Ethics on Social Change

If asked to define ethical behavior, how might you respond? You might first think about your own personal sense of ethics as well as ethical guidelines that you follow in your professional life. You might also think about similarities and differences between ethical behavior and legal behavior. For example, is a public administrator who follows procedural code to the letter of the law automatically considered an ethical public servant? Is taking action that advances the cause of democratic governance a yardstick by which to measure ethical behavior? Is the founding of U.S. democratic governance normative and, if so, does it provide a basis for judging bureaucratic ethics? Is the pursuit of positive social change an ethical issue? Many public servants struggle with these issues daily in the workplace. This week, you address some of these questions in the abstract. You contemplate the “normative nature of foundings” and consider whether democratic governance provides the context of bureaucratic ethics.

with these thoughts in mind

THIS IS THE QUESTION

Post your thoughts about using public policy as an instrument of social change. Explain whether you think using public policy in this way is legitimate and explain why.

Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Evaluate the role of public policy as an instrument of social change
• Analyze ethical issues involved in advancing democratic governance
• Analyze the argument that democratic governance is the foundation of bureaucratic ethics

Rohr, J. A. (2007). Ethics and comparative administration. Public Integrity, 10(1), 65–74.
Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.

Wedel, J. R., Shore, C., Feldman, G., & Lathrop, S. (2005). Toward an anthropology of public policy. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 600(1), 30–51.
Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.

Dobel, J. P. (2006). Public management as ethics. In The Oxford handbook of public management, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 161–181. Retrieved from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id…

Lempert, R. J., Popper, S. W., Min, E. Y., & Dewar, J. A. (Eds). (2009). Shaping tomorrow today: Near-term steps towards long-term goals. Retrieved from http://www.rand.org/pubs/conf_proceedings/CF267.ht…

Document: The United Nations of South America (PDF)

REQUIRED MEDIA

Laureate Education (Producer). (2014e). Ethics and social change [Audio file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
In this media piece, subject-matter experts discuss a case/scenario in public policy, which presents some ethical challenge. This media also discuss what social change looks like in public policy.

OPTIONAL RESOURCES

Rosenbloom, D. H., Kravchuk, R. S., & Clerkin, R. M. (2009a). Accountability and ethics. In Public administration: Understanding management, politics, and law in the public sector (7th ed., pp. 507–538). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.