ABSTRACT
More than 30 years ago, Michael Lipsky recognized street-level bureaucrats as the “ultimate policy makers,” and in the decades since, scholars have explored how the discretion and autonomy of frontline workers influence citizens experiencing the administrative state. Street-level bureaucracy theory (SLBT) builds off of key questions in the field of public administration. Scholars focus their attention on how organizational structures, organizational cultures, broader socio-political cultures, and individual decision-making influence the actions and inactions of street-level workers. This scholarship has implications for broad questions of equity, efficiency, and effectiveness in public organizations.
