Emergency exceptions reward those who can evoke them, not those most in need.
Evidence
The difficulty with serving part of the case load is that while some receive special treatment, people with equally severe needs are neglected. Clients with objectively equal claims do not present themselves to the agencies or do not evoke emergency procedures, although their condition or circumstances may be as severe as those who are treated as emergencies. — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 1027
Categorization
- XREF: Mirrors the law-merchant and diamond-bourse finding that reputation and signaling, not objective merit, allocate scarce goods when no outside judge intervenes. — connects to: Emergency powers are continuous with normal law, not exceptions to it — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism: A Critique of…, 406; Emergency measures become permanent once crisis is normalized. — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 7
- SEED: Angle: ‘The emergency is whoever knows to ask’ — how triage categories in ERs, welfare offices, and schools reward savvy clients over deserving ones.
Broader Connections
- Emergency powers are continuous with normal law, not exceptions to it
#complicates(0.75) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 406 - Emergency measures become permanent once crisis is normalized.
#expands(0.72) — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 7