Affiliation:
1. Department of Political Science and Department of Public Administration & Policy University at Albany, State University of New York Albany USA
2. Public Administration Division Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) Aguascalientes Mexico
3. Political Science Department John Jay College, City University of New York (CUNY) New York USA
Abstract
AbstractAlthough the literature on political learning has examined the effect of policy on clients and some proximate individuals (family, friends, and community members), it has not examined the effect on professionals who implement programs. What lessons do professionals learn from implementing nominally positive (care) services for negatively constructed populations, and how do they learn them? Drawing on interviews, focus groups, and participant observation in substance‐use disorder services, we demonstrate that policy implementors learn lessons at odds with their advantaged status by proxy, witnessing how government treats clients, experiencing a system designed for negatively constructed, powerless populations, and sometimes the two together. As a result, the effect of policy may be greater than previously demonstrated.