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Projection of Administrative Phenomenon or Public Administration as a Science: Comparing Administrative Behaviorism and the Language of Public Administration

  • Korean Society and Public Administration
  • Abbr : KSPA
  • 2013, 24(1), pp.163-191
  • Publisher : Seoul Association For Public Administration
  • Research Area : Social Science > Public Administration

Kwang-Seok Lee 1

1경북대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Public administration (PA) scientists have shown little interest in the process by which administrative phenomena move into the realm of PA, because they tend to view the discipline as an applied science. This view is called administrative behavioralism (AB), and this is an approach which overlooks the importance of refraction when phenomena enter the lexicon of PA. While PA scientists have criticized AB, they have nevertheless accepted these implicit assumptions. The process by which a particular fact or phenomenon enters the field of to PA has been regarded as 'approaches or methods' in the Korean PA academic circle, and this approach appears to limit what is discussed. This study criticizes this academic trend and emphasizes projection as the first scientific activity in PA, which can be distinguished from approaches or methods, and considers the role of refraction in this process. Projection is recognized as expressing a phenomenon through language (i.e., lexicons), which lead to it entering the logic of the real world. Accordingly, in the process of projection, the language used is important. As in the demarcation between science and pseudo-science by Karl Popper, the demarcation between PA and other sciences relies on the lexicons employed. This study emphasizes that lexicons are the essence of PA, not in the sense of how to find words in a text, but in the sense of what demarcates PA from other sciences.

Citation status

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