Skip to main content
Intended for healthcare professionals
Restricted access
Research article
First published July 2000

Reclaiming John Dewey: Democracy, Inquiry, Pragmatism, and Public Management

Karen G. EvansView all authors and affiliations
Volume 32, Issue 3
https://doi.org/10.1177/00953990022019452

Abstract

This article argues that it would be not only possible, but also prudent, for the field of public management to reclaim the philosophy of John Dewey as a guiding ethos for its practice. In Dewey’s view, the democratic community is responsible for ensuring that each person’s capacity for participation and self-government is fully developed. In such a community, citizens would engage in inquiry to choose appropriate action in particular situations. The public manager would participate in this process by contributing his or her expert knowledge but would not make policy decisions. Today’s decentralized and reinvented government presents an opportunity for the practice to reconnect to citizens in processes such as those advocated by Dewey.

Get full access to this article

View all access and purchase options for this article.

Get Access
1.
1. Unless otherwise specified, citations of Dewey’s work will be designated according to the collection of his work edited by Jo Ann Boydston and published by the Southern Illinois University Press and will be indicated as The Middle Works (MW) or The Later Works (LW).
2.
2. Rorty is not alone in this revival of interest in Dewey’s work and in pragmatism. Others include biographers Robert Westbrook, Alan Ryan, Larry Hickman, and James Campbell; philosopher Raymond Boisvert; and James Stever and Patricia Shields, who make the connection between Dewey and pragmatism and public administration.

