U.S. welfare policy and devolution involve contradictions in implementing financial assistance as welfare workers, must attempt to place clients with severe barriers in formal employment while meeting restrictive requirements. In interviews with North Carolina welfare-to-work program managers, the authors find that they engage in identity talk to construct . images of themselves as effective workers despite these contradictions, using the symbolic identities of the "middle-class achiever" and the "thwarted advocate. " Location in rural counties with ferner resources leads to more polarizing strategies. The authors propose that service providers who face confiiding information and excessive fiustration tend toward extremes, such as blaming clients or policymakers for program failures. This analysis contributes to the social psychological literature on inequality by demonstrating that reconciling contradictions as a service provider ofien entails certain strategic characterizations of clientele, both positive and negative.

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Many studies of workplace inequality have examined why workplace gender segregation still exists and how gender segregation affects workplaces (Cohen, Huffman, and Knauer 2009 Work and Occupations 36(4):318; Huffman, Cohen, and Pearlman 2010 Administrative Science Quarterly 55(2):255). Yet, fewer studies have examined how space might affect gender segregation. In this paper, we investigate two types of space, normative space and industrial space, and their influence on gender workplace segregation within geographic space. We use data from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and mixed models to examine how normative and industrial spaces affect workplaces within geographic space. We find that both measures of normative and industrial space predict differing levels of gender segregation within geographic spaces (measured via commuting zones). In addition, the effects normative space (women's share of the labor force) has on gender segregation are mediated by industrial restructuring.

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Under Temporary Aid to Needy Families, county social service agencies determine how to work with government and nonprofit agencies to achieve Work First program goals. We use classical organization theory to examine how levels of differentiation and integration in county-level inter-organizational relationships affect client outcomes. We combine interviews with Work First program managers in 34 counties with publicly available data. Our findings do not support classical organization theory formulations, but suggest TANF participants benefit from the availability of a variety of services and options within a county, and from the coordination of those services.