Professional Documents
Culture Documents
by
}'lichael Lipsky
6607
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TOWARD A THEORY OF STREET-LEVEL BUREAUCRACY
Michael Lipsky
University of Wisconsin
This paper was prepared for presentation at the 1969 Annual Meeting of the
American Political Science Association, Commodore Hotel, New York, New
York, September 2-6, 1969. Copyright, 1969, The American Political
Science Association.
The research of the author has been supported by funds granted to the
Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin pursuant
to the provisions of the Economie Opportunity Act of 1964.
j-'lAG
August, 1969
c
6607
.ufsia.ufsia.
ABSTFACT
SECTION I
Recent merican urban conflict has focused attention on bureaucratie
Street-level Bureauerats, defined belo~!, are those men and women who,
For the sake of clarity and illustration, the diseussion will focus
2
suggests. 4
is fairly extensive.
teles. 5 Second, and no doubt related, the clienteles for the most part,
offenders and suspects;6 the clients of teachers are pupils; and the
3
clients of lower eriminal court judges are persons brought before them
in court, In these cases they are not voluntary, and are not primary
I tions end demands eoncerning that performance. Police and lower court
judges are charged with cant rolling behaviar which has profound social
This is because pOOl' people, and minority group members, command fewer
personal resources than more favored individuals~ and thus are more
when the following conditions are relatively salient in the job environ-
ment:
/
1. Avai1able resources are inadequate.
dimensions ~
They are the resu1ts of (and I ill suggest they are in some ways the
causes of) what is knoliJn as the urban ucrisis .. 11 Evidence of the exist-
behaviorq They do not invariably obtain s and are 1ess salient in some
men and judges are relatively free from these conditions. Judges, for
example, are relatively free from concern over physical threat. These
at times the inferenees dra,m here may not be applicable, and that it
would be useful to specify those conditions under whieh they are applicable.
obtaino
Inadequate Resources
other people working at the same job to provide service to the client
job performance are sufficient time to make decisions (and act upon them),
the initiating party, and so must make a double arrest. II The need to
carried out. 14
every case on "hich they sit. 15 One might call th is lack of manpower ,
since more judges "ould permit each case to be heard more fully. But
staffing, lower court judges lack the resources to do their job adequate-
ly. !1any big city teachers must perform in overcrowded classrooms "ith
tion.1,6
constantly work under the threat of violence that may come from any
their time in non-threatening taskJS,. does not reduce the threat affecting
to ,"ark under threat of physical harm. 20 But more common may be the
threat that chaos poses for a teacher attempting to perfarm his job.
of the conditions under "hieh teaching eau take place. The threat of
conduct cases reduces the potential fot threat, judges are harried by
tne enormous backlags of cases which confront tnem. They are under
with the component of the ideal judicial image whieh stresses hearing
or role authority. The greater the degree of authority that can be im-
posed, the less the threat. One might also hypothesize that the greater
the threat, the less bureaucrats feel that authority is respected, and
the more they feel the need to invoke it. These hypotheses tend to be
witnout whieh they are endangered. 24 Hence eomes the aften reported
penitent, but harsh and punitive to those offenders who show signs of
Bureaucrats also are not free to determine who their clienteles will
non-voluntary servants in the same way that their clients are non-
ark inhibiting them from doing their jobs "professionally,"Z7 and with
them.
expectations are defined, although they are not literally present; and
tions can sometimes he found. 28 While we cannot specify here the location
crats, we ean make a few points concerning conflict in urban areas over
these bureaucracies.
tions that they wil 1 treat individuals fairly and impartially. To some
~re confronted with the case ideal, wherein citizens expect to "have
nat ion (for min.ority groups)--all such instancBs represent calls for
advantages.
tions rather than attempt to satisfy more than one of them. In discussing
we may suggest that the zone becomes wider, but that indifference and,
polieemen must perform their duties somewhere between the demands for
order and erime contro!. 32 They must enforce la"8 they did not make in
eommunities ",here demands for law enforcement vary with the laws and
with the various strata of the population, and "here police perceive the
empirically.37
The clients of these bureaucracies are not primary (nor even secondary)
11
the new groups because of the ways in whieh their role expeetations are
When they are artieulated by eli ent groups outside the regular reference
SECTION II
In order to make decisions when confronted with a complex problem
will develop mechanisms to make the tasks easier. Confronted with per-
routines developed for the purposes of, or with the effect of,alleviating
This paper may be said to focus on the trade-offs incurred in, and the
processo
Inadequate Resources
The development of simplifications and routines permits Street-level
with less difficu!ty (perhaps ::J.:2ei:;.g scarcc resources t~1rough ti:ne. s-sving),
while at the same time partIy reducing tensions with clients or personal
13
bail and sentencing are made without knowledge of the defendant's back-
cussed throughout the paper, but same are appropriately mentioned here.
