Can Street-Level Bureaucrats Assist with Material Resources? Naming, Trivializing and Privatizing Economic Abuse in Israel

Abstract

ABSTRACT Street Level Bureaucrats’ (SLBs) contribution to social inequality was proposed to be best assessed by combining three analytical approaches: Discretion, Positioning, and Reproduction. Such a triple analytical framework may be required for understanding SLBs’ responses to Economic Abuse (EA) in Israel where formal law has not addressed EA while the prevalent welfare orientation denies the material resources required in responding to EA. Applying the triple framework in analyzing fifty-three interviews conducted with Israeli SLBs operating in state welfare organizations reveals the extent to which each analytical component is open for SLBs’ moral entrepreneurship, generating a sense of appropriate professional treatment. It develops a critical discussion of the conditions under which applying the triple framework of discretion, positioning, and reproduction is conducive.