000			01320pab a2200157 454500
008			180718b2005 xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100			_aBox, Richard C.
245			_aCritical imagination in a postmodern environment
260			_c2005
300			_ap.909-28.
362			_aNov
520			_aCritical theory has been marginal in public administration, though it offers critique public institutions and possibilities for a better future. Among several reasons for this, it may be that critical thought has failed to influence public administration theory because its normative vision of social change challenges the status quo and threatens the economic and political equilibrium. The sections below summarize characteristics of critical social theory, note ways it has been used in public administration, and contrast critical theory with postmodern pragmatism to illustrate the difference between critical social theory and well-known contemporary thought. It is argued that critical theory may be even more valuable today that it was in the past, as one-dimensional society and postmodernism close off description of societal conditions and use of imagination to create a better future. -Reproduced.
650			_aPublic administration
773			_aInternational Journal of Public Administration
909			_a67600
999			_c67600 _d67600