Not only does performance on a case basis suffer with routinization, but
dual is likely to mark him for special notice by teachers and policemen
who, to avoid trouble or find guilty parties, look first among the pool
Threat Reduction
Routines and simplifi.cations are developed 1oy. Street-li'yel Dureau-
crats who must confront physical and psychological threat. Inner city
in order to succeed. 50
assailant may be found, for police, in the way he I>Jalks, his clothing,
distinguish cases whieh should be settled on the spot with minimal police
"those are the rules" may be empirica11y accurate assertions, but the)'
are without substance when weighed with the re1ationship between discre-
general compliance cf the client to the system. Thus the salute ta the
l
uniform, not the man;61 thus the police concern that dis respect for
stances, the risks are too great to depend upon sporadic invocation. 63
circumstances where the penalities for employing them are not severe,
crats who are most exposed to threat~ because for these bureaucracies.9
freedom to reduce threat and thus reduG!C personal anxiety are organiza-
they must work. This public relations effort permits the Street-level
job. "
way, wi11 evoke concern among teachers for order, even though statisti-
or even a good chance that the putative assailant wil 1 have a knife, but
perhaps because once, some years ago, a polieeman failed to draw a gun
decisions about their students (in the ease of tracking, to deeide whether
dueing the decision making burden, the traeking system, as many have
and eligibility requirements have been credited with 1imiting the number
tor filing housing violation complaints in Hew York City provides yet
19
the hook" by making it appear that something is being done about problems.
Ho\"ever, usually in these cases the problems atout ,,hieh clients want
time, the existence of the units defleets pressures for general reorien-
tations. 74
the expectations of people who help give their roles definition. They
get others to see them as the unsung heroes of the city. They may seek
which they ",ark and the extraordinary case loads they must process.
ered bright ("if I ean't teacn them all, 1 ean at least try to teaeh
the fe"7 who have something on the balI"); in the extraordinary time some
21
judges wi11 take ,,dth a "few cases while many people wait for their turn
cern for community welfare. 76 The judge who takes the time to hear a
ment of clienteles. They also marginally divert resources from the large
acceptability.,,79
quality that a black skin nas long played in some aspects of law en-
con trol Negro crime against whites. 83 In Ne.1 York City, landlord orien-
begin with public employees who serve citizens in the ways mentioned
SEC2'ION III
Thus far I have trid,to deseribe and analyze some of the behavioral
they operate; and the ambiguous and eonflicting nature of their role
gies, explicit and implicit, bath overt and psychologieal, whien are
we are eoneerned ,?fth stating more sharply same of the ways in whieh the
real world the ways in whieh routines, simplifications, and other meeha-
person's life than others and the ways they are structured will affct
some groups more than otherso The simplifieations by whieh par~ depart-
ment employees choose whieh trees to trim wi1l have mue:" 1esa impact
one who reads intensively in the literature on police, courts, and judges,
24
as scme of' the' illustrations "clready c:itecl ilave sl--~otvn~ Judges frequently
of defendants, which of ten depends upon their race, or the cut of their
many empirical studies have suggested, and they form their simplifications
which already stigmatizes certain raeial and ineome groups the bureau-
in the system were denied, reports that tracking deeisions were made on
raeial bases were ignored, and evidenee of abuse of the tracking system
clients' bshavior.
for the very simplifications in which they engage. Rosenthal has shown
think pupils are bright, regardless of ';-Jhether or not they are. 87 Police c
-
men insure the validity of their suspicions in many ways. They provoke
tions with that group.89 In this context there is triple danger in being
young, blaek, and noticed by the law. Not only may arrest be more fre-
quent, but employers ~ conc.erns for cleall arrest records, and the ways in
arrested alleged petty offender will become the hardened criminal that
crime has increased. A polieeman may screen out information whieh plaees
was, although there have been some studies suggesting thst he overestimates
27
for illustrative validity not only about the group of which the assail-
them from responsibility for their clients' fate. This may either take
cannot really be helped by service. Sueh people, as Bob Dylan would say,
are assume: 1;:0 h8'<e been benl; out of shap," , 1;oy society' spliers." Goffman
ruptions. 96 Undeniably there are cultural and social factors that affect
lity and accountability may exiGt ir, th", role expectations of Strettlevel
bureaucratsD
SECTION IV
control and impact that these bureaucracies have on their lives. Thus
recognize that in a sensl'! the bureaucracies "create" them and the cir-
deflect attention away from their own shortcomings. This may result in
potent than they actually are. On the other hand, because of predicted
crats, evoking the very reactions they have "predicted." Minority groups
..lth shaping them. This may be another souree of tension. Clients may
that some community groups, in good faith, insist that street-level bureau-
cracies are biased and discriminatory, while at the same time members of
level Bureaucrats are socialized i.nto roles, a process which of ten appears
centrating attention on the reference groups which help define the roles
of this analysis.
The Potioe: Six SooioZogioal Essays (ne" York: John l'Jiley, 1967), p.
