Sociology
Institutional Ethnography of Street-Level Bureaucrats in Emergency Housing
Quick fact
Institutional ethnography reveals that the 'instinct' of an intake worker in emergency housing is often driven not by politics or personal bias alone, but by the institutional 'text' they are required to follow—like a 23-point vulnerability assessment that silently prioritizes certain life stories over others, regardless of what the client says.
Why this is interesting
You call an emergency housing hotline, and the voice on the other end decides within minutes whether you'll get a bed tonight. Who or what is really making that decision—the person, the rules, or the forms they're staring at?