References

Alexander, T. M. (1995). John Dewey and the roots of democratic imagination. In L. Langsdorf & A. R. Smith (Eds.), Recovering pragmatism’s voice: The classical tradition, Rorty, and the philosophy of communication (pp. 131-154). Albany: State University of New York Press.
Google Scholar
Baumgartner, F. R., & Jones, B. D. (1993). Agendas and instability in American politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Google Scholar
Boisvert, R. D. (1998). John Dewey: Rethinking our time. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Google Scholar
Bozeman, B. (Ed.). (1993). Public management: The state of the art. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Google Scholar
Bryson, J. M., Ackerman, F., Eden, C., & Finn, C. B. (1996). Critical incidents and emergent issues in managing large-scale change. In D. F. Kettl & H. B. Milward (Eds.), The state of public management (pp. 267-285). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Google Scholar
Burke, T. (1994). Dewey’s new logic: A reply to Russell. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Google Scholar
Campbell, J. (1995). Understanding John Dewey: Nature and cooperative intelligence. Chicago: Open Court.
Google Scholar
de Tocqueville, A. (1990). Democracy in America. New York: Vintage.
Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1954) The public and its problems. Denver, CO: Alan Swallow. (Original work published 1927)
Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1958). Experience and nature. New York: Dover.
Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1968). Creative democracy—the task before us. In The philosopher of the common man: Essays in honor of John Dewey to celebrate his eightieth birthday (2nd ed., pp. 220-228). New York: Greenwood. (Original work published 1939)
Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1981). The need for a recovery of philosophy. In J. J. McDermott (Ed.), The philosophy of John Dewey (pp. 58-97). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1917)
Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1985). The middle works of John Dewey, 1899-1924 (J. A. Boydston, Ed.) (Vol. 1). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1985). The middle works of John Dewey, 1899-1924 (J. A. Boydston, Ed.) (Vol. 5). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1985). The middle works of John Dewey, 1899-1924 (J. A. Boydston, Ed.) (Vol. 9). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1985). The middle works of John Dewey, 1899-1924 (J. A. Boydston, Ed.) (Vol. 10). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1988). The later works of John Dewey, 1925-1953 (J. A. Boydston, Ed.) (Vol. 2). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1988). The later works of John Dewey, 1925-1953 (J. A. Boydston, Ed.) (Vol. 4). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1989). The later works of John Dewey, 1925-1953 (J. A. Boydston, Ed.) (Vol. 5). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1989). The later works of John Dewey, 1925-1953 (J. A. Boydston, Ed.) (Vol. 7). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1989). The later works of John Dewey, 1925-1953 (J. A. Boydston, Ed.) (Vol. 10). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1991). The later works of John Dewey, 1925-1953 (J. A. Boydston, Ed.) (Vol. 11). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1991). The later works of John Dewey, 1925-1953 (J. A. Boydston, Ed.) (Vol. 12). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1991). The later works of John Dewey, 1925-1953 (J. A. Boydston, Ed.) (Vol. 13). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1993). The ethics of democracy. In D. Morris & I. Shapiro (Eds.), John Dewey: The political writings (pp. 59-65). Indianapolis, IN: Hackett. (Original work published 1888)
Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1993). Philosophy and democracy. In D. Morris & I. Shapiro (Eds.), John Dewey: The political writings (pp. 38-47). Indianapolis, IN: Hackett. (Original work published 1919)
Google Scholar
Dewey, J., & Bentley, A. F. (1964). A philosophical correspondence 1932-1951 (S. Ratner and J. Altman, Eds.). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Google Scholar
Diggins, J. P. (1994). The promise of pragmatism: Modernism and the crisis of knowledge and authority. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Google Scholar
Frederickson, H. G. (1996). The spirit of public administration. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Google Scholar
Gouinlock, T. (1995). What is the legacy of instrumentalism? Rorty’s interpretation of Dewey. In H. J. Saatkamp, Jr. (Ed.), Rorty and pragmatism: The philosopher responds to his critics (pp. 72-90). Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.
Google Scholar
Hickman, L. A. (1990). John Dewey’s pragmatic technology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Google Scholar
Hickman, L. A. (1995). Pragmatism, technology, and scientism: Are the methods of the scientific technical disciplines relevant to social problems? In R. Hollinger & D. Depew (Eds.), Pragmatism: From progressivism to postmodernism (pp. 72-87). Westport, CT: Praeger.
Google Scholar
Hollinger, R., & Depew, D. (Eds.). (1995). Pragmatism: From progressivism to postmodernism. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Google Scholar
Hook, S. (1977). The metaphysics of pragmatism. New York: AMS Press. (Original work published 1927)
Google Scholar
James, W. (1982). Pragmatism’s conception of the truth. In H. S. Thayer (Ed.), Pragmatism: The classic writings (pp. 227-244). Indianapolis, IN: Hackett. (Original work published 1907)
Google Scholar
Kettl, D. F., & Milward, H. B. (Eds.). (1996). The state of public management. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Google Scholar
Langsdorf, L., & Smith, A. R. (Eds.). (1995). Recovering pragmatism’s voice: The classical tradition, Rorty, and the philosophy of communication. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Google Scholar
Lavine, T. Z. (1995). America and the contestations of modernity: Bentley, Dewey, Rorty. In H. J. Saatkamp, Jr. (Ed.), Rorty and pragmatism: The philosopher responds to his critics (pp. 37-49). Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.
Google Scholar
Macke, F. J. (1995). Pragmatism reconsidered: John Dewey and Michel Foucault and the consequences of inquiry. In L. Langsdorf & A. R. Smith (Eds.), Recovering pragmatism’s voice: The classical tradition, Rorty, and the philosophy of communication (pp. 155-176). Albany: State University of New York Press.
Google Scholar
Mathews, J. (1997, September 24). Who’s afraid of Virginia standards? Some teachers worry new state tests mean a return to rote learning. The Washington Post, pp. A1, A16.
Google Scholar
McDermott, J. J. (Ed.). (1981). The Philosophy of John Dewey. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Google Scholar
Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary (10th ed.) (1993). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.
Google Scholar
Morris, D., & Shapiro, I. (Eds.). (1993). John Dewey: The political writings. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett.
Google Scholar
Peters, B. G. (1996). Models of governance for the 1990s. In D. F. Kettl & H. B. Milward (Eds.), The state of public management (pp. 15-44). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Google Scholar
The Philosopher of the Common Man: Essays in Honor of John Dewey to Celebrate His Eightieth Birthday, 2nd ed. (1968). New York: Greenwood.
Google Scholar
Reich, R. B. (1990). Public management in a democratic society. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Google Scholar
Rorty, R. (1982). Consequences of pragmatism (Essays: 1972-1980). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Google Scholar
Ryan, A. (1995). John Dewey and the high tide of American liberalism. New York: Norton.
Google Scholar
Saatkamp, H. J., Jr. (Ed.). (1995). Rorty and pragmatism: The philosopher responds to his critics. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.
Google Scholar
Shields, P. M. (1996). Pragmatism: Exploring public administration’s policy imprint. Administration & Society, 28(3), 390-411.
Google Scholar
Sleeper, R. W. (1986). The necessity of pragmatism: John Dewey’s conception of philosophy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Google Scholar
Stever, J. A. (1993). Technology, organization, freedom: The organizational theory of John Dewey. Administration & Society, 24(4), 419-443.
Google Scholar
Stivers, C. M. (1990). Active citizenship and public administration. In G. L. Wamsley et al. (Eds.), Refounding public administration (pp. 246-273). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Google Scholar
Thayer, H. S. (Ed.). (1982). Pragmatism: The classic writings. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett.
Google Scholar
Vickers, G. (1995). The art of judgment: A study of policy making. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Google Scholar
Wamsley, G. L. (1990). The agency perspective: Public administrators as agential leaders. In G. L. Wamsley et al. (Eds.), Refounding public administration (pp. 114-162). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Google Scholar
Wamsley, G. L., Bacher, R. N., Goodsell, C. T., Kronenberg, P. S., Rohr, J. A., Stivers, C. M., White, O. F., & Wolf, J. F. (1990). Refounding public administration. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Google Scholar
West, C. (1989). The American evasion of philosophy: A genealogy of pragmatism. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Google Scholar
Westbrook, R. B. (1991). John Dewey and American democracy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Google Scholar
Wildavsky, A. (1979). Speaking truth to power: The art and craft of policy analysis. Boston: Little, Brown.
Google Scholar

Cite article

Cite article

Cite article

OR

Download to reference manager

If you have citation software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice

Share options

Share

Share this article

Share with email
EMAIL ARTICLE LINK
Share on social media

Share access to this article

Sharing links are not relevant where the article is open access and not available if you do not have a subscription.

