, Ian Craib, Jacques Dérrida, Norbert Elias, Frantz Fanon, Michel Foucault, Anthony Giddens, Stuart Hall, Pierre Hadot, Melanie Klein, Jacques Lacan, Christopher Lasch, Isabel Menzies, Lyth, T H Marshall, Marcel Mauss, Amèlie Okensberg Rorty, Jacqueline Rose, Nikolas Rose, Michael Rustin, Kaja Silverman, Max Weber, D W Winnicott

Why and how do contemporary questions of culture become so highly charged questions of identity? The question of cultural identity lies at the heart of current debates in cultural studies and social theory. Are the distinctive identities that have defined the social and cultural world of modern societies for so long--gender, sexuality, race, class, and nationality--in decline? And have they given rise to new forms of identification, thus fragmenting the modern individual as a unified subject? Questions of Cultural Identity offers a wide-ranging exploration of these issues, outlining the reasons why the question of identity is so compelling and yet so problematic. Individual contributors interrogate different dimensions of the crisis of identity providing both theoretical and substantive insights into its contemporary manifestations. Without privileging any one approach to the problem of identity, the book opens up a number of significant questions and offers insights into different approaches to understanding identity. In doing so, it both illuminates and advances debates about identity and its futures. Questions of Cultural Identity will be essential reading for students and researchers in cultural studies and sociology and across the humanities and social science disciplines.

"A spectacular collection of essays by the most noted theorists of identity. The book well frames the issues around identity that presently are defining living in the early 21st century ... A must read." - Patricia Ticineto Clough, City University, New York "A wonderfully disparate and impressively distinguished set of authors to address the question of identity. The result is exciting and fruitful. No other book connects so elegantly sociological notions of individualization with the psychoanalysis of melancholy." - Scott Lash, Goldsmiths, University of London Identity in Question brings together in a single volume the world's leading theorists of identity to provide a decisive account of the debates surrounding self and identity. Presenting incisive analyses of the impact of globalization, postmodernism, psychoanalysis and post-feminism upon our imaginings of self, this book explores the complexity, contentiousness and significance of current debates over identity in the social sciences and the public sphere. As these contributions make clear, mapping the contours and consequences of transformations in identity in our globalizing world is not simply an academic exercise. It is a pressing concern for public and political debates. As identity continues its move to the centre of political life, so too do the possibilities for creatively re-imagining how we choose to live, both individually and collectively, in an age of uncertainty and insecurity. Identity in Question is essential reading for all students of self, identity, individualism and individualization.

After many years in which it appeared to be losing the pre-eminent position it had occupied in the lexicon of the social and human sciences, the term 'capitalism' has once again become a matter of critical concern, both theoretically and substantively, in a range of disciplinary fields. The global financial and environmental crises, and the shifting of economic power associated with the rise of the BRICs and the sovereign debt contagion in the Eurozone, for example, have all put the norms, practices, and devices of capitalist conduct back under the spotlight. Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello's The New Spirit of Capitalism has become a seminal text since its publication, sparking debate about the meaning, significance, and effects of contemporary changes in economic and organizational life, and becoming a reference point in political discussions about the welfare state, collective action in a 'networked' world, and reconciliation of the interests of social justice with the 'laws of the markets'. This edited book offers the first comprehensive attempt to examine the power and reach of Boltanski and Chiapello's argument, the text's theoretical and methodological perspectives, tools, and techniques, and to do so in relation to the development of neo-liberal capitalism in the period since its original publication and in particular the culmination of these developments in the ongoing crisis since the financial collapse of 2007-8. The volume provides both a balanced critique and overview of New Spirit, but also shows how it can be used in a variety of empirical studies to develop new insights into the functioning and regulation of capitalism in the contemporary era. The volume brings together leading scholars from a range of disciplinary fields such as Sociology, Management and Organization Studies, and Geography. Luc Boltanksi and Eve Chiapello also offer their thoughts on the continuing relevance of New Spirit over a decade after its publication, and in the context of contemporary global economic and political developments.

