08/25/2026
Join UGA Sociology on Friday 8/28 at 3PM in Baldwin Hall Room 480 as we welcome Dr. Josh Seim from Boston College for his talk titled:
The Welfare Assembly Line: Public Servants in the Suffering City
Abstract: Despite claims that we live in a “post-welfare society,” welfare offices remain vital not only for those who depend on them for benefits but also those who depend on them for a paycheck. This theory-driven case study of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services examines how welfare work has transformed to allow a department of just 14,000 to serve over a third of the county. Drawing on ethnographic observations, archival research, in-depth interviews, and a range of supplemental materials, Dr. Seim argues that frontline workers at this agency, who are mostly Black and Brown women, have become increasingly proletarianized. Their work is defined less by their discretion and more by a lack of control over the productive process. This is enabled by a “welfare assembly line,” where high divisions of labor and heavy uses of machinery resemble production regimes in factories and fast-food restaurants. Beyond welfare offices, this study contributes to larger conversations about work, social policy, and poverty governance.
