Taylored Citizenship: State Institutions and Subjectivity

(Hardback)

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Description

Miller shows how government institutions changed the meaning of American citizenship during the World War II era. He considers the state's role in creating concepts of citizenship and subjectivity by analyzing the application within military and educational institutions of systems of discipline associated with Frederick W. Taylor and scientific management. Miller also explores a neglected aspect of Michel Foucault's concerns about citizenship and subjectivity when examining the power of institutions and bureaucracies in creating and precluding political identities. Of particular interest to scholars and students involved with American political history and theory and the sociology of work/education/war and conflict.

Reviews

Taylored Citizenship is an important book. Its potential audience should extend beyond political theory's continentalists to include scholars in public administration, and American politics, as well as educators, historians, and organization theorists. Political theorists, in particular, should benefit from consideration of Miller's compelling use of historical research and his documentation of actual military and educational practices. His mapping of actual policies and practices lends his thesis a compelling rhetorical weight that will surprise theorists who rely only on books and ideas. Finally, Taylored Citizenship is a book that needs to be slipped onto the desks of the many who argue for more civic virtue, more civil society, and all who would involve public processes in the crafting of citizenship.-American Political Science Review
"Taylored Citizenship is an important book. Its potential audience should extend beyond political theory's continentalists to include scholars in public administration, and American politics, as well as educators, historians, and organization theorists. Political theorists, in particular, should benefit from consideration of Miller's compelling use of historical research and his documentation of actual military and educational practices. His mapping of actual policies and practices lends his thesis a compelling rhetorical weight that will surprise theorists who rely only on books and ideas. Finally, Taylored Citizenship is a book that needs to be slipped onto the desks of the many who argue for more civic virtue, more civil society, and all who would involve public processes in the crafting of citizenship."-American Political Science Review

Author Bio

CHAR ROONE MILLER is Assistant Professor of Government and Politics at George Mason University. Professor Miller's articles have appeared in edited collections and scholarly journals.