Policy is not only made by street-level bureaucrats at the frontlines. It is also made by their superiors—street-level managers—who set the organizational conditions through which street-level bureaucrats act. Although scholars have documented how street-level bureaucrats cope with the pressures of their work by, for instance, breaking or bending rules, the question of how street-level managers cope with the pressures of their own work has received less attention. Drawing from ethnographic data of a network of publicly-funded health centers in the Midwestern United States, I show how street-level managers use an interaction ritual with role distance to cope. Role distance is mobilized when the person uses communicative expressions such as laughter or cries of frustration to convey a critical distance from what her organizational role prescribes. Based on classic sociological insights, I posit that role distance can function as follows. It can help managers preserve self by allowing them to define their putatively “more-human self” from their work, create a feeling of collectiveness as they orient themselves to the shared frustrations yet obligations that their role engenders, which enables them to coordinate on carrying out tasks, even those that rub against their preferences and well-intentions. Taken together, I suggest that role distance can offer a coping function, which enables them to hold in abeyance individual and collective responsibility for the decisions they make. I then highlight the benefits and unintended consequences of role distance and posit what academics and practitioners can do to ensure that street-level managers use role distance towards more productive ends.

中文翻译：

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角色距离。关于街头管理者如何应对的人种学研究

政策不仅是由前线的基层官僚制定的。它也是由他们的上级——街道级别的管理者——制定的，他们设定了街道级别官员行事的组织条件。尽管学者们已经记录了基层官员如何通过违反或扭曲规则等方式应对工作压力，但基层管理者如何应对自己工作压力的问题却很少受到关注。我根据美国中西部公共资助的卫生中心网络的人种学数据，展示了街头管理者如何使用具有角色距离的互动仪式来应对。当一个人使用笑声或沮丧的哭声等交流表达方式来传达与其组织角色所规定的临界距离时，角色距离就被调动起来。基于经典的社会学见解，我认为角色距离可以发挥如下作用。它可以帮助管理者保护自我，让他们在工作中定义所谓的“更人性化的自我”，在他们面对共同的挫折和角色所产生的义务时创造一种集体感，这使他们能够协调一致地承担责任。任务，即使是那些违背他们的喜好和善意的任务。综上所述，我认为角色距离可以提供一种应对功能，使他们能够暂缓对自己所做的决定承担个人和集体责任。然后，我强调了角色距离的好处和意想不到的后果，并提出了学者和从业者可以采取哪些措施来确保基层管理者利用角色距离来实现更富有成效的目标。