Cops, Teachers, Counselors: Stories from the Front Lines of Public Service

Street-level bureaucracy research and theory have significantly influenced scholarship and practice in various disciplines, including public administration, political science, law and society, social work, education, and criminal justice. The 2003 edition of Cops, Teachers, Counselors, based on NSF-supported field research, examined how frontline workers understand and interpret fairness in the delivery of government services. The book gave voice to these workers and provided an initial theoretical framing that moved scholarly attention away from seeing them as exclusively agents of the state. The new edition expands on this framing and includes an expanded theoretical framing based on a reinterpretation of the original stories and fieldwork.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 280 pages
Publication date: 10 May 2022
Publisher: The University of Michigan Press

Street-level bureaucracy research and theory have significantly influenced scholarship and practice in the US and worldwide across various disciplines, including public administration, political science, law and society, social work, education, and criminal justice. The 2003 edition of "Cops, Teachers, Counselors" is one of the more prominent books in this field, based on NSF-supported field research in two US states and five different agencies. This research employed an innovative story collection and analysis approach that examined how frontline workers understand and interpret fairness in the delivery of government services. The book gave voice to these police officers, teachers, and social workers and provided an initial theoretical framing that began to move scholarly attention away from seeing frontline workers as exclusively agents of the state and more as defining their judgements in their direct interactions with various publics. This new edition wraps an expanded theoretical framing around the original chapters. Steven Maynard-Moody and Michael Mushenos' "reframing of frontline inquiry" is based on a reinterpretation of the original stories and fieldwork that was guided by scholarly conversations since the 2003 publication and by their own separate and original research on schools and policing.

Weight: 496g
Dimension: 150 x 228 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780472055241
Edition number: 2 Revised edition