Explores the related concepts of "bureaucracy" and "the bureaucrat," focusing on the characteristics of bureaucracy as an organizational form and on the sources of bureaucratic power. (PGD)

In looking at the forms language takes, linguists sometimes forget to ask the obvious question about the relationship between the forms language uses (phonology and syntax) and the function language is expected to play as a vehicle of communication. Probably the bulk of our daily communication involves the allocation and use of power, the politics…

Residential care must be redefined, free from jargon and rhetoric. Over the past 20 years, the social welfare approach, which encompasses the medical model, has dominated legislative and practical thinking about residential care. This theoretical thinking reached its culmination in the concept of the therapeutic community. The therapeutic…

Asserts that organizations do not have wills of their own but are only groups of individuals acting in concert. Argues that trying to run an organization by consensus results in the loss of accountability and merely relocates conflict without eliminating it. Urges adopting leadership by consent in educational organizations. (PGD)

A study of 188 superintendents and 379 school board members in districts with student enrollments above 25,000 sheds light on several factors affecting the working relationships between superintendents and their local boards. Board members tended to follow personal judgment rather than constituent preferences when making decisions, and received…

This paper reviews the dominant theoretical framework espoused by feminist writers in order to gain a deeper understanding of the distinction between feminist groups on the question of empowerment within the higher education establishment. Feminists are described as falling into three groups--liberal feminists, radical feminists and social…

A study was done at the University of Colorado to determine the qualifications, priorities, behaviors, and authority base of effective curriculum directors in six Colorado school districts. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative research. The qualitative data were obtained by observing and interviewing the curriculum directors and by…

Using ethnographic methods of field work and data analysis, this study investigated one example of a comprehensive senior high school to illuminate the nature of its organizational structure and the way in which organizational control and leadership is exercised. Three principal findings emerged from theme analysis of the data. First,…

The paper discusses the political events and issues that affected North Carolina and the nation between 1776 and 1789. Attitudes and philosophies on government and its centralization form the foundation for North Carolina's traditional and firm opposition to centralization of power and changes in government structure. North Carolina's…

This paper investigates the role of the budget as an instrument for realizing strategic change and as an influencing factor on the behavior of university faculty within the decentralized educational environment of the Netherlands. It distinguishes between a base component (lump sum allocation) and a special-purpose component (earmarked allocation)…

Teachers unknowingly carry certain ideologies, preconceived roles, rules, value systems, and world views into the classroom. These notions are communicated to the student by the teacher's language style, comments, body language and gestures, use and organization of things in the classroom, and choice and use of teaching methods and materials. The…

This paper explores the importance of peer relations for the experiences and texts of children in a third-grade writing workshop. Peers, as an audience for children's writing, bring with them friendship, trust, and a "social energy" that empowers authors and their writing in the classroom. Simultaneously, peers also bring with them…

This paper addresses the role of successful teachers of students of color within a restructuring educational environment. It describes three successful teachers of African-American students in two restructuring schools, discusses ways in which their practices and outlooks supported the success of otherwise low-achieving students, and describes how…

The purpose of this paper, the initial report of an ongoing study, is threefold. One is to present and demonstrate the use of the sociology of translation as a methodological framework for the study of power within the higher education policy arena. The second is to define the boundaries and shape of that arena, and the third is to define the…

Beginning with a review of traditional perspectives on educational leadership, the link between effective principals and school effectiveness, and the bases of social power, this document goes on to report on a 1986-87 study conducted to determine how the types of power used by principals relate to school effectiveness. Subjects were…