Winds of change: How street‐level bureaucrats actively represent minority clients by influencing majority clients—The context of LGB Israeli teachers
| Published date | 01 December 2023 |
| Author | Maayan Davidovitz |
| Date | 01 December 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12903 |
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Winds of change: How street-level bureaucrats
actively represent minority clients by influencing
majority clients—The context of LGB
Israeli teachers
Maayan Davidovitz
1,2
1
Wagner Graduate School of Public Service,
New York University, New York,
New York, USA
2
The Center for Public Management and
Policy (CPMP), School of Political Sciences,
University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
Correspondence
Maayan Davidovitz, Wagner Graduate School
of Public Service, New York University,
New York, NY, USA.
Email: maayandavidovitz@gmail.com
Abstract
The literature dealing with representative bureaucracy
emphasizes the role that minority street-level bureaucrats
may play when, directly and indirectly, they actively repre-
sent clients with whom they share a common identity. My
study goes further, contributing to the implementation liter-
ature, by examining why and how these street-level bureau-
crats use their discretion to shape non-minority clients'
attitudes toward minorities. I explore this phenomenon
empirically through interviews with 36 Israeli lesbian, gay,
and bisexual (LGB) teachers. I analyze the traditional
methods they routinely adopt, such as exposing students to
information about minorities, encouraging open discussions
of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+)
issues in the classroom, and entrepreneurially developing
and introducing innovative learning programs. I illustrate
how they respond to ad hoc cases (e.g.,protecting LGBTQ+
clients or taking advantage of outside events to promote
understanding of relevant issues) and theapproach of lead-
ing by example.
Abstract in Hebrew
הספרותשעוסקתבבירוקרטיהייצוגיתמדגישהאתהתפקידשממלאים
בירוקרטיםברמתהרחובהמשתייכיםלקבוצותמיעוט,כאשרהםמייצג
ים
אקטיבית,במישריןובעקיפין,לקוחותעמםהםחולקיםזהותמשותפת.המחקר
Received: 6 February 2022Revised: 14 November 2022Accepted: 6 December 2022
DOI: 10.1111/padm.12903
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
© 2022 The Authors. Public Administration published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Public Admin. 2023;101:1587–1603. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/padm 1587
הנוכחילוקחאתהידעהקייםצעדקדימהותורםלספרותהיישוםבכךשבוחן
מדועוכיצדבירוקרטיםברמתהרחובמשתמשיםבשיקולדעתבכדילעצבאת
עמדותיהםשללקוחותהרובכלפימיעוטים.אניבוחנתאתהתופעההזו
אמפיריתבאמצעותראיונותעם36מוריםלהט“בים.אנימנתח
תאת
האסטרטגיותהמסורתיותשהםמאמציםבשגרה,כדוגמתחשיפתתלמידים
למידעעלמיעוטים,עידודדיוניםפתוחיםבנושאיםלהט”בים
בכיתהוכן,הובלת
יוזמותותוכניותלמידהחדשניות.בנוסף,אנימדגימהכיצדהםמגיביםלמקרי
אד-הוק)למשלבאמצעותהגנהעללקוח
ותלהט”ביםאוניצולאירועים
חיצונייםכדילקדםהבנהשלנושאיםרלוונטיים(וכן,אתהגישהשלהובלה
באמצעותדוגמאאישית .
1|INTRODUCTION
Street-level bureaucrats, such as teachers, nurses, police officers, and social workers, affect the lives of the public
they serve (Hupe & Buffat, 2014; Lipsky, 2010; Nielsen, 2006; Tummers & Bekkers, 2014). Through their daily inter-
actions with the public when providing services, they represent the state on the front. Given their extensive discre-
tion in providing services (Tummers & Bekkers, 2014), which influences social welfare (Maynard-Moody &
Musheno, 2012), they play a crucial role in actively representing citizens with whom they share social and demo-
graphic characteristics (Andrews et al., 2014; Guul, 2018; Hong, 2021; Marvel & Resh, 2015; Meier, 2019;
Raaphorst & Groeneveld, 2019).
The theory of representative bureaucracy focuses on the link between their social and demographic characteristics,
such as race, gender, or ethnicity, and bureaucrats', willingness to promote policies that will benefit the citizens with whom
they share a common identity (Bishu & Kennedy, 2020). Kingsley (1944) noted that in democracies, elected officials must
represent the diversity of the population, but in the bureaucracy demographic representation is required. According to
Meier (1993), this requirement has major implications for society because “bureaucracy is perceived as less a threat to
democracy if bureaucracy is representative of all interests in society”(p. 393). However, for active representation to be
realized, bureaucrats must have extensive discretion to directly influence the promotion of outputs within the delivery of
public services (Groeneveld et al., 2015; Meier, 1993;Sowa&Selden,2003;Wilkins&Wenger,2015).
The literature highlights the relationship between the discretion of street-level bureaucrats and their active rep-
resentation of their clients (Sowa & Selden, 2003). For example, various studies note that street-level bureaucrats
actively represent clients with whom they share a common identity by giving them priority or adapting policies to
suit their needs both at the organizational and individual levels (Grissom et al., 2009; Roch et al., 2010;
Zamboni, 2020). These studies focus on how street-level bureaucrats actively and directly represent clients with
whom they share a common social or demographic identity (Grissom et al., 2009; Riccucci et al., 2016;
Selden, 1997). There are also studies highlighting the indirect impact of street-level bureaucrats on producing bene-
fits for minority clients through influencing the behavior of non-minority bureaucrats (Hindera & Young, 1998;
Lim, 2006; Nicholson-Crotty & Meier, 2002). Research exists showing how minority bureaucrats' influence extends
beyond individual-level interactions with minority clients. For example, the study of Favero and Molina (2018) dem-
onstrates how students function better when there is a more appropriate representation of teachers in other schools
in the same district. This highlights how passive representation may generate benefits for clients who do not interact
directly with bureaucrats in their organization. The focus of my study, however, is on the individual level. I argue that
active representation may be expressed through the influence of street-level bureaucrats on the attitudes of non-
minority clients with whom they share no common identity towards the minority clients with whom they do share a
common identity.
1588 DAVIDOVITZ
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