The Collective Construction of Need: Group Styles of Determining Deservingness in Christian Social Service Agencies

ABSTRACT Research finds that faith-based organizations (FBOs) serve highly disadvantaged populations, but few studies explore how such organizations decide who is deserving of assistance. Drawing on 12 months of observation and 24 interviews at two FBOs in neighborhoods with different poverty rates, I find that agency members circumscribe conceptions of who “needs” assistance based on stories of people who take advantage of services. These stories undergird group styles of service provision that differ in their emphasis on leniency or stringency but share the goal of deterring less-than-needy clients. The group styles demonstrate how informal practices shape resource distribution within FBOs.