Worker-client relations mirror society’s dominant bureaucracy regardless of written policy

Evidence

Not only do street-level bureaucrats exercise discretion to such an extent that they are not easily affected by policy articulation from above (as I have previously argued). Also, the character of worker-client and worker-supervisor relations, no matter what the articulated organizational policy, is likely to continue to reflect the dominant bureaucratic relations of the society, no matter what the administrative guidelines provide. — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 1362

Categorization

• XREF: Directly supports the reader’s test: cultural-institutional relations persist through discretion even as formal guidelines change, which is what makes stereotype routinization sticky.
• QUESTION: If bureaucratic relations simply mirror society, how does the discretionary decision ever accelerate institutionalization ahead of cultural change? Worth investigating whether Lipsky allows the workplace to lead culture or only lag it.