Need and Street-Level Bureaucracy: How Street-Level Bureaucrats Understand and Prioritize Need

Because the government is responsible for the social welfare of its citizens on behalf of society, it writes laws, establishes procedures, and hires individuals to implement social policy at the local level. This local implementation requires street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) to objectify individual needs and exercise discretion in addressing them. In this chapter, I will show how the individual norms and values of SLBs play a role in the process of objectification at the street level and how differences in conceptions and attitudes among SLBs shape individual street-level decision-making. I will also show how education, societal debates, such as those inspired by court rulings, as well as the work environment of SLBs, shape how they view need and deservingness and how they see their role in the welfare system. As a result, the government must not only draft welfare laws. It must also explain its intentions and ensure that SLBs in the welfare system have the space to continually reflect on the normative foundations of their work if they are to properly take on the state’s responsibility for the welfare of its more needy citizens.