From hand-crafted to digitized naturalization. Transformations in the work of citizenship bureaucrats in Italy
Italy's naturalization procedures have become largely paperless, reducing interactions between applicants and bureaucrats. Focusing on the latter, my research seeks to understand how digitization affects their work and how they cope with it. Thus, the article mainly addresses the scholarship an...
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| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Sprache: | eng |
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2025
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openedition-oai:revues.org:reset_5532 |
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openedition |
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OpenEdition Journal |
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eng |
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Article ou chapitre numérique |
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0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
digitization naturalization street-level bureaucracy discretion professional identity numérisation naturalisation travail administratif pouvoir discrétionnaire identité professionnelle |
| spellingShingle |
digitization naturalization street-level bureaucracy discretion professional identity numérisation naturalisation travail administratif pouvoir discrétionnaire identité professionnelle Trucco, Daniela From hand-crafted to digitized naturalization. Transformations in the work of citizenship bureaucrats in Italy |
| description |
Italy's naturalization procedures have become largely paperless, reducing interactions between applicants and bureaucrats. Focusing on the latter, my research seeks to understand how digitization affects their work and how they cope with it. Thus, the article mainly addresses the scholarship analyzing street-level bureaucracy, discretionary power, and e-government, particularly those studies that examine the impact of digitization on bureaucratic efficiency and on bureaucrats' work and professional identities. By providing original insights into the digitized implementation of naturalization procedures, the article also fills a gap in European scholarship on migration and citizenship policies. Based on fieldwork conducted among lower-ranking bureaucrats assessing naturalization application files at the Ministry of the Interior in Rome in 2022, the article answers two main questions: How is their judgmental autonomy exercised and perceived? How do they respond to the transformation of their work and maintain it as a meaningful and valued experience? I argue that digitization leads to a decrease in bureaucrats' ability to exercise discretion and to an increasing fragmentation of their work. As both processes threaten the meaning and value of their profession, citizenship bureaucrats develop strategies, discourses, and practices to (re)valorize their work - most of which involve writing, returning to paper, and talking, within the administration or, more rarely, with applicants. |
| author |
Trucco, Daniela |
| author_facet |
Trucco, Daniela |
| author_sort |
Trucco, Daniela |
| title |
From hand-crafted to digitized naturalization. Transformations in the work of citizenship bureaucrats in Italy |
| title_short |
From hand-crafted to digitized naturalization. Transformations in the work of citizenship bureaucrats in Italy |
| title_full |
From hand-crafted to digitized naturalization. Transformations in the work of citizenship bureaucrats in Italy |
| title_fullStr |
From hand-crafted to digitized naturalization. Transformations in the work of citizenship bureaucrats in Italy |
| title_full_unstemmed |
From hand-crafted to digitized naturalization. Transformations in the work of citizenship bureaucrats in Italy |
| title_sort |
from hand-crafted to digitized naturalization. transformations in the work of citizenship bureaucrats in italy |
| publisher |
RESET |
| publishDate |
2025 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/reset |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/136ae https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/reset/5532 |
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1877292145087348736 |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:reset_5532 https://doi.org/10.4000/136ae urn:doi:10.4000/136ae eng https://journals.openedition.org/reset/5532 2025-01-27T01:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/136ae https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ From hand-crafted to digitized naturalization. Transformations in the work of citizenship bureaucrats in Italy RESET Association Recherches en sciences sociales sur Internet info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2264-6221 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/reset Trucco, Daniela digitization naturalization street-level bureaucracy discretion professional identity numérisation naturalisation travail administratif pouvoir discrétionnaire identité professionnelle Italy's naturalization procedures have become largely paperless, reducing interactions between applicants and bureaucrats. Focusing on the latter, my research seeks to understand how digitization affects their work and how they cope with it. Thus, the article mainly addresses the scholarship analyzing street-level bureaucracy, discretionary power, and e-government, particularly those studies that examine the impact of digitization on bureaucratic efficiency and on bureaucrats' work and professional identities. By providing original insights into the digitized implementation of naturalization procedures, the article also fills a gap in European scholarship on migration and citizenship policies. Based on fieldwork conducted among lower-ranking bureaucrats assessing naturalization application files at the Ministry of the Interior in Rome in 2022, the article answers two main questions: How is their judgmental autonomy exercised and perceived? How do they respond to the transformation of their work and maintain it as a meaningful and valued experience? I argue that digitization leads to a decrease in bureaucrats' ability to exercise discretion and to an increasing fragmentation of their work. As both processes threaten the meaning and value of their profession, citizenship bureaucrats develop strategies, discourses, and practices to (re)valorize their work - most of which involve writing, returning to paper, and talking, within the administration or, more rarely, with applicants. Les procédures de naturalisation en Italie sont désormais largement dématérialisées, réduisant ainsi les interactions entre les demandeurs et les agents chargés d'évaluer les demandes. En se focalisant sur l'expérience de ces derniers, cet article cherche à comprendre comment la numérisation affecte leur travail et comment ils et elles y font face. Il dialogue principalement avec les études sur la mise en œuvre administrative des politiques publiques, sur le pouvoir discrétionnaire des agents de l'État et sur l'e-gouvernement, en particulier celles qui ont soulevé la question de l'impact de la numérisation sur l'efficacité bureaucratique et sur la façon dont les agents de service public exercent et perçoivent leur travail. En apportant un éclairage original sur la mise en œuvre numérisée des procédures de naturalisation, l'article comble également une lacune dans les études européennes sur les politiques de migration et de citoyenneté. Basé sur une enquête de terrain menée auprès des agents chargés d'évaluer les dossiers de naturalisation au ministère de l'Intérieur à Rome en 2022, l'article répond à deux questions principales : comment les agents exercent-ils et elles leur pouvoir discrétionnaire et comment perçoivent-ils et elles celui-ci ? Comment réagissent-ils et elles à l'évolution de leur travail ? Je maintiens que la numérisation entraîne une restriction de la capacité des bureaucrates à exercer leur pouvoir discrétionnaire et une fragmentation croissante de leur travail. Comme ces deux processus menacent le sens et la valeur de leur profession, les agents développent des stratégies, des discours et des pratiques pour (re)valoriser leur travail. La plupart de ces formes de revalorisation impliquent l'écriture, le retour au papier et l'interaction orale au sein de l'administration ou, plus rarement, avec les demandeurs. |