Phrases such as "corporate culture," "market culture" and the "knowledge economy," have now become familiar clarion calls in the world of work. They are calls that have echoed through organizations and markets. Clearly something is happening to the ways markets and organizations are being represented and intervened in and this signals a need to reassess their very constitution. In particular, the once clean divide that placed the economy, dealt with mainly by economists, on one side, and culture, addressed chiefly by those in anthropology, sociology and the other "cultural sciences," on the other, can no longer hold.

Phrases such as "corporate culture," "market culture" and the "knowledge economy," have now become familiar clarion calls in the world of work. They are calls that have echoed through organizations and markets. Clearly something is happening to the ways markets and organizations are being represented and intervened in and this signals a need to reassess their very constitution. In particular, the once clean divide that placed the economy, dealt with mainly by economists, on one side, and culture, addressed chiefly by those in anthropology, sociology and the other "cultural sciences," on the other, can no longer hold.

In this provocative study, Paul du Gay makes a compelling case for the continuing importance of bureaucracy. Taking inspiration from the work of Max Weber, du Gay launches a staunch defence of `the bureaucratic ethos' and highlights its continuing relevance to the achievement of social order and good government in liberal democratic societies. Through a comprehensive engagement with both historical and contemporary critiques of bureaucracy and a careful examination of the policies of organizational change within the public services today, du Gay develops a major reappraisal of the so-called `traditional' ethic of office. In doing so he highlights the ways in which many of the key features of bureaucratic conduct that came into existence a century ago still remain essential to the provision of responsible democratic government.

Examining cultural goods and services, the cultural industries, and the cultural aspects of organization and work, this innovative text offers a novel understanding of relations between the economic and the cultural. This book shows how cultural products are produced, marketed, and sold in an increasingly global economy. Chapters examine the emergence of truly global cultural products and the strategies of global cultural players, such as Sony. They analyze how culture is circulated through the activities of the cultural intermediaries of design, marketing, and advertising, and explore cultural production in practice through an examination of the contemporary fashion industry. The book also looks at why culture has become a crucial concern in business and organizations, and how the construction of particular corporate cultures has implications for the creation of identities that blur the boundaries between work and leisure. Throughout, the book illustrates that contemporary cultural goods and services are inextricably bound upb with economic processes of production, circulation, and exchange, and shows how "economic" processes and practices are in an important sense "cultural" phenomena depending on meaning for their effects. With unique coverage of a range of hotly debated topics, presented in an accessible form with questions, activities, and selected readings, this book will be essential reading for lecturers and students in cultural studies and a range of related fields.

This innovative text offers a novel understanding of relations between the economic and the cultural. The book shows how cultural products are produced, marketed and sold in an increasingly global economy. Chapters examine the emergence of truly global cultural products and the strategies of global cultural players such as Sony.

Throughout, the book illustrates that contemporary cultural goods and services are inextricably bound up with economic processes of production, circulation and exchange.

The realms of consumption have typically been seen to be distinct from those of work and production. This book examines how contemporary rhetorics and discourses of organizational change are breaking down such distinctions - with significant implications for the construction of subjectivities and identities at work. In particular, Paul du Gay shows how the capacities and predispositions required of consumers and those required of employees are increasingly difficult to distinguish. Both consumers and employees are represented as autonomous, responsible, calculating individuals. They are constituted as such in the language of consumer cultures and the all-pervasive discourses of enterprise whereby persons are required to be entrepreneurs of the self, at work, at play and in all aspects of their lives. The first part of the book explores certain limitations in traditional approaches to the analysis of work identity. It presents an alternative, discursive framework in which to address contemporary `re-imaginings' of organizational life within the `cult(ure)' of the consumer. Part Two develops the analysis by looking at an arena where the blurring of the boundaries between work and consumption identities is most pronounced - retailing. The author builds a sophisticated picture of how discourses of reform take hold in particular contexts, how they construct particular subject positions for employees to occupy, and how employees negotiate these identities in their everyday working lives. He concludes by considering the ethical and other issues of `setting limits to enterprise'.

