PHDPR9100 Street-Level Bureaucrats and Organisations Course description

The street-level bureaucracy perspective addresses the present question of what happens when politics meets reality. In different welfare state context as well as different policy areas answers to this question are important to search for. Street-level organizations (SLOs) form the operational centre of the welfare state, operating at the interface between policies on the page and policies in practice. The study of SLOs is at the cutting edge of new policy and management research that is investigating the development and implementation of social and labour market policy. The field builds on Lipsky's seminal work (1980) on street-level bureaucracy, which has influenced diverse types of research on public policy, management, sociology, and politics. Research in this field investigates the policy-making role of front-line organizations and those who work in them. It recognizes that front-line organizations play an active and crucial role in determining about 'who gets what, when and how' (Lasswell 1936). In this sense, the behaviour of street-level organizations might be seen as the 'continuation of politics by other means.' The course draws on on-going research and international collaboration on questions such as: what kinds of developments of governance and managerial strategies seek to influence the work of street-level organizations and how do these strategies influence policy delivery? How do labour market and social policies target unemployed and marginalised populations and the organizational practices through which they are realized?

The purpose of this PhD course is to use the street-level perspective to challenge current PhD projects and to discuss the question of policies on the page as opposed to policies in practice relevant for these projects. The course introduces the PhD students to different approaches and discussions within street-level bureaucracy research within the social sciences.

The course is essentially theoretical, aiming to introduce the students to different street-level perspectives as well as qualifying them to use these perspectives to address questions of politics and practice relevant for the individual PhD project.

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Target Group

The course is aimed at PhD students.

Arbeids- og undervisningsformene består av forelesninger, seminarer, gruppearbeid og laboratoriearbeid. Bruk av digitale læringsressurser som for eksempel videoforelesninger inngår som en viktig del av undervisningen. Praktiske ferdigheter erverves gjennom laboratoriearbeid.

For å fremstille seg til eksamen må følgende arbeidskrav være godkjent:

• Minimum 80 prosent tilstedeværelse på laboratoriekurs
• Minimum 80 prosent tilstedeværelse på andre obligatoriske aktiviteter
• Laboratorierapporter etter gitte kriterier

Hver besvarelse vurderes av to sensorer. Ekstern sensor vurderer minimum 30 prosent av besvarelsene. Ekstern sensors vurderinger skal komme alle studentene til gode.

Individuell skriftlig eksamen under tilsyn, 4 timer;

• Kalkulator
• Egenproduserte håndskrevne notater
• Egne godkjente laboratorierapporter

Gradert skala A-F