000			01856nam a22001577a 4500
999			_c520398 _d520398
008			220913b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100			_aLavee, Einat _934013
245			_aWalking the talk of social equity? Street-level bureaucrats’ decision-making about the provision of personal resources
260			_aAmerican Review of Public Administration
300			_a52(1), Jan, 2022: p.3-14
520			_aWhile public administration scholars argue that core values of social equity are exceedingly important in service provision, less is known of how these values are practised on the frontline in the contemporary public administration. Research points to a dual trend: together with practices aimed at increasing clients’ wellbeing, public service workers’ decisions about allocating public resources are guided by moral perceptions of worthiness, leaving behind the most weakened populations. The current study aims to decipher this duality, analyzing street-level bureaucrats’ decisionmaking about providing personal resources to low-income clients, in order to examine whether the pursuit of social equity is manifested in informal practices. Drawing on indepth qualitative interviews of social service providers in Israel, we found that decisionmaking about personal resource provision is grounded in two distinct sets of values. Alongside a pattern of providing resources to deserving clients, street-level bureaucrats also provide them to clients typically considered undeserving. These latter practices are aimed at decreasing social inequality, demonstrating that social service providers often walk the talk of social equity. – Reproduced
650			_aSocial equity, Personal resources, Street-level, Worthy, Qualitative. _932863
773			_aAmerican Review of Public Administration
906			_aSOCIAL EQUALITY
942			_cAR