How street-level bureaucrats use conceptual systems to categorise clients

Author(s)

Lotta, Gabriela ^{[1, 2]} ; Kirschbaum, Charles ^[3]

Affiliation

^[1] Getulio Vargas Fdn, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Blavatnik Sch Govt, Oxford - England

^[3] INSPER, Sao Paulo - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: POLICY AND POLITICS; v. 49, n. 4, p. 531-551, OCT 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

This study analyses how street-level bureaucrats' categorisation of citizens is embedded within conceptual systems. We observe the process of categorisation as embedded in cultural schemata used by street-level bureaucrats. We provided vignettes to 40 teachers in Sao Paulo public schools to observe how they categorise similar behaviours of students within different social contexts. We then determined if there were differences in the systems of categories created and actions proposed to deal with similar behaviours in different contexts. The data showed that, depending on the way in which context triggered the teachers' system of categorisation, distinct actions were proposed. These different actions produced different types of deservingness that, in the case analysed here, are related to actions inside or outside the school. These findings have important implications for policymakers in ensuring more equal access to services for students requiring additional support in the classroom. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 19/13439-7 - Therapeutic itineraries of Bolivian women in the central region of São Paulo: conditions of life, work and access to health
• Grantee: Eugenia Brage
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 17/24750-0 - Street level bureaucracy: discretion uses and its impact in inclusion, exclusion and inequalities (re)production
• Grantee: Gabriela Spanghero Lotta
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants