Reflections on Street‐Level Bureaucracy: Past, Present, and Future

• Author: Evelyn Z. Brodkin
• Date: 01 November 2012
• Published date: 01 November 2012
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2012.02657.x

940 Public Administration Review • November | December 2012

It is rare but noteworthy when a term so captures a

phenomenon that it seems both instantly familiar

and equally intriguing. Since Michael Lipsky’s

book was published some 30 years ago, the term

“street-level bureaucracy” has been incorporated into

the language of organizational and policy research

Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilem-

mas of the Individual in Public Services, 30th

anniversary expanded ed. (New York: Russell Sage

Foundation, 2010). 300 pp. $18.95 (paper),

ISBN: 9780871545442; $28.95 (eBook), ISBN:

9781610446631.

Ref‌l ections on Street-Level Bureaucracy: Past, Present,

and Future

Sonia M. Ospina and Rogan Kersh, Editors

Evelyn Z. Brodkin

University of Chicago

Evelyn Z. Brodkin is associate

professor in the School of Social Service

Administration at the University of Chicago.

Most recently, she edited and contributed

to a special symposium issue on “Street-

Level Organizations: New Directions for

Research” in the Journal of Public

Administration Research and Theory

(2011). Her new book Work and the

Welfare State presents international,

organizational studies that trace the

advance of workfare from welfare state

politics to street-level practice. The book,

co-edited with Gregory Marston, is to be

published by Georgetown University Press.

E-mail: e-brodkin@uchicago.edu