194; Ar-th\)r Niederhoffer,Behind the BZue ShieZd (New York: Doub1eday,
1967), eh. 5 .. Bee also Wils.on, Varieties of PoZice Behamor, previ::-
previously cited, p. 7.
S See Jerome Sko1nick and J. Richard Hoodworth, "Bureaucraey, Infor-
mation, and Soeial Control: A Study of a 110rals Detail," in Bordua (ed.),
pre'viously eited, p. 127; Peter 31au, T7~e Dynamios .of Bureauoraoy
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1955), eh. 6.
37
268ee, e.g. ~lil1iam A. Westley, "Violenee and the Police, " Amencan
Jou:rn.aZ of SocioZogy, 59, (August, 1953), p. 39;Werthman ..lid Piliavilj,
-'-~
38
37
Research findings in this area have been summarized by Sarbin
and Allen, previously cited, pp. 503-506.
38Th ~so
~s
not to say t h at c h i ld ren are unimportant to teachers,
or that litigants and defendents are unimportant to judges. But they
are not determinant of bureaucratic role expectations. Ttis may be
contrasted with de tercc;Luants, of rOl"'e';oectations forhigh",r,StB!:US, public
o:ffici"l.s. See, e.g."HaUa'ce Sayre an" Herbert',Keufmsn, GoveminglJew York City
(New York: RusselI Sage Foundation, 1960), pp. 253ff. The aualysis
in this paper suggests the desirability of research on the specific
determinants of Street-level Bureaucrats' role expectatious, a neg-
lected topic in empirical studies.
39 see , e.g., David Rogers, ZZO Livingston Street (New York: P~dom
House, 1968), pp. 267ff.
40
I have attempted to demonstrate this point for protest demands
and target responsiveness in Hichael Lipsky, "Protest as a Political
Resource H Ameriean PolitieaZ Scienee Review, LXII (December, 1968),
pp. 1144-1158.
410n the last, see Murray Edelman, The SymboZie Uses of Polities
(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1964), pp. 69ff.
43 see , e.g., Task Force Report: The Police, previously cited, p. 15;
Herman Goldstein, previou81y cited, pp. 142ff; and Vlayne LaFave,!!rrest:
The Decision toTake a Suspect into Custody (Little, Brown, 1965), pp. l02ff.
44Task Force Report: The Police, previously cited, p. 31. See also
'pp. 18, 30.
45 Joel HandIer, "The Juvenile Court end the Adversary System: Prob-
lems of Function and Form," Wisconsin Law Review, 17 (Winter), 1965.
40
46
See, e.g., Jonathan Kozol, Death at een EOX'Zy Age etJeH York: Bantam,
1967), pp. 56-60, and ~Jerthman and Piliavin, previously cited, p. 72.
can operate only by inducing the great mass of actually ~~ilty defend-
ants to plead qllilty, 11 Task Force Report: The Courts~ previously cited,
p. 112. For some judges, asking for a jury trial, and then being found
gllilty, constitutes an ~;offense'" in itself (against judicial routine) and
is grounds for being particularly harsh in sentencing. Ibid., p. 143.
70See Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, "The Weight of the
Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty," The Nation. Nay 2, 1966, pp. 510-517.
73See Lipsky, Protest in City PoZities, previously cited, pp. 69, 105.
78
Kenneth C1ark has analyzed theories of racial inferiority and
cultural deprivation as functional equ:ivalents. See Dark Ghetto, pre-
viously cited, pp. l25ff,
raeial vio1enee among Negroes, thus implieitly defining the Negro pop-
ulation in a aense as a group 'without the law'." See Albert J. Reiss
and David J. Bordua, "Environment and Organization: A Perspeetive on
the Po1iee," in Bordua (ed.), previously eited, p. 31. See also Wilson,
Varieties of PoZiae Behavior, previously eited, pp. 157ff; Joseph
Goldstein, "Poliee Discretion not to Invoke the Criminal Proeess: Low
Visibility Decisions in the Administration of Justiee," 'la Ze Law JournaZ,
69. (1960), 547.
94For poli ce convictions along these 1ines, see Rossi, et aZ., pre-
viously cited. That riots are not attributab1e to slich e1ements is demon-
strated in Robert 11. Fogelson end Robert B. HilI, "~Jho Riots? A Study
of Partic!pation in the 1967 Riots," in SuppZemental Studies for the
National Advisory Commission on CiviZ DisoT'deT's, previous1y cited. For
evidence that po1ice attitudes are not comp1ete1y homogeneous on this
subject, see the research of Thoms "'.i.tch~ -unpublishedmanuscri:>1:, the
-University of Chicago Lar" Sc.'1oo1, 1969.
46
980n this last point and the police, see Chevigny, previous1y
cited, p. 138.
This publication is made available in the context of the history of social work project.
See www.historyofsocialwork.org
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please do get in touch with us.
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