The Use of Market Metaphors in Public Participation Discourse

Abstract

The use of market metaphors in public participation discourse is analyzed with the focus on the reliance on business roles — i.e., customer, owner, investor and employee — to explain citizen-administrator relations. An argument is made that each of these metaphors distorts the nature of citizenship to some extent. Owner/investor metaphors are more appropriate nevertheless because of the meaning they confer on citizenship in relation to active/passive and individuals/community oriented dimensions and the use of voice or exit.

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Notes on contributors

Hindy Lauer Schachter

Hindy Lauer Schachter is a Professor of Management, New Jersey Institue of Technology. Her most recent book is Reinventing Government or Reinventing Ourselves. She is a member of the editorial board of the Public Administration Review.