Michael Lipsky Books
Michael Lipsky is an American political scientist and public policy scholar known for his work on public administration and the role of street-level bureaucrats. He served as a senior fellow at Demos and taught at MIT and Harvard University.
Known for: Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Services
Books by Michael Lipsky
Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Services
Street-Level Bureaucracy explores how public service workers—such as teachers, police officers, and social workers—exercise discretion and make policy decisions in their daily interactions with citizens. Michael Lipsky argues that these front-line employees effectively become policymakers through their interpretations and applications of rules, shaping how government policies are experienced by the public.
Read SummaryKey Insights from Michael Lipsky
The Role of Discretion
Discretion lies at the heart of the work of street-level bureaucrats. Laws and regulations rarely anticipate the full complexity of real-world situations. Thus, public service workers must interpret and apply these rules as they deem appropriate in the circumstances they face. In doing so, they make...
From Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Services
Constraints and Resources
No street-level bureaucrat operates freely. Their choices are bounded by constraints: insufficient funding, bureaucratic procedures, institutional hierarchies, and the relentless demand to do more with less. The social worker facing a towering caseload, the teacher with too many students and too few...
From Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Services
About Michael Lipsky
Michael Lipsky is an American political scientist and public policy scholar known for his work on public administration and the role of street-level bureaucrats. He served as a senior fellow at Demos and taught at MIT and Harvard University.
Frequently Asked Questions
Michael Lipsky is an American political scientist and public policy scholar known for his work on public administration and the role of street-level bureaucrats. He served as a senior fellow at Demos and taught at MIT and Harvard University.
Read Michael Lipsky's books in 15 minutes
Get AI-powered summaries with key insights from 1 book by Michael Lipsky.