Social Services Agency: Bureaucracy Gone Digital

FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE!


FOLLOW UP WITH EMPLOYEE FROM SOCIAL SERVICES AGENCY:

ANGEL: Tell me a little bit about the hiring process at Social Services Agency.

ESC: Ok. So, you just go in and apply for whatever position you are seeking to fill. Each position has a job description with expected duties and responsibilities enclosed. Because clerk positions and eligibility positions require no degree, one must take a test to become eligible for employment. After the test is when you are either deemed "qualified" or "unqualified" for the position you've applied for.

Weber: Feature number one of bureaucracy is fixed jurisdiction in which there are fixed duties, people are bound by rules, and lastly, there must be qualified personnel.

ANGEL: So it seems as though there are sectors of employment like clerks, and eligibility workers, etc. Are there any other categories of workers?

ESC: The order goes like this. Clerks, Eligibility Support Clerks, Eligibility Workers, Supervising Clerks 1 and 2, Program Managers, and then Client Advocates. The highest position is the director position.

ANGEL: Would you call that a hierarchy?

ESC: Yes.

Weber: The second feature of bureaucracy is hierarchy of positions/offices.


ANGEL: Have you ever heard the term bureaucracy?

ESC: Yes.

ANGEL: What does it mean to you?

ESC: I don't really have a clear concept of what it is but when I think bureaucracy in my mind an image of loads of paper come to mind. (giggle)

ANGEL: Ok. (chuckle) Is that image coming from the multitude of cases that you see social workers with?

ESC: No, actually. Social Services no longer has paper cases or files. Now, all paperwork is uploaded and stored in a web file system. Basically, the documents come in they are sent to imaging, scanned, and uploaded to the database. Same with our distribution of funds. We no longer issue paper checks we issue EBT cards (Electronic Benefit Transfer) in which our clients receive their aid, and food stamps. Kind of like a debit/ATM card, it is accepted at most stores, venues, etc. Only landlords are given paper checks.

ANGEL: So basically there is no room for losing documents, or misplacing papers?

ESC: Nope.

ANGEL: What if the database has a glitch or fails?

ESC: We have back up systems that are updated nightly, so that is very unlikely.

Weber: Hmmm... I thought Social Services might have been the perfect example of a bureaucracy but they are faulty on the third feature of bureaucracy which is organization based on management through documents.

ANGEL: So back to the hiring process. Is any training involved?

ESC: We have on-the-job training, on site. The current staff trains the new hires. There is no class or seminar that we must attend before beginning to work. As long as you pass the test, you will be ok.

ANGEL: Tell me a little more about the entrance exams. Are the questions based on common sense or are you given a pamphlet to study? How does this work?

ESC: The test is composed of math, reading, and composition. Mind you these are entry positions, which are usually the lowest paid positions.

ANGEL: So the questions asked have nothing to do with the actual job itself? The position described in the job description?

ESC: No. Not at all. They are very basic questions.

WEBER: This is bad. This is really bad! This does not seem very expert oriented to me! Social Services Agency is falling off! In order to comply with my idea of bureaucracy there must be expert training in the field. The epitome of specialization!

ANGEL: How many hours do you work per day?

ESC: 7.5

ANGEL: Do you ever take your work home with you?

ESC: No. The law requires that our work to be locked up every night. We cannot leave out any case numbers, or social security numbers. Nothing can be visible when we leave. We have to log off of our computers on breaks for security reasons. With all the fraud and identity theft that is going on everything must be put away as safely and secure as possible! NO EXCEPTIONS! Each station is locked up.

WEBER: Alas! Social Services Agency has come back home to papa! They've jumped back on board with their strict idea of separation of work and home.

ANGEL: I hear you saying a lot of "must" and "cannot." Are the things you've described apart of the rules?

ESC: Yes.

ANGEL: Can you share with me some of the other rules that you all must abide by?

ESC: Ok. Because of all the injuries involved with the job, workers' compensation law requires that the employees get up and walk around for ten minutes at least three times before and after lunch. So we go on break at nine twenty am, ten twenty am, eleven fifty am, then we have lunch from twelve noon until one pm and after that we gone on break three more times...You get the idea!

ANGEL: Yes. What are some other rules? Are there any rules about dealing with clients over the phone? Or how long one may make a personal call?

ESC: Um, yes. First and foremost you shouldn't take personal calls unless you are on a break or lunch. Of course we have to make exceptions at times but technically we should only take or make personal calls on breaks.

ANGEL: Is there a time limit on your personal call even though you are on break? If one doesn't have a cell phone most likely he or she would be using the phones provided by social services agency.

ESC: No. There are no implicit time restrictions but you can only be on a personal call as long as you are on break. Thus, our phone calls are limited to ten minutes or how ever long our lunch break will be.

ANGEL: I see. Are your phone calls monitored?

