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Individualism, Civic Virtue, and Public Administration

The Implications of American Habits of the Heart

The American University and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

The increasing intensity of American individualism and the corresponding decline of a sense of community have been documented by Robert Bellah and four associates in the important new book Habits of the Heart. One striking implication of this trend is that public administration is becoming lost in the wilderness of individualism. The regime values of modern American politics dictate an emphasis on power and on the clash of individual interests, to the detriment of administrative effectiveness. However, public administration is in actuality founded on the other side of a constitutional duality of power and morals. Public administration relates directly to conceptions of classical republicanism, civic virtue, and cooperative effort. The true constitutional model of public administration derives from Federalists and Anti-Federalists alike in a system of modern politics and classical administration. This model is essential to the continuing viability and effectiveness of public administration in a representative democracy.

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