LIEPP's Health Policies research group is pleased to convene the seminar: 

The Welfare Workforce: Trade Unions and Mental Health Care in France

June 9th. 2pm-4pm.

Location : Salle 102. Sciences Po. 56, rue des Saints Pères (access via 27, rue Saint Guillaume), 75007 Paris. 

Mandatory registration to participate in person

Mandatory registration to participate online 

Speaker: 

Isabel M. Perera (Cornell University)

Abstract: 

Why would the government provide health and social services to those who cannot demand them? Absent powerful clients, I find, the maintenance and expansion of such services can depend on the political organization of those who work for the welfare state: the “welfare workforce.” A chapter from a forthcoming book project demonstrates how and when in late twentieth century France, welfare workers successfully advocated for expansions to the public mental health care system -- despite the powerful economic and ideological pressures to the contrary. Within-case process analysis, supported by extensive archival material, documents how a durable coalition of public sector workers and their managers (a distinct source of political influence) produced the expansive French public mental health system that remains in place today.