The New Welfare Bureaucrats: Entanglements of Race, Class, and Policy Reform


What is a catch-all bureaucracy?

Through ethnographic and interview research at two welfare offices in Massachusetts, Watkins-Hayes explores the factors shaping professional identities and how these identities lead to what is commonly referred to as "worker discretion. Workers must find a way to negotiate their roles within an organization that is largely unprepared to service the vast and multiple needs of their clients; in other words, they have a lot of discretionary decisions to make. This book shows that the professional identities of workers shape the interactions workers have with clients and the decisions they make.

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Two primary professional identities are identified — efficiency engineers and social workers. Watkins-Hayes explains that institutional forces have — at different times and in different policy contexts — encouraged and discouraged the development of these two identities. Workers adopting either of these identities can point to organizational cues and messages that support their choices, thus Watkins-Hayes reveals some of the internal contradictions of welfare programs.

One of the strengths of this book is the way Watkins-Hayes embraces complexity.

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Human service organizations that routinely offer limited or low-quality services to families are still catch-all bureaucracies if clients manage to introduce their challenges into the organizational milieu in ways that shape service-delivery. Paperback , pages. If you would like to authenticate using a different subscribed institution that supports Shibboleth authentication or have your own login and password to Project MUSE, click 'Authenticate'. Robert marked it as to-read Sep 23, Although charter schools were designed to create innovative new educational services, a significant number of these schools evolved as catch-all providers of family social services. In light of ongoing debates about the remedies for high unemployment, these institutions remain central to our understanding of how those who are economically struggling navigate both macro-level economic and political transformations and micro-level conditions and struggles that shape their financial outlooks.

She understands that while institutional factors are important, workers' race and class identities and experiences also shape their interactions with clients. The last two substantive chapters of the book focus on the ways workers' race and class backgrounds affect their dealings with clients.

Unfortunately these chapters seem a bit disjointed from the first part of the book. Watkins-Hayes's portrayal of the Fishertown welfare office, and the demographic changes occurring there and within the community, is superb. She uncovers the racial tension workers feel as their community and the welfare rolls experience a small but significant migration of black, Latino and Asian families moving in from larger cities in search of affordable housing. By illuminating the differences in the [End Page ] way that welfare administrators and frontline workers respond to recent immigrants from outside the United States particularly from Cambodia and Spanish-speaking countries vs.

What is a catch-all bureaucracy? | bahana-line.com

Although the earlier focus on professional identities is set aside, Watkins-Hayes eventually returns to this topic and complicates the picture. Instead of the expected finding that "social workers" were more likely than "efficiency engineers" to help migrant families find resources in Fishertown, the way workers think about race and class, their communities, and the newcomers entering them also shapes their interactions with clients and the assistance they provide them.

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The New Welfare Bureaucrats: Entanglements of Race, Class, and Policy Reform [Celeste Watkins-Hayes] on bahana-line.com *FREE* shipping on qualifying. Editorial Reviews. Review. “The New Welfare Bureaucrats is an insightful study of the interplay The New Welfare Bureaucrats: Entanglements of Race, Class, and Policy Reform - Kindle edition by Celeste Watkins-Hayes. Download it once .

In discussing the Staunton office — a diverse inner city office with few white clients but many white workers — Watkins-Hayes does an excellent job of portraying the experiences of black and Latino workers within the organization and showing the significant barriers they face in reaching higher levels of management.

However, I was disappointed that the discussion of black and Latino welfare workers' interactions with same-race clients did not provide more of a link back to the issue of professional identities. Request this item to view in the Library's reading rooms using your library card. To learn more about how to request items watch this short online video. You can view this on the NLA website.

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The New Welfare Bureaucrats: Entanglements of Race, Class, and Policy Reform

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