The belief in bureaucratic altruism is unfalsifiable and shapes policy assumptions

Evidence

The foundation of support for the human model of interaction rests in the belief that this model benefits clients. Yet it may be called a myth of altruism because the assertion that agencies provide benefits and fair treatment is usually unexamined, not subject to falsification among people who believe it, and a means for structuring a range of further assumptions about public policy. — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 535

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the ‘myth of altruism’ as an unfalsifiable organizing assumption of street-level agencies.
• XREF: connects to: Elite policy expertise implies no inclination to serve the common good — Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page, Testing Theories of American Politics:…, 139