Service demand statistics measure organizational self-presentation more than client need.
Evidence
Client statistics may not indicate much about the objective needs of the client population but they reflect a great deal about the organizations that formally cater to those needs. … Thus growing demand for adult continuing education partly exists in the felt needs of the adult population, but the demand also is responsive to the publicity generated by colleges and universities and their desire to attract students and their tuition. The demand for emergency police services exists to an unknown degree, but the introduction of a 911 central telephone number and dispatch system makes it more likely that citizens believe the police will respond quickly. — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 678
Categorization
- XREF: Echoes the reader’s core test: organizational signals, not underlying need, drive measured demand — another instance of institutionally-shaped client behavior. — connects to: Agency-produced statistics reveal agency behavior more than the phenomena they measure — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 401; Apparent demand for public services measures perceived availability, not real need — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 670; Agency layouts and queues teach clients their socially expected level of service — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 491 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Agency layouts and queues teach clients their socially expected level of service
#expands(0.85) — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 491 - Client-facing work uniquely preserves a concept of need relative to provision
#contradicts(0.85) — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 1377 - Service availability creates demand rather than merely satisfying it
#complicates(0.75) — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 292