Cops, Teachers, Counselors: Stories from the Front Lines of Public Service 2nd Edition

“After nearly two decades since its first edition, Cops, Teachers, Counselors remains a cornerstone for policy analysis. By recounting compelling stories which bring the state to life, the book offers an in-depth theoretical analysis of frontline work. This new edition provides a successful update on major debates raised by the book and will therefore continue to inspire scholars around the world”

–Gabriela Lotta, Professor of Public Administration, Getulio Vargas Foundation (Brazil)

–Gabriela Lotta

“In this intellectual masterpiece, Maynard-Moody and Musheno tell inspiring and sometimes heartbreaking stories of the daily struggles of cops, teachers, and counselors to advance our understanding of such frontline workers. You will remember the stories. You will tell your friends. In the end, you will rethink how you view frontline workers.”

–Lars Tummers, Utrecht University–Lars Tummers

“This great book allows the reader to both (re)read compelling interpretations of frontline stories and engage with new concepts that push thinking about frontline encounters and agency even further. The new and expanded version of Cops, Teachers, Counselors succeeds in distilling new ideas from a growing global research community and will no doubt enlighten research for many years to come.”

–Gitte Sommer Harrits, Academic Vice Rector, VIA University College, Denmark–Gitta Sommer Harrits

“To understand frontline work, you must listen to frontline workers. Spotlighting frontline workers and the stories they tell, Cops, Teachers, Counselors reveals how teachers, police officers, and social workers navigate a terrain of limited resources, legal ambiguity, and moral uncertainty. As calls for top-down reforms fall flat, bureaucratic change stalls, and frontline workers experience unprecedented levels of burnout, the book provides a bold approach that can help us not just understand but transform frontline work for the better–both for workers and for the citizens they engage. Twenty years after its initial publication, Cops, Teachers, Counselors remains more urgent than ever.”

–Jennifer Carlson, University of Arizona

–Jennifer Carlson

Steven Maynard-Moody is Professor, School of Public Affairs & Administration at the University of Kansas.

Michael Musheno is Professor Emeritus of Law at the University of Oregon and Professor Emeritus of Justice and Social Inquiry at Arizona State University.