Class, Participation, and the Council-Manager Plan

W HILE the council-manager form of municipal government continues to develop and expand, the argument concerning its nature and value continues unabated. Much of the formal discussion turns about the policy role of the manager, and the participation of councilmen and citizens in the initiation and determination of policy. There is little formal discussion of the relationship of the council-manager form of government to the class system of either the particular community or the nation. The absence of such formal discussion is consistent with historic reluctance to give overt recognition to social class as a fact or as an issue. However, council-manager adoption and abandonment campaigns and elections often turn, at least covertly, about social class as an issue, and about the relationship of the council-manager plan to the class issue. Election at large and non-partisan election are ordinarily part of the council-manager approach, and it is in terms of these devices that the lower status person is most often able to objectify his apprehension that the councilmanager form means government by and for the upper classes. It is ordinarily claimed, for example, that election at large produces a higher councilman. The most obvious dynamic of election at large is that the candidates who are known and respected by the whole city will be of upper middle or upper class position. Without the aid of partisan organization the lower status person will be at a severe disadvantage indeed. The term quality has several meanings in this country. > The city manager idea is an idea heartily accepted by most professional administrators who see in this method a sensible relationship between politics and administration. This article provides some evidence showing that the benefits of the plan are not equally apparent to members of the different social classes. It is argued that much more conscious effort must be expended to provide for the political participation of all social groups in city manager cities if the city manager plan is to continue to develop.