The 2008 Christmas holiday season greeted California State employees with a very unwelcomed gift, Executive Order S-16-08 (Schwarzenegger 2008). This particular Order, initiated by then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, mandated two furlough days per month for all state workers. Six months later, he added another day bringing the total unpaid days per month to three. In his quest to punish the legislator for the escalating fiscal crisis they created, he really only ended up punishing the hardworking, dedicated working class. While the effect of the widespread emotional trauma for these individuals will never be properly captured, there was one small subset of the population that involved themselves in a process with critical theory overtones. This paper will explore the application of critical theory in the context of public administration through the process of furloughing of California civil servants.
Leading up to the impending furloughs, tension between the State of California civil servants and the Governor’s office …show more content…
Influenced by the thinkers of the Institute for Social Research, or more commonly referred to as the “Frankfurt School”, the original essence of critical theory set out to emancipate the subordinate or working class from the dominate or elite class by a process of enlightenment. Critical theory can be characterized by: its aim at producing enlightenment, being inherently emancipatory, adhering to cognitive content, and by having a reflective epistemology rather than objective one. The focus of critical theory is to go beyond traditional observation by transforming reality or as more strongly stated by Antonio Gramsci, “emancipate” humans from the “circumstances that enslave them” (Riccucci 2010, 47-48; Zanetti and Carr 1997, 209; Carr 2005,
Leading up to the impending furloughs, tension between the State of California civil servants and the Governor’s office …show more content…
Influenced by the thinkers of the Institute for Social Research, or more commonly referred to as the “Frankfurt School”, the original essence of critical theory set out to emancipate the subordinate or working class from the dominate or elite class by a process of enlightenment. Critical theory can be characterized by: its aim at producing enlightenment, being inherently emancipatory, adhering to cognitive content, and by having a reflective epistemology rather than objective one. The focus of critical theory is to go beyond traditional observation by transforming reality or as more strongly stated by Antonio Gramsci, “emancipate” humans from the “circumstances that enslave them” (Riccucci 2010, 47-48; Zanetti and Carr 1997, 209; Carr 2005,