Good Enough for Government Work: The Public Reputation Crisis in America (And What We Can Do to Fix It)
Amy E. Lerman
Abstract
In her new book, Good Enough for Government Work, Professor Amy E. Lerman argues that American government is in the midst of a profound reputation crisis: A majority of Americans—both Democrats and Republicans alike—have come to believe government is wasteful and inefficient and that it generally does a poor job managing public services. This is true even when government service provision is equal to or better than what the private sector can offer. These negative beliefs about government can affect a wide range of political behaviors, including the decision to avoid participating in public pr ... More
In her new book, Good Enough for Government Work, Professor Amy E. Lerman argues that American government is in the midst of a profound reputation crisis: A majority of Americans—both Democrats and Republicans alike—have come to believe government is wasteful and inefficient and that it generally does a poor job managing public services. This is true even when government service provision is equal to or better than what the private sector can offer. These negative beliefs about government can affect a wide range of political behaviors, including the decision to avoid participating in public programs. In turn, this can reduce the actual, objective scope and quality of public service provision. In this way, a public reputation crisis can quickly become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Keywords:
political psychology,
privatization,
public opinion,
confirmation bias,
government,
public services,
motivated reasoning
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2019 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780226630175 |
| Published to Chicago Scholarship Online: January 2020 |
DOI:10.7208/chicago/9780226630342.001.0001 |
