Impossible Jobs or Impossible Tasks? Client Volatility and Frontline Policing Practice in Urban Riots

Abstract

Abstract Various public administration jobs are described as “impossible,” meaning that they have an unpopular or illegitimate client base, stakeholders have conflicting values, and leaders and their agency's mission are continually questioned. Although this framework is widely used, it has also become overgeneralized. The authors propose three theoretical extensions to understanding impossible jobs based on findings from a three‐year multimethod study of riot policing. First, a distinction can be drawn between impossible jobs and impossible tasks. Second, the relationship between impossible jobs and street‐level bureaucracy is clarified; the case of riot police shows that some street‐level bureaucrats face impossible tasks. Third, the authors show that the conceptualization of the client base has been overly static—in some situations, the client base fractures, or grows rapidly, and legitimacy can change in real time.

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