ABSTRACT Social workers and other service providers are the agents that often have initial contact with sex workers, a highly stigmatised population that has a fraught history with the social work profession. In this paper, I use Lipsky’s theory of street-level bureaucracy and show how social workers use professional discretion when working with this population, even as it might conflict with their personal ethics. Specifically, I focus on the dual service technologies of abstinence and harm reduction, and how service providers have negotiated these technologies in their work with sex workers. In regards to these technologies, I focus on how the emotional and moral discourse surrounding sex work has shaped the response of street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) that work with this population. Using qualitative data from interviews with 29 frontline service providers in a midwestern US state, I argue that these frontline workers use interpersonal modes of discretion to understand ethical conflicts in working with sex trade-involved persons, conflicting with both agency and field-level policy. Implications of this project show how frontline service providers negotiate their responsibilities to this population amidst conflicting personal ethics and service technologies.

中文翻译：

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街头官僚和向性工作者提供服务的道德冲突

摘要社会工作者和其他服务提供者是经常与性工作者进行初次接触的代理人，这是一个受到高度侮辱的人口，在社会工作行业中充满了悠久的历史。在本文中，我使用了利普斯基的街头官僚主义理论，并展示了社会工作者在与这一群体打交道时如何运用专业判断力，即使这可能与他们的个人道德相抵触。具体来说，我专注于节欲和减少伤害的双重服务技术，以及服务提供者如何在与性工作者的工作中谈判这些技术。关于这些技术，我关注围绕性工作的情感和道德话语如何塑造了与该人群打交道的街头官僚（SLB）的反应。我使用来自美国中西部一个州的29家前线服务提供商的采访中得到的定性数据，我认为这些前线工人使用人际自由裁量权模式来理解与涉及性交易的人打交道时的道德冲突，这与代理机构和实地政策相冲突。该项目的含义表明，在个人道德和服务技术相抵触的情况下，一线服务提供商如何协商他们对这一人群的责任。