Change from Below
- 1 March 1998
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in The American Review of Public Administration
- Vol. 28 (1) , 3-25
- https://doi.org/10.1177/027507409802800101
Abstract
The supposed dichotomy between theory and practice is, like other dichotomies we have known, a false one. It is rooted in a paradigm in which theory is conceptualized as lawlike generalizations that cumulatively constitute an ever-growing body of knowledge. Practitioners/experts are supposedly then able to improve managerial effectiveness by applying such knowledge to practice. When public administration theory fails to produce relevant law like generalizations and instead produces abstract conjecture, a gap between theory and practice is perceived to exist. The authors propose practical theory wherein practice and theory are mutually constitutive. Although not the first to urge that public administration theory be grounded in experience, this article argues that the structuration theory of sociologist Anthony Giddens surpasses previous frameworks in addressing the theory/practice problem in public administration.Keywords
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