This book focuses on the state of Organization Theory, its purpose, object, and practical relevance. In recent years, disquiet has mounted within the field of organizational analysis, broadly defined, about the overly theoretical and a-or anti-organizational state of Organization Theory and its consequent lack of practical purchase, not least in the light of pressing economic, social and political concerns that are often profoundly organizational in nature. The book argues that predominant contemporary modes of theorising within the field, and in particular the stance associated with them, have had the effect of occluding and dissolving Organization Theory's core object - formal organization - and, as a consequence, dissipating its practical focus and reach. The book seeks to contribute to the goal of reviving Organization Theory as a practical science of organizing and rehabilitating its core object -formal organization - through a re-examination and re-assessment of the outlook, comportment and attitude - stance - animating its classical antecedents. This ambition is double edged. For not only does it seek to revive Organization Theory through reconnecting it with the practical orientation framing classical organizational analysis, it also seeks to indicate how the historic products of that orientation or stance still have considerable traction for analysing and intervening in contemporary matters of organizational concern. Not least, this 'classical organizational stance' provides those who adopt it with a method with which to orient themselves both in formal organizational thought and in formal organizational life. It furnishes them with an ethos combining both practical rationality and ethical seriousness. In this sense the book suggest itself both as a guide to doing Organizational analysis and doing practical organization

"This book overturns the conventional thinking about organization and identity and puts in its place a wholly new theoretical synthesis. It is not just an extraordinarily incisive commentary on modern life but it is also a key to thinking about identity in new ways which will prove an indispensable guide as we move beyond social constructionism. Remarkable." - Nigel Thrift, Vice-Chancellor, The University of Warwick "I have to say that as usual I find very refreshing Paul du Gay's courageous and unconventional approach, a clarity of vision that I find very appealing." - Professor Marilyn Strathern, University Of Cambridge Like many other popular academic terms, 'identity' has been asked to do so much work that it has often ended up doing none at all and, as a consequence, there has been a recent turn away from identity work. In this book, Paul du Gay moves identity theory in a new direction, offering a distinctive approach to studying how persons - human and non human - are put together or assembled: how their 'identities' are formed. He does through an engagement with a range of work in the social sciences, humanities and in organization studies which privileges the business of description over metaphysical speculation and epochalist assertion. At the heart of the book is an approach to the material-cultural making up of 'persons' that involves a shift away from general social and cultural accounts concerning the formation of 'subjectivity' and 'identity' towards an understanding of the specific forms of personhood that individuals acquire through their immersion in and subjection to particular normative and technical regimes of conduct. The book is written for postgraduate students and researchers interested in debates about identity, subjectivity and personhood in a range of disciplines - especially those in sociology, social anthropology, geography, and organization and management studies.

The end of bureaucracy has been anticipated many times throughout the history of management science, as well as in modern social and political theory. This book sets out to show why bureaucracy persists and what values it embodies and upholds. Thus the book seeks to show how and why bureaucratic forms of organization have played, and continue to play, a vital and productive role in ordering our political, social, economic, and cultural existence. The book also describes and analyzes the impact of contemporary programmes of organizational reform in the public and private sectors on bureaucratic structures, and seeks to highlight some of the costs of attempts to de-bureaucratize organizational life in business, government, and the third sector. Overall the volume highlights the values of bureaucracy and at the same time indicates why distinctively bureaucratic forms of organization should continue to be valued.

The end of bureaucracy has been anticipated many times throughout the history of management science as well as in modern social and political theory. This book sets out to show why bureaucracy persists and what values it embodies and upholds. Thus the book seeks to show how and why bureaucratic forms of organization have played, and continue to play, a vital and productive role in ordering our political, social, economic and cultural existence. This book also describes and analyzes the impact of contemporary programs of organizational reform in the public and private sectors on bureaucratic structures, and seeks to highlight some of the costs of attempts to de-bureaucratize organizational life in business, government, and the third sector. Overall the volume highlights the values of bureaucracy and at the same time indicates why distinctively bureaucratic forms of organization should continue to be valued.