Identical statutes produce divergent agency cultures through community influence

Evidence

First, to the extent that public expectations affect street-level bureaucrats there is often considerable disagreement about what street-level bureaucracies should primarily do. Street-level bureaucrats within limits may define the ways in which they will pursue their objectives. But often community opinion is diffusely apprehended, creating role conflict. In different cities and within the same city some communities may expect police to enforce the law vigorously and impartially and to have a strong legalistic orientation, while others are content to have the police primarily focus on maintaining order. Some parents want schools oriented toward achievement in basic skills, while others want schools oriented toward developing community values and vocational training. The punitiveness of welfare administration in some cities and the liberal orientation of other welfare offices demonstrate clearly how the same statutes can spawn agencies with vastly different bureaucratic cultures. — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 366

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Frontline workers’ discretionary acts, not stated policy, constitute government action — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 69; Street-level workers informally teach clients which needs they may legitimately raise — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 472; State permitting laws structurally determine community influence over siting (+1 more)