ENTHRALLED WITH MODERNITY - THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF KNOWLEDGE AND THEORY DEVELOPMENT IN PUBLIC-ADMINISTRATION

What impact has the "culture of modernity' had on the field of public administration? Guy B. Adams contends that the American cultural preoccupation with modernity has shaped the study of public administration into an a historical and a temporal field that stresses technical rationality and has limited capacity to address critical questions facing society. This approach to public administration puts its emphasis on professionalism and the "scientific " and "rigorous " study of the field. Adams calls for greater attention to history that produces a "genuinely open inquiry" in the field.