Toward a Theory of Street - Level Bureaucracy

In recent years political scientists have been particularly concerned with finding viable means of measuring the impact of government on people. One of the most important and least studied areas relating to this concern is the problematic "place" in the political system where government meets people) the point of interaction between "clients" and government officials who deal with them in the regular course of their jobs. This paper attempts to draw together materials on police) teachers) and lower court judges in order to begin to develop a theory of "street-level bureaucracy" which: 1) identifies the salient dimensions of bureaucracy/client interaction; 2) identifies characteristic behaviors that transcend single bureaucratic contexts; and 3) makes a start toward explaining the impact of public service bureaucracies on the public. Street-level Bureaucrats are identified as people employed by government who: 1) are constantly called upon to interact with citizens in the regular course of their jobs; 2) have significant independence in job decision-making; and 3) potentially have extensive impact on the lives of their clients. The analysis focuses on Street-level Bureaucrats whose work experiences are relatively strongly affected by three conditions: 1) relative unavailability of resources) both personal and organizational; 2) existence of clear physical and/or psychological threat; and 3) ambiguous) contradictory and in some ways unattainable role expectations. The extent to which these defining characteristics and these work conditions are applicable to police, teachers and lower court judges, are elaborated in some detail. The bulk of the paper describes and analyzes strategies and mechanisms that Street-level Bureaucrats develop in order to deal with the strains imposed by these conditions, the impact of these mechanisms on clients, and the implications of the interaction between Street-level Bureaucrats and clients for proposals for change. T0\JARD A THEO~Y OF ST~ELT-LWJEL bUREAUCPJ~CY SECTION I Recent American urban conflict has focused attention on bureaucratic structures providing services to the poor. Police departments, school systems, and welfare service organizations have increasingly been the objects of public concern, Social scientists, sensitive to the importance of citizen experiences with governments have urged that scholarly efforts be addressed to these structures. l This paper is a first attempt to develop a theory of the political behavior of Street-level Bureaucrats and their interaction 'tvith clients. 2 Street-·level' Bureaucrats, defined belm·.r, are those men and women Nho, in their face-to-face encounters with citizens, "represent" government to the people. The discussion is concentrated on problems affecting Street-·level Bureaucrats that arise from lack of organizational and personal resources. physical and psychological threat~ anu conflicting and ambiguous role expectations. Individuals in these bureaucratic roles both deliberately and unconsciously develop mechanisms to cope with these problems. These mechanisms primarily serve protective bureaucratic functions. Analysis of the ways in which they intersect client needs and behavior suggests that in some ways street-level bureaucracies~ as currently structured, have inherent difficulties in serving clienteles consisting predominantly of minority groups and other stigmatized individuals. Furthers because of certain characteristic behavior patterns, they may be incapable of responding to pressures from client groups, and may be structured in such ways as to exacerbate the very conflicts which they otherwise declare interest in ameliorating. For the sake of clarity and illustration. the discussion will focus