000			01512nam a22001457a 4500
999			_c524210 _d524210
008			231106b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100			_aOrr, Kevin and Bennett, Mike _945693
245			_aImagine there’s no heaven: Imaginaries of local government austerity
260			_aOrganization
300			_a30(5), Sep, 2023: p.892-910
520			_aThis article critically analyses the management of public sector austerity. Focusing on the case of UK local government chief executives, we develop the concept of austerity imaginaries. We provide four examples of these based on extensive interviewing. Offered as a theoretical concept, austerity imaginaries involve shared understandings of the role and potential for local government during times of acute fiscal pressure. We contribute empirical knowledge about the local dynamics of austerity and contribute to critical scholarship in this field. We argue that a simple thesis of ruination and destruction can obscure the creative work involved at the front line and we advocate the value of engaging both critically and empathetically with the everyday meanings in action of public managers working in circumstances far from their choosing. At the same time, the imaginaries reveal the insidious ways in which neoliberal assumptions about the public sector appear to delimit the scope for action. – Reproduced https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13505084211051050
773			_aOrganization
906			_aLOCAL GOVERNMENT
942			_cAR