The voluntary sector and the realignment of government: A street-level study

This paper examines the realignment of government from a street-level vantage point. Gleaning inspiration from studies of governmentality and institutional ethnography, the study argues that street-level processes were intertwined with the consolidation of neoliberal forms of rule. This connection was evident in the growing centrality of voluntary organizations in social administration, which went hand-in-hand with a normalization of more extreme forms of poverty. In making this case, the paper draws on research conducted in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick.