Reflections: Diversity and the Administrative State

• Author: Tony Carrizales
• Published date: 01 January 2011
• Date: 01 January 2011
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2010.02314.x

Book Reviews 121

Tony Carrizales is an assistant professor

of public administration at Marist College

and editor in chief of the Journal of

Public Management and Social Policy.

His research interests include diversity in

the public sector, the digital divide, and

e-governance.

E-mail: tony.carrizales@marist.edu

Book Reviews

As a means for re ection and analysis, Administration

and the Other utilizes three theoretical approaches:

archeology, positionality, and sociology of knowledge.

As Farmbry suggests, the three approaches provide

context for “how ‘others’ are constructed in the politi-

cal and administrative discourse and the e ect on such

constructions on policy development” (xiv). Arche-

ology of knowledge, drawing on theories of power,

emphasizes how power provides one with a position

for creating the direction of a particular discourse.

Power enables one to de ne and limit the scope of

de nitions within that discourse. Positionality of

knowledge explores the role that elevated status plays

in shaping views about particular groups. Similar to

power, position enables one to shape perspectives of

truth. Finally, sociology of knowledge “emerges as a

reaction to the positivistic leanings that were shaping

the evolution of many social sciences throughout the

twentieth century” (7). As Farmbry points out, knowl-

edge creation and development are not individual

processes, but rather processes in which many indi-

viduals participate or have participated. Our thought

patterns are inherited from the society we are in.

After outlining the theoretical context, Administration

and the Other turns to various historical points in the

United States, and the author re ects on and explores

the conceptualization of the other through the inter-

section of the archeology, positionality, and sociology

of knowledge.  e task, Farmbry proposes, is for

students, scholars, and practitioners of political and

administrative processes to recognize and re ect on

our process of constructing the other. Moreover, this

aim should be continually revisited, he argues, so as to

best understand the strategies that shape, administer,

and evaluate our policies. Farmbry takes on this task

through a critical re ection on poignant and impor-

tant periods of American history.

 e birth of the United States as an American institu-

tion brought together experts and intellectuals of an

elite class in the drafting of the founding documents.

 is founding period, when the exclusion of women,

Kyle Farmbry, Administration and the Other:

Explorations of Diversity and Marginalization in

the Political Administrative State (Lanham, MD:

Lexington Books, 2009). 212 pp. $65.00 (cloth),

ISBN: 9780739119105.

Diversity discussions centered on public

administration and public policy can take

multiple paths. One such discussion can

revolve around the organizational management of a

diverse workforce. How to get the representation of a

workforce to re ect the community it works with is a

di erent discussion. Social equity and policy implica-

tions highlight another distinct discussion relating

to diversity and the public sector. Recent calls for

culturally competent public organizations outline yet

an additional path for diversity discussions. All four

areas of diversity discourse have been, and continue

to be, covered by public administration scholars (see

Dolan and Rosenbloom 2003; Frederickson 1990;

Riccucci 2002; Rice 2008). However, there remains a

conceptual aspect of diversity and the administrative

state that requires further re ection.

Administration and the Other, authored by Kyle

Farmbry, takes on the issue of diversity and the

administrative state with a critical review of key events

in American history. Farmbry sets out to encourage

critical re ection on diversity, especially in the context

of policy implications for historically marginalized

groups. He employs a theoretical framework that

lends itself to asking critical questions in regard to

policy decisions that signi cantly a ect “the other.”

 e concept of “the other” varies from one genera-

tion to the next, from one region of the country to

the next, and from one policy to the next. As Farmbry

points out, others have been immigrant communities

settling in New York City tenements at the turn of the

twentieth century, Japanese Americans sent to intern-

ment camps during World War II, African Americans

seeking equality during the 1950s and 1960s, and per-

sons of Middle Eastern descent viewed with suspicion

aboard a plane after September 11, 2001.

Re ections: Diversity and the Administrative State

Hindy Lauer Schachter, Editor

Tony Carrizales

Marist College