Monday, April 16, 2007

Stumbling and Mumbling on managerialism

He's right, you know:

I reckon there was a bit of truth in the managerialist assualt on professional autonomy. Soldiers were sometimes bullies; teachers sometimes pederasts and alcholics, doctors arrogant charlatans (sometimes whilst being good soliders, teachers and doctors). And "professional judgment" can sometimes mean mere guesswork.

What's offensive about managerialism, however, is that it overweights this small truth and supplants professional judgment with spurious judgments of its own.

Worse still, there's a nasty totalitarian strand in managerialism - the belief that all areas of society should be subordinated to a single organizing ideology.

And worst of all, there's something deeply ignoble about the goods of effectiveness. There's nothing more pathetic or contemptible than seeing a grown man lust for money and power. Managerialism seeks to impose this contemptibility upon us all. And it seems to be succeeding.

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