Management and Ideology

The Legacy of the International Scientific Management Movement

Judith A. Merkle

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9780520358645
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780520312104
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

From its obscure beginning as a system for organizing machine shops, Scientific Management has grown into the major technocratic ideology of the twentieth century. Its development and international diffusion have influenced industrial productivity, the social fabric of industrial society, and even the nature of government. In this study of the movement's growth, Merkle compares the writings of the American, German, French, British, and Soviet vanguards of Scientific Management and finds that those who advocated efficiency engineering were considerably more than pragmatists seeking immediate technical solutions to production problems. Rather, they were visionaries who sought to reconcile class conflict, restructure government, and create a universal technocratic utopia by achieving efficient mass production and rationalized distribution. The call for a "mental revolution," which permeates their writings, found sympathizers among capitalists and socialists alike; that revolution affected not only the structure of modern industrialism but also the organization of the state itself. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1980.

Many titles in the Voices Revived program are also newly available as ebooks, offered at a discounted price to support wider access to scholarly work.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledge ments
• Introduction
• CHAPTER 1 The Origins of the Taylor System
• CHAPTER 2 The National Crusade for Scientific Management
• CHAPTER 3 A Passion for Order
• CHAPTER 4 The Taylor System in Soviet Socialism
• CHAPTER 5 Romantic Rationalism and the Growth of French Scientific Management
• CHAPTER 6 Scientific Management and German Rationalization
• CHAPTER 7 Management and Traditionalism in Great Britain
• CHAPTER 8 Beyond Scientific Management
• CHAPTER 9 Democratic Government and the Technology of Administration
• Bibliography
• Index