Clients internalize administrative labels and conform to them

Evidence

It should be no surprise that self-fulfilling prophecies run throughout street-level bureaucracies. If clients are differentiated they will respond to that differentiation by accepting in part the implications of the differentiation for their own identities. They will also respond to the role of client by conforming to bureaucracy’s expectations concerning client behavior. From this interactionist perspective it is hardly surprising that differentiation of clienteles and the necessity of involvement with bureaucracy lead to the interpersonal dynamics we call self-fulfilling prophecies. — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 836

Categorization

• DEFINE: Names the interactionist mechanism — identity acceptance plus role conformity — that converts a discretionary judgment into durable client behavior.
• XREF: connects to: Street-level bureaucracies manufacture client categories that people then internalize — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 455; Agency layouts and queues teach clients their socially expected level of service — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 491