Jane Addams and Public Administration

During the progressive era, two models of public administration emerged in the United States. One, crafted by male reformers, was a reaction to corruption and inefficiencies of crony political hiring practices. Their goal was to separate politics and administration and uncover a science of administration. The second model, developed by settlement women, had a social justice reform agenda. These women, who themselves could not vote, advocated for children, women, and immigrants as they sought municipal (e.g., cleaner cities, playgrounds, juvenile justice) and industrial (e.g., safer workplaces, child labor laws) reform. Jane Addams led the effort and through her social democracy, social ethics, and feminist pragmatism provided a sound theoretical underpinning to the undertaking. The settlement model failed to receive recognition in the male-dominated field of public administration. In the early 2000s, public administration scholars rediscovered the buried settlement model, which contained two themes—municipal housekeeping and industrial citizenship. Of the two, industrial citizenship is less well articulated. This chapter describes industrial citizenship and Jane Addams’s role in its development.