Street-level bureaucrats and the social construction of environmental control

This article explores the micropolitics of environmental regulation of indu stry through interviews with, and ethnographic observations of, regulatory inspectors. As street-level bureaucrats, inspectors are seen to cope with t he legal and social ambiguities of their work mainly through negotiative fo rms of control - which are often idiosyncratic and partial. How inspectors construct local moral orders and standards, in interaction with industrial operators, is explored in some detail, especially the role of organizationa l ritual, symbols and emotional display as tools of control. The importance of understanding the processes of negotiated orders in the growing regulat ion of industry is discussed, as well as role of interpretive forms of rese arch in such endeavours.