Poverty, Policy, and Federal Administrative Discourse: Are Bureaucrats Speaking Equitable Antipoverty Policy Designs into Existence?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Starke, Anthony M.
• 署名单位: Children's Hospital Colorado; University of Colorado System; University of Colorado Denver; University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3352
• DOI: 10.1111/puar.13191
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 1087-1099
• 关键词: social equity; RESPONSIBILITY

摘要

Non-elected, non-appointed federal employees, referred to as bureaucrats, are among the many policy actors that participate in policy discourse. This article investigates whether bureaucrats' administrative discourse promotes economic equality, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned. Based on a qualitative analysis of data from congressional testimonies (n = 34) before and after the enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, this study discusses the role of public administrators as contributors to welfare policy discourse and the resulting implications for the fight for equality and equal citizenship. It finds that bureaucrats' welfare policy discourse marginalized vulnerable populations, particularly African American women.