Performative agency among street-level bureaucrats: its implications for citizen encounters with the welfare state

What is it about?

Welfare bureaucrats involved in the delivery of universal and contributory family services and benefits use facial expression and language differentially with clients. More than their power for discretionary decisionmaking - the judgement about the success of an interaction by clients depends more on their interpretation of the use of 'face' and sympathetic/unsympathetic language by the agent.

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