For more information view the Sage Journals article sharing page.

Information, rights and permissions

Information

Published In

Volume 32, Issue 3
Pages: 308 - 328
Article first published: July 2000
Issue published: July 2000

Rights and permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Authors

Affiliations

Karen G. Evans
Indiana University Northwest
View all articles by this author

Metrics and citations

Metrics

Journals metrics

This article was published in Administration & Society.

VIEW ALL JOURNAL METRICS

Article usage*

Total views and downloads: 894

*Article usage tracking started in December 2016

Articles citing this one

Receive email alerts when this article is cited

Web of Science: 64 view articles Opens in new tab

Crossref: 0

  1. Constructing and using an experimental space for resolving crisis: A c...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  2. What Is The Public ? A Pragmatic Analysis ...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  3. Public and Private in an Era of Entrepreneurial Philanthropy: Explorin...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  4. Home Alone and All Together: Lightness of agency in social inquiry
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  5. “One, none, and a hundred thousand” recipes for a robust response to t...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  6. Demokratielernen am Arbeitsplatz demokratisch verfasster Organisatione...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  7. Trying out loud: Leadership development as experimentalism
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  8. Interweaving positive and critical perspectives in management learning...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  9. Predicting ICT Skills and ICT Use of University Students
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  10. Predicting ICT Skills and ICT Use of University Students
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  11. ‘Towards a society of equals’: democracy, education, cooperation and t...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  12. Taming Deep Uncertainty: The Potential of Pragmatist Principles for Un...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  13. Pragmatism, Critical Theory and Business Ethics: Converging Lines
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  14. Towards a society of equals: Dewey, Lippmann, the co-operative movemen...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  15. A novel understanding of experimentation in governance: co-producing i...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  16. Public Value Theory and the Relevance of Public Administration
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  17. Governing Climate Change
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  18. Experimentation
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  19. The Ghost in the Machine: Enabling Public Administration for an Enabli...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  20. Pragmatism, The New Republic, and American Public Administration at It...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  21. Pragmatist Tools for Public Administration
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  22. Competence-based Education in the United States
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  23. Implementing Workplace Dignity in Organizations
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  24. ‘Pragmatic complexity’ a new foundation for moving beyond ‘evidence-ba...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  25. John Dewey’s Legacy and Spanish Pedagogy
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  26. Learning in Public Sector Organizations: A Theory of Action Approach
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  27. John Dewey’s Theory of Vocation
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  28. Book Review: Pragmatism and organization
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  29. Introduction
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  30. The Dynamics of Positivism in the Study of Public Administration...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  31. From Atomistic to Interwoven
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  32. Democratic Knowledge Production as a Contribution to Objectivity in th...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  33. Navigating the Eternally Unfolding Present...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  34. Agency as the Ability and Opportunity to Participate in Evaluation as ...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  35. Book Review: Promises and Challenges for Democratic Research Agenda...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  36. On the Problem of Adopting Pragmatism in Public Administration
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  37. Into the Woods: A Cautionary Tale for Governance
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  38. There is no “point” in decision-making: a model of transactive rationa...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  39. Back to the Future: Toward a Political Economy of Love and Abundance
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  40. Executive development: History lessons learned from Barnard
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  41. Towards an alternative economics of health care
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  42. Can Pragmatists be Constitutionalists? Dewey, Jefferson and the Experi...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  43. The Publicness of Public Administration
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  44. Rediscovering the Taproot: Is Classical Pragmatism the Route to Renew ...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  45. Wicked Problems, Knowledge Challenges, and Collaborative Capacity Buil...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  46. 3 Critical Management Studies
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  47. 3 Critical Management Studies
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  48. A pragmatist response to `At the sharp end of new organizational ideol...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  49. Prescriptive Thinking: Normative Claims as Scholarship
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  50. Environmental responsibility and the possibilities of pragmatist-orien...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  51. Classical Pragmatism, the American Experiment, and Public Administrati...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  52. Rortyan Pragmatism: “Where’s the Beef” for Public Administration?
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  53. Self-Reflexivity: A Place for Religion and Spirituality in Public Admi...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  54. The Iron Cage of Methodology...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  55. Why Old Pragmatism Needs an Upgrade
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  56. The Community of Inquiry...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  57. Market Organizations And Deliberative Democracy...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  58. The intangible/intellectual resource “curse”
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  59. The Parallel Universes: Pragmatism and Public Administration
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  60. Pragmatism and Public Administration
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  61. Response to Stever and Garrison
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  62. Response to Stever and Garrison
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  63. 7. Virtual dialogue and democratic community
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar

Figures and tables

Figures & Media

Tables

View Options

Get access

Access options

If you have access to journal content via a personal subscription, university, library, employer or society, select from the options below:

Alternatively, view purchase options below:

Purchase 24 hour online access to view and download content.

Subscribe to this journal

Access journal content via a DeepDyve subscription or find out more about this option.

Start 2 week free trial
Need help?

View options

PDF/ePub

View PDF/ePub
Download PDF

Also from Sage