Street-Level Bureaucracy, Social Work and the (Exaggerated) Death of Discretion

Evans, Tony; Harris, John

doi:10.1093/bjsw/bch106

Cited by 562 publications

(429 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Despite the World Bank's treatment of frontline service delivery as a marketplace laboratory for testing 'choice'-type innovations, there is actually a substantively political dimension to these frontline accountability relationships. High levels of discretion are characteristic of the work of 'human service workers' -the corps of public professionals that includes social workers and the police (on social work, see Evans and Harris 2004;Lipsky 1980 for the classic account). Their work brings them into contact with people whose needs and lives often defy the neat categories and criteria of official practice, and about whom, therefore, decisions are taken for which the rule book often may have no guideline.…”

Section: The Politics Of Bad Manners and The Crowdmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rude Accountability in the Unreformed State: Informal Pressures on Frontline Bureaucrats in Bangladesh

Hossain

2009

SSRN Journal

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About IDSThe Institute of Development Studies is one of the world's leading organisations for research, teaching and communications on international development. Founded in 1966, the Institute enjoys an international reputation based on the quality of its work and the rigour with which it applies academic skills to real world challenges. Its purpose is to understand and explain the world, and to try to change it -to influence as well as to inform.IDS hosts five dynamic research programmes, five popular postgraduate courses, and a family of worldclass web-based knowledge services. These three spheres are integrated in a unique combination -as a development knowledge hub, IDS is connected into and is a convenor of networks throughout the world.The Institute is home to approximately 80 researchers, 50 knowledge services staff, 50 support staff and about 150 students at any one time. But the IDS community extends far beyond, encompassing an extensive network of partners, former staff and students across the development community worldwide. This publication is copyright, but may be reproduced by any method without fee for teaching or non-profit purposes, but not for resale. Formal permission is required for all such uses, but normally will be granted immediately. For copying in any other circumstances, or for re-use in other publications, or for translation or adaptation, prior written permission must be obtained from the publisher and a fee may be payable. Minimum Summary'Rude' forms of accountability are central to how poor people negotiate their entitlements on the frontline of service delivery in Bangladesh. This paper documents the unorganised, informal pressures that poor citizens exert on officials in a context where effective formal systems for accountability are absent, and the state remains unreformed in key respects. The paper explores the impact of 'rude accountability' on services, as well as their limitations and the consequences for formal accountability systems. Based on extensive research into how poor people experience safety nets, schools and health services, the paper argues that strong social and local political pressures go some way towards supplying a rough responsiveness to demands for service. These work through shame and embarrassment, pressures to maintain reputation and status, and the threat of violence. Poor people have good reasons to use these methods in preference to formal accountability mechanisms. And poor women may have a particularly strong comparative advantage in doing so -not because they are so much better than men or rich people at complaining and shaming, but because it is comparatively less difficult for them to do so than to engage in more formally structured means of complaint or feedback. The idea of rude accountability is seductive: when formal governance systems fail, the idea that there are informal mechanisms that are better suited to context and culture is intrinsically attractive. Yet the paper concludes that the gains from rude accountability are often short-liv...

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Section: The Politics Of Bad Manners and The Crowdmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rude Accountability in the Unreformed State: Informal Pressures on Frontline Bureaucrats in Bangladesh

Hossain

2009

SSRN Journal

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“…In this article the central research question is how social work, and more specifically homelessness care, as an actor in social policy making (Evans & Harris, 2004), deals with what is called "care avoiders". We explore the perspectives of social workers working with homeless people in homelessness care in Ghent, Belgium, with a focus on the contribution of the homelessness practice to the realisation of human dignity and social justice proclaimed in the international definition of social work (IFSW, 2000).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

On the frontline or on the side-line? Homelessness care and care avoiders

Maeseele¹,

Bie²,

Roose³

2013

European Journal of Social Work

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“…There has been much discussion regarding to what extent recent decades of NPM and managerialism, aiming to improve cost-efficiency through performancebased systems and objectives (Hall, 2012;Hood, 1994;Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2011), has curtailed the space for discretion for welfare professionals or not (Evans and Harris, 2004;Bejerot and Hasselbladh, 2011;Torsteinsen, 2012;Spyridonidis and Calnan, 2011;Taylor and Kelly, 2006). NPM and managerialism is often seen as leading to increasing formalization.…”

Section: Discretion In Welfare Professional Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discretion in the “Backyard of Law”: Case Handling of Debt Relief in Sweden

Larsson

Jacobsson

2013

P&P

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This article explores discretion in welfare professional work. The aim is to analyse what room for discretionary decision-making that exist in case handling of debt relief at the Swedish Enforcement Authority (SEA). The analysis is guided by a conceptual distinction between structural and epistemic aspects of discretion, as well as between substantive and procedural aspects. The data comprises official and internal SEA documents, interviews with management and staff and field notes from observations. The analysis points to a change in the balance between standards and discretion in relation to the on-going formalization of case handling at the SEA, though not in the simplistic sense that discretion is diminished through formalization. When taking into account the different analytical aspects of discretion, it is concluded that discretion is narrowed only in some respects. There is still space for case officers in selecting and interpreting information and assessing the conditions regarding subject matter.

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Street-Level Bureaucracy, Social Work and the (Exaggerated) Death of Discretion

Cited by 562 publications

References 20 publications

Rude Accountability in the Unreformed State: Informal Pressures on Frontline Bureaucrats in Bangladesh

Rude Accountability in the Unreformed State: Informal Pressures on Frontline Bureaucrats in Bangladesh

On the frontline or on the side-line? Homelessness care and care avoiders

Discretion in the “Backyard of Law”: Case Handling of Debt Relief in Sweden

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