Referrals deliver symbolic service that substitutes for real help to clients

Evidence

Referrals also may represent a way in which agencies protect themselves by providing symbolic service when actual services are not available. Jeffry Galper puts it audaciously when he suggests the analogy of the parking problem in large cities: “there are never enough spots for all in need, but at anyone time some cars are cruising the streets, looking. Referral is a way of dealing with clients in need without really dealing with them. — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 972

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to organizational-behavior work on symbolic action and to Lipsky’s earlier rationing claims — referral as rationing mechanism. — connects to: Referrals often process case loads rather than deliver services to clients — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 969; Under-staffed agencies exploit new service centers as referral outlets rather than partners — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 971; Having a referral target shields workers from clients’ negative emotions — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 984
• SHARE: The parking-spot analogy is crisp enough for anyone who studies service rationing or nonprofit referral networks.

Broader Connections

• Having a referral target shields workers from clients’ negative emotions #expands (0.85) — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 984