Street-Level Actors, Migrants, and Gender: Dealing With Divergent Perspectives

Abstract

According to the citizen–agent paradigm, the way street-level bureaucrats view their target population shapes their discretionary behavior. Applying this in the context of the so-called “European Migration Crisis,” this article investigates how street-level actors make sense of their migrant clients and how these conceptual understandings of the “Other” shape their discretionary behavior. Focusing on the divisive issue of gender identities and beliefs, or gender perspectives, this research combines ideas from public administration and social psychology. It shows that street-level actors’ discretionary behavior depends on whether they see the Self-Other difference as fixed or changeable, and as hierarchically organized or not.