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Street-level bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the individual in public services

Street-level bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the individual in public services ADMINISTRATIVE THEORY & PRAXIS BOOK REVIEW Michael Lipsky. Street-level bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the individual in public services. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2010. pp. xviii, 244. Michael Lipsky’s seminal work on street-level bureaucracy, first published in 1980, has influ- enced public administration teaching, research, and practice. This book review responds to the book review call in this journal which sought to challenge the canon of public adminis- tration literature. Consequently, this review approaches Lipsky’s “classic” work with fresh eyes to suggest that this book still has relevance for a twenty-first century research agenda of racial equity. Equity, distinguished from equality, is sometimes referred to as the “third pillar” of American public administration (Frederickson, 2015, p. xv). Equity here means “the fair or just distribution of such services or implementation of policies that is sensitive to disparities in public service delivery and in how government treats citizens” (Gooden, 2015, p. 372). Although Lipsky did not focus on equity directly, this book is about how street-level bureaucrats distribute services, providing a useful blueprint for understanding the instrumental role of street-level bureaucrats in replicating inequities. A foundational element of Lipsky’s street-level bureaucracy theory, discretionary action has been argued to be a constraint http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Administrative Theory & Praxis Taylor & Francis

Street-level bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the individual in public services

Eseonu, Temidayo
Administrative Theory & Praxis , Volume 45 (3): 3 – Jul 3, 2023
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2022 Public Administration Theory Network
ISSN
1949-0461
eISSN
1084-1806
DOI
10.1080/10841806.2022.2141020
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

ADMINISTRATIVE THEORY & PRAXIS BOOK REVIEW Michael Lipsky. Street-level bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the individual in public services. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2010. pp. xviii, 244. Michael Lipsky’s seminal work on street-level bureaucracy, first published in 1980, has influ- enced public administration teaching, research, and practice. This book review responds to the book review call in this journal which sought to challenge the canon of public adminis- tration literature. Consequently, this review approaches Lipsky’s “classic” work with fresh eyes to suggest that this book still has relevance for a twenty-first century research agenda of racial equity. Equity, distinguished from equality, is sometimes referred to as the “third pillar” of American public administration (Frederickson, 2015, p. xv). Equity here means “the fair or just distribution of such services or implementation of policies that is sensitive to disparities in public service delivery and in how government treats citizens” (Gooden, 2015, p. 372). Although Lipsky did not focus on equity directly, this book is about how street-level bureaucrats distribute services, providing a useful blueprint for understanding the instrumental role of street-level bureaucrats in replicating inequities. A foundational element of Lipsky’s street-level bureaucracy theory, discretionary action has been argued to be a constraint

Journal

Administrative Theory & Praxis – Taylor & Francis

Published: Jul 3, 2023

References

  • Avoiding the issue
  • Rethinking Racism: Toward a Structural Interpretation
  • PAR’s social equity footprint
  • Social equities and inequities in practice: Street‐Level workers as agents and pragmatists
  • Construction of justice at the street level
  • A theory of racialized organizations