The voluntary sector and the realignment of government: A street-level study

Abstract

This paper examines the realignment of government from a street‐level vantage point. Gleaning inspiration from studies of governmentality and institutional ethnography, the study argues that street‐level processes were intertwined with the consolidation of neoliberal forms of rule. This connection was evident in the growing centrality of voluntary organizations in social administration, which went hand‐in‐hand with a normalization of more extreme forms of poverty. In making this case, the paper draws on research conducted in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. Sommaire: Le présent article examine le réalignement du gouvernement sous l'angle du point de vue du grand public. S'inspirant d‘études sur la gouvernementalité et l'ethnographie institutionnelle, l'article soutient que les processus grand public ont été entrelacés avec la consolidation des formes néolibérales de règlement. Cette connexion fut évidente dans la centralité croissante des organismes bénévoles au sein de l'administration sociale, qui alla de concert avec une normalisation de formes de pauvreté plus extrêmes. Pour défendre ce point de vue, l'article se fonde sur des travaux de recherche menés à Fredericton et Saint John au Nouveau‐Brunswick.

An Urban Revolution Through Age Friendly Cities? The Case Of Toronto

“…This reflects the competitive funding environment these agencies operate within, in which they are encouraged to target individual seniors at risk of social isolation through the provision of information on self-care to encourage behavioural change (Orsini, 2007). Murray et al (2006) observe a similar understanding of poverty as an individual problem of self-sufficiency in their study of agencies delivering street level services to low income citizens in Fredericton and Saint John's.…”

“…At the same time, it is crucial to refrain from assuming that non-profit organizations are inherently progressive organizations as they too have their own projects and translate different state projects through funding contracts and social service work (Bar Nil & Gal, 2011;Evans & Shields, 2010;Newman & Clarke, 2009;Murray et al, 2006;Mitchell, 2001). I am interested in understanding the role of the non-profit sector in expansive and narrow citizenship projects.…”

Perceptions of Policy Capacity: A Case Study of the Prince Edward Island Public Service Using Theory and Practice

“…The study of perceptions in public administration finds its academic home in the broader field of narrative inquiry, which "in public administration … often focuses on the stories that people in public institutions tell about their work, illuminating diverse dimensions of public institutions and their administrative and policy problems" (Dodge, Ospina, & Foldy, 2005, p. 286). Narrative forms of inquiry about the inner workings of public administration have sometimes been pursued through biographical approaches, which seek to make connections between a bureaucrat's personality, training and experience and an agency's performance (Lambright & Quinn, 2011, p. 782), or institutional ethnographies, which sees knowledge being generated, in part, through researchers reflexively experiencing and participating in the social life of the research setting (Huby, Harries, & Grant, 2011, p. 201; see also the institutional ethnographic approach used by Murray, Low & Waite, 2006 to study street-level service provision in New Brunswick). In some cases, narrative, descriptive, and biographical studies have focused on senior leadership (e.g, Samier, 2007; see also Raadschelders & Lee, 2011, p. 24), while there has also been considerable work completed to understand the perspectives and administrative decision-making of streetlevel or citizen-serving public servants (e.g., Lipsky, 1969Lipsky, , 1983Lipsky, , 2010Carroll & Siegel, 1999, Bouchard & Carroll, 2008Zacka, 2017).…”