Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Ebook501 pages9 hours
Good Enough for Government Work: The Public Reputation Crisis in America (And What We Can Do to Fix It)
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
American government is in the midst of a reputation crisis. An overwhelming majority of citizens—Republicans and Democrats alike—hold negative perceptions of the government and believe it is wasteful, inefficient, and doing a generally poor job managing public programs and providing public services. When social problems arise, Americans are therefore skeptical that the government has the ability to respond effectively. It’s a serious problem, argues Amy E. Lerman, and it will not be a simple one to fix.
With Good Enough for Government Work, Lerman uses surveys, experiments, and public opinion data to argue persuasively that the reputation of government is itself an impediment to government’s ability to achieve the common good. In addition to improving its efficiency and effectiveness, government therefore has an equally critical task: countering the belief that the public sector is mired in incompetence. Lerman takes readers through the main challenges. Negative perceptions are highly resistant to change, she shows, because we tend to perceive the world in a way that confirms our negative stereotypes of government—even in the face of new information. Those who hold particularly negative perceptions also begin to “opt out” in favor of private alternatives, such as sending their children to private schools, living in gated communities, and refusing to participate in public health insurance programs. When sufficient numbers of people opt out of public services, the result can be a decline in the objective quality of public provision. In this way, citizens’ beliefs about government can quickly become a self-fulfilling prophecy, with consequences for all. Lerman concludes with practical solutions for how the government might improve its reputation and roll back current efforts to eliminate or privatize even some of the most critical public services.
With Good Enough for Government Work, Lerman uses surveys, experiments, and public opinion data to argue persuasively that the reputation of government is itself an impediment to government’s ability to achieve the common good. In addition to improving its efficiency and effectiveness, government therefore has an equally critical task: countering the belief that the public sector is mired in incompetence. Lerman takes readers through the main challenges. Negative perceptions are highly resistant to change, she shows, because we tend to perceive the world in a way that confirms our negative stereotypes of government—even in the face of new information. Those who hold particularly negative perceptions also begin to “opt out” in favor of private alternatives, such as sending their children to private schools, living in gated communities, and refusing to participate in public health insurance programs. When sufficient numbers of people opt out of public services, the result can be a decline in the objective quality of public provision. In this way, citizens’ beliefs about government can quickly become a self-fulfilling prophecy, with consequences for all. Lerman concludes with practical solutions for how the government might improve its reputation and roll back current efforts to eliminate or privatize even some of the most critical public services.
Unavailable
Read more from Amy E. Lerman
Arresting Citizenship: The Democratic Consequences of American Crime Control Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Enough for Government Work: The Public Reputation Crisis in America (And What We Can Do to Fix It) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Good Enough for Government Work
Related ebooks
Persuasion in Parallel: How Information Changes Minds about Politics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLaboratories against Democracy: How National Parties Transformed State Politics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSocial Policy in the United States: Future Possibilities in Historical Perspective Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Partisan Sort: How Liberals Became Democrats and Conservatives Became Republicans Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOur Common Bonds: Using What Americans Share to Help Bridge the Partisan Divide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Obligation Mosaic: Race and Social Norms in US Political Participation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCrisis Point: Why We Must – and How We Can – Overcome Our Broken Politics in Washington and Across America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerica's Inequality Trap Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Politics to the Pews: How Partisanship and the Political Environment Shape Religious Identity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhy Washington Won't Work: Polarization, Political Trust, and the Governing Crisis Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Legislating in the Dark: Information and Power in the House of Representatives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Framers' Intentions: The Myth of the Nonpartisan Constitution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRushed to Judgment: Talk Radio, Persuasion, and American Political Behavior Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRace, Rights, and Rifles: The Origins of the NRA and Contemporary Gun Culture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWho Will Be Saved? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Love the Church, I Hate the Church: Paradox or Contradiction? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFighting Political Gridlock: How States Shape Our Nation and Our Lives Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fracture of Good Order: Christian Antiliberalism and the Challenge to American Politics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Presidency: Facing Constitutional Crossroads Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStanding Our Ground: The Triumph of Faith Over Gun Violence: A Mother's Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Long Red Thread: How Democratic Dominance Gave Way to Republican Advantage in US House Elections Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRace and the Obama Administration: Substance, symbols, and hope Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOutlandish: An Unlikely Messiah, a Messy Ministry, and the Call to Mobilize Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerican Prophets: The Religious Roots of Progressive Politics and the Ongoing Fight for the Soul of the Country Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gamble: Choice and Chance in the 2012 Presidential Election - Updated Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen It Was Grand: The Radical Republican History of the Civil War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Demagogue's Playbook: The Battle for American Democracy from the Founders to Trump Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Last Republicans: Inside the Extraordinary Relationship Between George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fully Alive: The Apocalyptic Humanism of Karl Barth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Case About Amy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Public Policy For You
Chasing the Scream: The Inspiration for the Feature Film "The United States vs. Billie Holiday" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dumbing Us Down - 25th Anniversary Edition: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care--and How to Fix It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bowling Alone: Revised and Updated: The Collapse and Revival of American Community Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The People's Hospital: Hope and Peril in American Medicine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Affluent Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diversity Delusion: How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine Our Culture Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Abolition of Sex: How the “Transgender” Agenda Harms Women and Girls Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Capital in the Twenty-First Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Blow Up a Pipeline: Learning to Fight in a World on Fire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: or, How Capitalism Works--and How It Fails Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Truth About COVID-19: Exposing The Great Reset, Lockdowns, Vaccine Passports, and the New Normal Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5No More Police: A Case for Abolition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On War: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How We Do Harm: A Doctor Breaks Ranks About Being Sick in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nobody: Casualties of America's War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Good Enough for Government Work
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews