public safety management clsss4

Putting a Fix on People: Putting a Fix on People: Identity, Conduct, & StreetIdentity, Conduct, & Street--

level Worklevel Work Chapter 7Chapter 7

MaynardMaynard--Moody & Moody & MushenoMusheno

Workers sense of who citizenWorkers sense of who citizen-- clients areclients are

• Workers get a fix on who a client is to determine how to handle them

• Social identity/group belonging becomes fixed & carries social baggage & consequences – Appearance, skin color, gender, & age all indicators of social

identities • Social identities are more fixed for some street-level

workers than others • First encounters often permeated with uncertainty/fear

– Police frequently only have brief encounters with citizen-clients – Police dehumanize citizens and flatten their identity to

stigmatized categories – Increased exposure to clients leads to recognizing more complex

identities

Workers sense of who citizenWorkers sense of who citizen-- clients areclients are

– Social workers/teachers have more contact with clients overtime thus social identity is less rigid

– These workers are often charged with transforming clients status

– The worker’s personal experience/identity often affects identity and expectations of citizen-client e.g. Hearing Person story

StreetStreet--level workerlevel worker’’s & clients & client’’s s identitiesidentities

• Identity matches between street-level workers & clients are often involved in workers providing extraordinary services

• Contrasts between workers & clients identities are often involved with the withholding of services or sanctioning the client

• Provision of extraordinary services often entail references to a stigmatized identity that is rejected by worker after becoming familiar with client’s character and life circumstances i.e. helping transform client

• Client’s positive social identities can also digress in worker’s eyesight and they are treated accordingly

Defiant ClientsDefiant Clients • Defiant clients realize power disadvantage and often

seek 3rd party support to balance power relation with worker; referred to as complainers & letter writers often labeled with psychological disorders

• Workers use cultural schema to dismiss defiant clients • Defiant clients given social identities that attach blame to

social group constructed by worker for troublemakers – e.g. teachers use of immaturity to explain disparity in disciplinary

actions against black students in comparison to other students

WorkersWorkers’’ expectationsexpectations

• Workers expect civility in conversation regardless of encounter

• Client to listen to them and • Deference to their advice • Adherence to these expectations can result in

benevolent treatment regardless of initial proscribed social identity

• Non-compliance can result in negative treatment & enforcement of moral authority by worker