Abstract

Administrative burden research has highlighted the multiple costs imposed by public policies and their impact on citizens. However, the empirical understanding of citizens’ responses to such burdens remains limited. Using ethnographic data of doctors applying for maternity leave in Pakistan, this article documents strategies used by citizens to navigate the administrative burden faced by them. Our findings suggest that these strategies are based on an individual’s cache of social, cultural capital, and economic capital. Based on our data, we also theorize the significance of another form of capital for navigating administrative burden. This administrative capital is defined as an individual’s understanding of bureaucratic rules, processes, and behaviors. Our findings further illustrate that the different costs imposed by public policies can be interchangeable, which may be used by citizens to their advantage. Propositions for future research on the intersection of different forms capital and administrative burden are also included.

中文翻译：

---

行政资本与公民对行政负担的回应

摘要

行政负担研究强调了公共政策带来的多重成本及其对公民的影响。但是，关于公民对此类负担的反应的经验性理解仍然有限。本文使用巴基斯坦申请产假医生的人种学数据，记录了公民用来应对他们所面临的行政负担的策略。我们的发现表明，这些策略是基于个人对社会，文化资本和经济资本的缓存。根据我们的数据，我们还理论化了另一种形式的资本对于管理负担的重要性。该行政资本被定义为个人对官僚规则，过程和行为的理解。我们的发现进一步表明，公共政策所施加的不同成本可以互换，公民可以利用这些成本来获得利益。还包括了关于未来形式资本和行政负担交集的未来研究的建议。