Enabling street-level work: minimal structures for customized social services

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study asks how customization (the provision of non-standardized services) in street-level practice can be enabled. Based on 300h of ethnographic fieldwork, this study demonstrates that practitioners not only need discretionary room, but also social structures, professional knowledge, ‘customization templates’, and – somewhat contradictory – boundaries that limit the endless possibilities of customization. These structures or ‘enablements’ not only enable practitioners to develop novel solutions, but also create predictability, commonality, and consistency. The analysis also explains the role of first-line managers in this practice, which can be both legitimizing and obstructing. When structures lack, customization comes with serious risks for beneficiaries and street-level practitioners.