Social Services in Ethnically Mixed Cities: Street-Level Bureaucracy at the Crossroads of Ethno-National Conflict

Roni Strier, Hisham M. Abu-Rayya, Tamar Shwartz-Ziv

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

There is a paucity of research examining street-level bureaucracy in cities affected by ongoing ethnopolitical conflict. This study addresses this limitation by exploring the work of social workers in the public services of mixed cities in Israel. It shows the interconnection between ambiguous institutional policies, varying workers’ views of the role of social services, and changing discretion patterns. Findings also suggest that episodes of conflict escalation intensify staff ethnic sectarianism, as well as increase workers’ own ethnic biases, which affect the ways in which they act as a liaison between the welfare system and citizens through their use of discretion.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1203-1231
Number of pages29
JournalAdministration and Society
Volume53
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.

Keywords

  • discretion
  • mixed cities
  • political conflict
  • public services
  • street-level bureaucracy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Public Administration
  • Marketing

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Social Services in Ethnically Mixed Cities: Street-Level Bureaucracy at the Crossroads of Ethno-National Conflict'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this