Productive resistance in the frontline implementation of social programs: the Chilean case

As widely identified in international research, frontline professionals, those who represent the state in face-to-face encounters with citizens, play a significant role in the manner in which public policies are implemented and experienced by citizens. While much has been studied on the different coping mechanisms frontline professionals employ, or their tendency towards state-centered or client-centered practice, one concept that has received little attention thus far has been frontline professional resistance, specifically the resistance that emerges in weak state institutional contexts in the Global South. This paper seeks to address this research gap by exploring what we identify as productive resistance, strategies in which frontline professionals use their agency creatively to address the needs of vulnerable citizens effectively. These actions seek actively and openly to contest the dehumanization produced by social programs implemented in neoliberal states with weak state institutions characterized by tight resource constraints and precarious employment conditions. Drawing on qualitative research conducted on the implementation of social programs in Chile, we identify how frontline professionals deploy productive resistance strategies in order to achieve program objectives and improve citizens’ wellbeing. While these specific productive resistances lead to improving program functioning, we conclude our paper by problematizing the responsibility placed on frontline professionals in neoliberal states working within weak state institutions in the Global South and how this leads to the reproduction of inequalities.