Street-Level Bureaucrats and Ethical Conflicts in Service Provision to Sex Workers. Issue 1 (2nd January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Anasti, Theresa
• Is Part Of: Ethics & social welfare. Volume 14:Issue 1(2020)
• Page Start: 89
• Page End: 104
• Publication Date: 2020-01-02
• Subjects: Sex work -- harm reduction -- street-level bureaucracy; Social service -- Moral and ethical aspects -- Periodicals; Public welfare -- Moral and ethical aspects -- Periodicals; 361.3
• DOI: 10.1080/17496535.2019.1664608
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1749-6535

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Social workers and other service providers are the agents that often have initial contact with sex workers, a highly stigmatised population that has a fraught history with the social work profession. In this paper, I use Lipsky's theory of street-level bureaucracy and show how social workers use professional discretion when working with this population, even as it might conflict with their personal ethics. Specifically, I focus on the dual service technologies of abstinence and harm reduction, and how service providers have negotiated these technologies in their work with sex workers. In regards to these technologies, I focus on how the emotional and moral discourse surrounding sex work has shaped the response of street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) that work with this population. Using qualitative data from interviews with 29 frontline service providers in a midwestern US state, I argue that these frontline workers use interpersonal modes of discretion to understand ethical conflicts in working with sex trade-involved persons, conflicting with both agency and field-level policy. Implications of this project show how frontline service providers negotiate their responsibilities to this population amidst conflicting personal ethics and service technologies.