What is Social Shaping

Public Sector Transformation initiatives do not exist within a vacuum. This chapter analyzes how Public Service Transformation initiatives are intrinsically linked with the values, norms, informal rules, and taken for granted beliefs (in short: institutions) that characterize the context in which the initiatives are introduced. Using two case studies (describing the Criminal Justice System in the UK and social security in Belgium and The Netherlands) it is exemplified how Public Service Transformation initiatives sometimes transform institutions, whereas at the same time, institutions, through judicial and professional norms, and through power structures and path dependencies, shape ways in which technologies are designed and used in specific practices. The chapter argues for a better understanding of the working of institutions in specific Public Sector Transformation initiatives, in order to be better able to deal with the difficulties, contradictions, and sometimes mindboggling features of Public Sector Transformation.