The Impact of Representative Bureaucracies: Educational Systems and Public Policies Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Studies of representative bureaucracies are staples of public administration research; however, because of a variety of methodological problems, too few have been able to address the basic "so what?" question. Do bureaucracies with different levels of representativeness produce different policy outputs and have different policy impacts? Our research addresses these inquiries using data from the 67 public school districts in Florida. The analysis shows that when we focus on (a) bureaucrats who exercise discretion, (b) a demographic factor with a lasting impact-race, and (c) policy measures that are clearly salient to the chosen demographic factor, we can detect the relationships between bureaucratic representation and public policy outputs and outcomes. We particularly highlight the representativeness of "street-level" bureaucrats (in this case, teachers). Thus, the issue of representation in public bureaucracies possesses more than just symbolic importance.

published proceedings

  • The American Review of Public Administration

altmetric score

  • 5.384

author list (cited authors)

  • Meier, K. J., & Stewart, J.

citation count

  • 184

complete list of authors

  • Meier, Kenneth J||Stewart, Joseph

publication date

  • September 1992