ESC: Definitely. If I've extended a call for longer than ten minutes I will get an email from my boss telling me how long I've been on the line and to get off of the phone soon.

ANGEL: Wow. So there aren't many ways to maneuver the rules?

ESC: No. We are watched pretty closely.

WEBER: Social Services seems to be having a Foucaultian moment there (visibility=power) but they are still in a favorable position with me. Social Services is clearly managed based on a set of rules.

REFLECTIONS:
The comments that are highlighted in bold are the ones that confront Weber's theory in one way or another. The first is Weber's third feature of bureaucracy which is organization based on management through documents. This feature is characterized by enormous amounts of paperwork, paper trails, and documents, etc. Social Services Agency has modernized this feature by taking every document and transforming it into a PDF type file. The documents have not disappeared or wavered in necessity but the methods in which they are viewed, pulled up, etc is different now. For example, instead of going into a big, dark, dusty room full of paperwork one can log onto the database and pull up the information there. It is much easier to handle and much more efficient for staff other than imaging. The imaging team has the joyous task of uploading all this paper. (NOT!) In all actuality the paper has disappeared for most workers but not all, so there is still hope for Weber's ideal type of bureaucracy to manifest itself in the agency.

Social Services Agency also challenges Weber's forth feature of expert training. This feature is characterized by ultimate specialization like taking on a trade. Even though Social Services Agency requires entrance exams, these exams have little to nothing to do with the position at hand. There are rules but there are no formal training sessions. So it is up to the worker to watch and learn by experience, to fend for themselves, which is the greatest expertise to some, but not in Weber's presentation of bureaucracy.

So in a way Social Services Agency coincides and deters from Weber's theory of bureaucracy. The individuals are deemed "qualified" for positions through tests that do not asses the ability that the position truly requires. Therefore, feature one and feature four begin to clash. How can you have qualified personnel without expert training? The question remains unanswered. However, for now I've found that Social Services Agency has stricken four out of six features of Weber's ideal bureaucratic system.

Methods of Examination in the CalWORKS Program

TRACES OF EXAMINATION: ANGEL INTERVIEWS SOCIAL SERVICES AGENCY EMPLOYEE

Angel: Are CalWORKS recipients assigned a social worker?

ESC (eligibility support clerk): No. They are assigned an Eligibility Worker. There is a difference. Social workers go out into the homes of welfare recipients whereas eligibility workers do all their work from the office via paperwork, mail, telephone...things like that.

Angel: What does this Eligibility Worker do exactly?

ESC: Well, the Eligibility Worker is responsible for a number of things. First and foremost they are to process all CalWORKS cases that come in. That is, they determine whether the applicant is eligible for CalWORKS or not based on family size, whether the applicant is a single parent, income (if the person has a job), and age. If the person is under 18 and indeed is eligible for CalWORKS they have to have a guardian to receive aid on his or her behalf.

Angel: I heard you mention that the Eligibility Worker is responsible for processing CalWORKS cases. What does this case have in it?

ESC: Well, first and foremost it takes thirty to forty five days to process a CalWORKS case. In the duration of the thirty to forty five days, the Eligibility Worker sends out what we call a "Need Letter" or a "Notice of Action," if the applicant is eligible, to ensure that the applicant has submitted all necessary documentation to the agency. The documentation is basically what makes up the case that we keep on the applicant.

Foucault: "The examination, surrounded by all its documentary techniques, makes each individual a 'case.'" (191)

Angel: What kind of documentation?

ESC: Well, we need their original social security cards and birth certificates (and their child's as well if they are a parent), eventually we will make copies but we want to make sure that they have official identification materials. We also need immunization records, bank statements, car registration, landlord statements, school verifications, etc amongst other things. And we also keep what we call a QR7 form in their case files. It's basically a form that the recipient must fill out every three months in order to continue to receive cash aid and/or food stamps. Essentially, its a quarterly report in which the workers use to revise the budget of the recipient if there have been any changes in income or family size or what have you. It's just to keep track of where our recipients are, its a tracking report.

Foucault: "The examination also introduces individuality in a field of documentation...The examination that places individuals in a field of surveillance also situates them in a network of writing; it engages them in a whole mass of documents that capture and fix them." (189)

Angel: What happens if a CalWORKS recipient doesn't comply with the requirements of the program?

ESC: First of all, if a recipient's QR7 is late or any other forms are late, their benefits will be late. If a recipient fails to comply with the requirements of the program after ninety days they will be deemed "discontinued" and will no longer receive aid. They will also have to reapply to the program. A recipient's case can also be "discontinued" if they fail to report honestly on their QR7 forms.

Angel: So there aren't just requirements for entrance into the program, there are also conditions by which one must follow in order to stay active in the program.

ESC: Exactly.

