Premium
Scandals in the White House: An Organizational Explanation *
Author(s) -
Biggart Nicole Woolsey
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
sociological inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.446
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1475-682X
pISSN - 0038-0245
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-682x.1985.tb00854.x
Subject(s) - presidential system , argument (complex analysis) , white (mutation) , power (physics) , language change , sociology , administration (probate law) , organizational behavior , political science , law , politics , social psychology , psychology , medicine , art , biochemistry , chemistry , physics , literature , quantum mechanics , gene
The Watergate scandal involving the president's personal staff brought forth numerous analyses and explanations. Most analyses located the cause of the scandal in the psychology of Richard Nixon, the breakdown of institutional arrangements, or a societal tolerance for corruption. The author, however, argues that Watergate was but one of many staff incidents that undermined presidential power and that the persistence of such phenomena requires a sociological explanation. The author argues that deviant staff behaviors are a direct consequence of the organizational structure of personal staffs, and that such behaviors derive paradoxically from the characteristics that make staffs useful to chief executives. The argument is elaborated through an analysis of publicized scandals and disruptive staff practices of presidential staffs since Franklin Roosevelt's administration.