Street Level Bureaucracy, Casework, and Justice.

Most contemporary justice theories focus on the basic structure of society but pay relatively little attention to the implementation of laws and policies at the street-level. As agents of the basic structure, social caseworkers and street-level bureaucrats are, however, potentially in a unique posit...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social Theory & Practice Vol. 48; no. 3; pp. 485 - 506
Main Authors: Engster, Daniel, Edge, Matt
Format: Article
Published: Florida State University Jul2022
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=157396040&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ssf
    uiTerm: 157396040
    longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson)
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        0037802X
        STP
      jtl: Social Theory & Practice
      issn: 0037802X
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: Jul2022
      vid: 48
      iid: 3
      pid: 150
      pub: Florida State University
    artinfo:
      ui:
        157396040
        10.5840/soctheorpract2022527164
      ppf: 485
      ppct: 21
      formats:
        fmt:
          @attributes:
            type: P
            size: 3.5MB
      tig:
        atl: Street Level Bureaucracy, Casework, and Justice.
      aug:
        au:
          Engster, Daniel
          Edge, Matt
        affil:
          The University of Houston.
          Cambridge Acorn Project.
      su:
        Bureaucracy
        Political participation
        Political science
        Equality
        Social case work
        Wage payment systems
      sug:
        subj:
          Bureaucracy
          Political participation
          Political science
          Equality
          Social case work
          Wage payment systems
      keyword:
        justice
        political realism
        social casework justice as action
        street-level bureaucracy
        justice
        political realism
        social casework justice as action
        street-level bureaucracy
      ab: Most contemporary justice theories focus on the basic structure of society but pay relatively little attention to the implementation of laws and policies at the street-level. As agents of the basic structure, social caseworkers and street-level bureaucrats are, however, potentially in a unique position in the fight to deliver justice at the coalface of social inequality. Introducing a paradigm of ‘Justice as Action’, we explore how street-level bureaucrats can work with both citizen-clients and, indeed, political philosophers, to promote justice. Although the Justice as Action paradigm does not involve entirely abandoning ideal justice theories, we show how it provides a potential method for paying heed to the objections of political realists about the need to direct attention to the concerns of people ‘now and around here’ if we are to produce both meaningful political theory and meaningful political action. Our conclusion is that it is essential for front-line workers and street-level bureaucrats and political theorists to have more conversations with one another than they currently do in order to advance their shared cause.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
    refInfo:
    copyright:
      @attributes:
        flag: N
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N