REFLECTIONS:

In terms of power, and the exercise of power i feel that Foucault's idea that examination "transforms visibility into power" (187) fails as it relates to the CalWORKS Program. It is the only part to his three part theory of examination that was left out of the framework for the CalWORKS Program. It is not the physical visibility that is for instance provided by a window in a classroom that creates power, it is the close tracking mechanisms of the program that is transformed into a form of power. The program's system of checking can continue or discontinue a case which makes people comply with the requirements if they wish to receive aid. The visibility or surveillance that Foucault presents is acted out in a different way for the CalWORKS Program, the recipients are being watched but not by the natural eye alone.

Angel's Question

For Durkheim, formal equality enables people to realize their natural talents in the division of labor with the elimination of the external inequalities of birth and opportunity. For Foucault, it allows normalization. How so?

Angel's Comment on Livier's Question of Suicide

Very interesting question, Livier. We know that one of the alternatives to the DL for Durkheim is suicide along w/ genocide, colonization, etc. It would be interesting to find out what Foucault would say about each of these alternatives that Durkheim presents.

Tangible Solidarity: Solidarity Amongst CalWORKS Recipients

A common American idiom is “Birds of a feather flock together.” We know that opposites attract but for the most part one clings to people and things that are familiar in a sense. The CalWorks Program is especially designed to assist a particular group of people with needy children. These birds flock together because they have children and a need of assistance with the responsibility that comes along with having children. This essay will argue that solidarity is present because of the criterion for entrance into the program by reviewing Durkheim’s concept of solidarity and applying it to the CalWorks program.

Durkheim’s central objective is to gage whether the division of labor is a good or bad thing. His concept of solidarity plays a vital role in answering this question. Durkheim defines solidarity as a feeling of unity with others. “There can certainly never be solidarity between ourselves and another person unless the image of the other person is united with our own.” Essentially, the connection that commonality or similarities make is extremely important to the existence of solidarity. (Durkheim, 22) According to Durkheim, solidarity is unmistakably good under all circumstances because it is beneficial when people are bound together by likeness or by difference, mechanically or organically. He thematizes solidarity as a win-win situation. Durkheim makes the link between specialization (the division of labor) and solidarity by asserting that the division of labor generates solidarity. “We are therefore led to consider the division of labor in a new light…its true function is to create between two or more people a feeling of solidarity.” (Durkheim, 17) He feels that solidarity and the division of labor are closely related in a causal relationship. If solidarity is unequivocally good under all circumstances does the division of labor’s association to it make it good as well? Moreover, the recipients of CalWorks benefits are mechanically bound together by likeness; they are all facing the same social circumstance and have applied for the same social service.

This program applies to Durkheim’s definition of solidarity because each recipient is granted cash benefits based on criteria that does not set them apart from one another. They are capped or limited if you will into a group based on eligibility. Their solidarity is manufactured or created by what is required to receive assistance. For example, all recipients must not exceed five years of assistance, must have one or more children, must live in a specific county, and must either attend school or attend work. CalWorks is built on solidarity as each parent shares the same societal status.

However, this solidarity is not necessarily existent because of a feeling of unity from one CalWorks recipient to another initially. It is literally constructed. Furthermore, it is constructed without the division of labor. Durkheim doesn’t account for this type of situation, as every constituent of his theory is dedicated to postulating the stance of the division of labor. What if solidarity is man made? Does it maintain its pure status then? (500 words)

The institution that i will be following this semester is Social Services Agency. The mission of the Social Services Agency is to "promote the economic and social well-being of individuals, families, neighborhoods, and communities." So we see early on that Social Services Agency hovers over about three of the five major social institutions: family, economy, and government. The agency offers a plethora of resources and services to the community including financial aid, training, and other accommodations. Social Services is a government agency that cooperates or collaborates with outside organizations (mostly community-based) to serve the needs of the public. Currently, I have no significant relationship to Social Services Agency. I chose this institution because i have heard of some really great programs that it offers to people in need like CalWorks or Welfare to Work, etc.
I have no extensive background in how the division of labor looks at social services agency, however i imagine that there are some divisions among department, etc. The departments are divided as follows (there are seven departments total): administration and information services, adult and aging services, children and family services, economic benefits, employment services, finance, and lastly policy office. Because Marx largely deals with material production as the basis of life and has an underdeveloped theory of the state i do not think he addresses social institutions like Social Services Agency. Nevertheless, I imagine that Marx would categorize the departments into mental and manual departments. He would probably see class divisions between the higher ranking employees (directors, managers, etc) and general staff (clerks, assistants, etc). Moreover, Gramsci's theory better suits the framework of Social Services Agency with his introduction of civil society as part and parcel to the state. I look forward to following and learning more about Social Services Agency as the semester progresses as it relates to Durkheim, Foucalt, Weber, and the Feminists, etc.