Bureaucratic Beliefs and Representation: Linking Social Identities, Attitudes, and Client Outcomes

Representative bureaucracy theory posits that the demographic makeup of a bureaucracy can affect how policy is implemented, especially when bureaucrats engage in “active representation” or behavior that directly advances the interests of a particular group in society. It is often assumed that active representation is motivated by the unique beliefs, convictions, or affinities experienced by bureaucrats holding particular social identities. But few studies of representative bureaucracy have attempted to directly measure the attitudes of bureaucrats, and even fewer studies examine whether such attitudes are meaningfully linked to policy outcomes. This study examines the social identities, self-perceived roles, and political preferences of local school administrators in Texas. The results confirm a link between bureaucratic managers’ social identities and distributional policy outcomes, while also suggesting that distinctive bureaucratic attitudes (as observed here) can offer at best a partial explanation for why the social identities of bureaucrats are linked to policy outcomes.