gatekeeping

gatekeeping
The hierarchical structure of formal organizations places certain individuals or groups in crucial positions from which they can control access to goods, services, or information. They therefore wield power far in excess of their formal authority. Sociologists have examined this phenomenon in numerous contexts. One example is provided by the urban managerialist perspective on the city, a label applied to a number of studies in the 1960s and 1970s, all of which made the broad claim that ‘urban managers’ (such as planners and local government officials) played a crucial role as gatekeepers in controlling access to urban resources (housing, land, permissions to build, and so forth).

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