Racialized Burdens: Applying Racialized Organization Theory to the Administrative State

Abstract

Administrative burdens allow a form of hidden politics to shape people’s experience of the state. But what do those politics hide? In this paper we seek to partly answer this question by developing the concept of racialized burdens. Racialized burdens are the experience of learning, compliance and psychological costs, which serve as tools to reinforce racial inequality; they are the handmaidens of the racialized state. To develop this concept, we examine the role of administrative burdens in the US state from the theoretical perspective of racialized organizations. This framework puts the focus on the effects of organizations on individuals, rather than using individual agency – of the client, or bureaucrat – as the starting point for analysis. Using examples from attempts to access citizenship rights – via immigration, voting and the social safety net – we show how burdens have historically been used to normalize and facilitate racially disparate outcomes from public organizations that promise fair and equal treatment.

Patient administrative burden in the US health care system

“…Women do a disproportionate share of unpaid caregiving, which may include performing health‐related administrative tasks 40 . People who face racial or other discrimination may experience disparate burdens 41,42 …”

It's About Time: Examining Inequality in the Time Cost of Waiting

“…For example, depending on which state one lives in, failing to respond to a letter promptly may put a family at risk of losing Medicaid (Badger and Sanger-Katz 2021), potentially causing harm to health and finances, and necessitating a prolonged re-application process. Further, administrative burdens across various domains, including the social safety net, immigration, and voting, have been used to "normalize and facilitate racially disparate outcomes from public organizations that promise fair and equal treatment" (Ray et al, 2020). For example, in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, residents of entirely black neighborhoods waited nearly 30% longer to vote than residents of entirely white neighborhoods.…”

“…For example, people who are lower-income or part of a racial minority group are more likely to live in neighborhoods with more limited access to grocery stores, drug stores, laundry, and banks (e.g., Dunham, 2018;Hegerty, 2016;Schuetz et al, 2012), and Medicaid recipients wait longer to see a healthcare provider (Oostrom et al, 2017). Having low income also limits individuals' ability to pay for convenient, time-saving services (Cohen, 1998), such as grocery delivery, and increases individuals' interaction with burdensome government bureaucracies (Herd and Moynihan, 2019;Ray et al, 2020). Yet, with some notable exceptions using an ethnographic approach (e.g., Auyero, 2011;Roy et al, 2004), empirical work on this social patterning of waiting is lacking.…”

It’s About Time: Examining Inequality in the Time Cost of Waiting

“…* For example, people who are lower-income or part of a racial minority group are more likely to live in neighborhoods with more limited access to grocery stores, drug stores, laundry, and banks (e.g., 7,8,9 ), and Medicaid recipients wait longer to see a healthcare provider 10 . Having low income also limits individuals' ability to pay for convenient, time-saving services 11 , such as grocery delivery, and increases individuals' interaction with burdensome government bureaucracies 12,13 . Yet, with some notable exceptions using an ethnographic approach (e.g., 14,15 ), empirical work on this social patterning of waiting is lacking.…”

“…Failing to shoulder this burden can mean the loss of access to needed support. Further, administrative burdens across various domains, including the social safety net, immigration, and voting, have been used to "normalize and facilitate racially disparate outcomes from public organizations that promise fair and equal treatment" 13 . For example, in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, residents of entirely black neighborhoods waited nearly 30% longer to vote than residents of entirely white neighborhoods.…”