Worker-client relations reflect societal structure regardless of administrative guidelines.

Evidence

Class exploitation is not tied to low wages, has nothing to do with the indiscriminate mistreatment of some workers, and cannot simplistically be attributed to the immorality of employers. Morality is irrelevant; the crucial point lies elsewhere. All wage labor, even if it pays well, is by definition exploited labor because, counterintuitively, we as workers produce more value than we receive in our paychecks. “Exploitation” is a term that captures the essence of the wage relationship between worker and employer. The slogan “A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work” is a hoax. It is not enough to increase wages and obtain better working conditions to free oneself from exploitation. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 98 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Special units often end up taking responsibility for areas that are properly the general responsibility of other bureaucrats. They provide a symbolic approach to deeply devisive issues, and by providing street-level bureaucrats with a safety valve in their confrontation with clients, they may do as much harm as good with respect to changing the general orientation of agency personnel. Sociologist Albert Reiss Jr. puts it simply: ” … the development of a special ‘human relations’ staff, will remove an important function from the domain of the line worker … Without specific provision for implementation in the line, there is little opportunity to apply human relations to the treatment of clients.” — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 1008 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Even if one may have reservations about the theoretical value of research of this sort, information about the company, down to the smallest group of workers, will have to be encouraged in this country to the same extent that it has advanced in other countries, particularly the United States. What encourages a company owner to provide the opportunity for such research is of no importance: he may see human factors as creating the conditions for, or restricting, a desired increase in productivity and profitability, or else he may see them as ends in themselves; he may see the problem as one of leadership', or else as one of partnership’. Workers themselves have just as much interest in the development of scientific methods as management does. In spite of their understandable mistrust, they need to have clear information about their own working life and how to improve the factors affecting it. The factory matters to them. Where things are more or less right, a bond with the company forms. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2087 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Horkheimer argued workplace opinion research benefits workers regardless of management’s motives. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2087; Exploitation is intrinsic to wage labor regardless of pay level or employer morality. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 98; Dedicated human-relations units absolve line workers from applying fair treatment. — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 1008 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Exploitation is intrinsic to wage labor regardless of pay level or employer morality. #corroborates (0.78) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 98
• Dedicated human-relations units absolve line workers from applying fair treatment. #exemplifies (0.75) — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 1008
• Horkheimer argued workplace opinion research benefits workers regardless of management’s motives. #corroborates (0.72) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2087