Situating the concept of surplus repression within the principal-agent model: An exploratory study.

摘要

The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine whether Herbert Marcuse's concept of surplus repression was relevant to teachers' understanding of control over their practice, especially considered in the context of the assumptions of the principal-agent model. The research was conducted as an instrumental case study of interview data from six school sites in four states. A surprising finding is the extent of the effects of professionalism on teachers' definition of surplus control. The findings in this research indicate that agents and principals who share strong communal values (e.g. professional, clan, and religious values) do not exhibit the neo-classical assumption of non-alignment of interests on which the traditional principal-agent model is predicated. There is apparently a very strongly aligned sense of mutual mission and calling based on the work of teaching students. The implication of this alignment for the model is that the neo-classical assumptions that explain conflict between principal and agent may, to a large degree, be replaced by an aligned set of interests. Agency costs are assumed to be borne solely by the principal in the neo-classical model. Introducing Marcuse's concept of surplus repression into the model as an agency cost that is borne by the agent completes the model and provides a mutuality in the relationship that is missing in the neo-classical model. This is supported by the interview data that reveal the costs that excessive control---defined as what goes beyond control related to the work---create for the teacher. The assumptions that are foundational to the principal-agent model are not supported by the interview data. Based on the exploratory data, a hypothetical addition to the traditional principal-agent model is proposed, in which the singular role of utility maximization as a primary motivator for behavior is complemented by the addition of professional (clan) values as a motivator.