State Actors as Hard-to-Reach Populations

Vulnerable populations may be hard-to-reach, but so too are state actors. Classic strategies of accessing the hard-to-reach, devised in reference to the vulnerable, do not translate well to state actors because their inaccessibility lies in their institutional power, rather than their social precarity. This article analyzes the substantive implications and practical adaptations that follow. Drawing on experiences of being denied access to America’s largest police department, I argue that by selectively granting and withholding access to external researchers, state institutions can control claims-making about the intentions of the state and its actors. Such politics of access position state organizations to shape an evidence base that justifies organizational changes in ways that advance institutional interests. This article identifies different forms of denials (denials-by-default, curable, silent, and unwritten) and practical strategies for accessing various types of public records (published, requestable, and digital), and thus problematizes whether the consequences of organizational change are as “unintended” as they are often claimed to be.

Duke Scholars

Author Tony Cheng Sociology