This book shows the workings of power in the micro dynamics of welfare encounters, by both including existing scholarly work and performing an empirical investigation of client-staff encounters.

Present-day citizens are no longer the passive clients of the bureaucracy and welfare workers and no longer automatically the powerful party of the encounter. Instead, citizens are expected to engage in active, responsible and co-producing relationships with welfare workers. However, other factors impact these interactions; factors which often pull in different directions. Welfare encounters are thus influenced by bureaucratic principle and market values as well. Consequently, this book engages with both Weberian (bureaucracy) and Foucauldian (market values/NPM) studies when investigating the powerful welfare encounter.