More than words: Eine mehrsprachigkeitsorientierte Perspektive auf die Dilemmata von Street-level Bureaucrats in der Klient*innenkommunikation

In “super-diverse” migration societies, the question of how to deal with plurality is crucial and consequential for social justice. Linguistic diversity, in particular, is a challenge for public organizations that are monolingually oriented by tradition while operating within multilingual societies. Based on the assumption that language always has both a social and a mediating function, this article analyzes how linguistic plurality shapes the professional interaction between street-level bureaucrats and clients at the relational level. The analysis refers to data from the qualitative AMIGS research project that investigates how the Austrian Public Employment Service deals with linguistic diversity. Our findings show that relational work in client interactions is associated with challenges and paradoxes, which can emerge more intensely in the context of multilingualism and have additional dimensions in a migration society.