Democracy and Bureaucracy: Towards an understanding of the politics of educational action research

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine the rationale of the educational action research movement with a view to identifying and clarifying its political agenda. This is an important task in the current period because of the ambiguities and uncertainties that have arisen in relation to what the author takes to be the central aspect of this agenda, namely the critique of bureaucracy. The article begins with a description of the key elements of the dominant paradigm in educational action research, in particular its emphasis on participatory, collaborative enquiry and its pro-democratic educational stance. The argument which is then developed revolves around two themes. Firstly, the paradigm is clarified as a democratic political agenda by comparing and contrasting it with other critiques of bureaucracy like those deriving from neo-liberalism amd neo-conservatism. Secondly, the problematic and contradictory nature of this agenda is explored, with particular reference to the foundationalism of bureaucratic rationality and similar problems of grounding in relation to democratic rationality. An attempt is made to suggest a way forward for the movement based on an explicit understanding of a democratic political order, and a thoroughly ‘ironic’ and non-foundational approach to research and education. © 1995, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.