Social conflict on the front lines of reform: Institutional activism and girls' education in rural India

Abstract

How do states realize social reforms for marginalized groups in settings of entrenched inequality? This article argues that reform implementation is a conflictridden process driven by the institutional activism of street-level bureaucrats.Through an ethnographic case study of Mahila Samakhya, a novel government program for women's empowerment in Uttar Pradesh, India, I find that local fieldworkers committed to reform promoted girls' education by mobilizing marginalized citizens and mediating local conflicts. Organizational processes of gender-based training and deliberation enabled fieldworkers to challenge village patriarchy and exclusion and forge programmatic ties with lower caste women. By altering rules to address the practical needs of households, fieldworkers effectively integrated disadvantaged girls into the education system. Institutional activism also engendered conflicts over rules within the bureaucracy, prompting senior officials to advocate for marginalized groups. The findings suggest that institutional commitment to activism is critical for agencies working on the front lines of reform.

Do visiting monks give better sermons? “Street‐level bureaucrats from higher‐up” in targeted poverty alleviation in China

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Changing context, changing work? Comparing rural and urban contexts in social services provision in Italy

“…, 2022; Lotta et al. , 2022; Mangla, 2022). The SLB literature focusing on Mediterranean European contexts and, in particular, on the Italian case, has applied the theory in large urban and metropolitan areas with particularly complex and structured service dynamics (Saruis, 2015; Rossi and Bertotti, 2019; Peris Cancio, 2019).…”

“…Furthermore, they have not analyzed to what extent contextual factors concretely affect social services provision in a given area. The only works in this regard that combined the SLB framework with the more typical approach of urban and rural studies have mostly investigated specific rural contexts in which the characteristics of rurality tend to be exacerbated; reference is made here to all studies focusing on areas pertaining in the Global South or which still face major challenges to their socioeconomic development in general (Kaler and Watkins, 2001;Gaede, 2016;Cai et al, 2022;Lotta et al, 2022;Mangla, 2022). The SLB literature focusing on Mediterranean European contexts and, in particular, on the Italian case, has applied the theory in large urban and metropolitan areas with particularly complex and structured service dynamics (Saruis, 2015;Rossi and Bertotti, 2019;Peris Cancio, 2019).…”

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“…Video Volunteers forms part of a large array of civic organizations active worldwide that seek—often but not always employing digital media or other technologies—to support local actors who serve as reporters-cum-mobilizers; 54 as “community change agents,” “support agents,” and “facilitators” assisting citizens to navigate administration; 55 or as “grassroots paralegals,” “court navigators,” and “advocates” brokering access to the legal system. 56 Government initiatives, often designed as part of participatory governance reforms, have similarly created roles for social intermediation; for example, through local fieldworkers trained under the Mahila Samakhya—a quasi-government agency for women’s empowerment in India (Mangla, 2021); or government-assigned “support workers” in Chile who assist residents in accessing poverty relief programs (Barrientos, 2010). The hybrid nature of these actors, who are embedded in both communities and in frontline state agencies, make them potentially important nodes for social brokerage.…”