Cover -- THE NEW BUREAUCRACY -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Quality assurance as a new occupation -- The origins of quality assurance -- The American experience: an evangelical movement -- The British experience: bureaucratic regulation -- The expansion of quality assurance -- A site for sociological investigation -- 3. Professionals and quality -- The ideal of professionalism -- The professions under attack -- The nature of professional work -- How professionals understand quality -- Why professionals object to quality assurance -- 4. Audit and inspection -- A revolution in government -- Mechanisms of accountability -- The work of inspectorates -- The goal of continuous improvement -- 5. Organisations and accountability -- The growth of public sector management -- Quality assurance in universities -- Quality assurance in a police force -- The costs of quality -- 6. The problem of red tape -- Red tape as a social problem -- Complaints about quality assurance -- Experiencing everyday bureaucracy -- Government initiatives to reduce red tape -- The politics of red tape -- 7. Critical responses -- Two recent critics -- Marxism and quality assurance -- Foucault and governmentality -- Habermas and Luhmann on regulation -- How persuasive are the critics? -- 8. Conclusion: learning to live with regulation -- Best Value or social pathology? -- Assessing the evidence -- The inevitability of regulation -- References -- Index.