ipl-logo

Structural Underclass Analysis

926 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The impact of discrimination on individuals

Wilson (1978) disagreed with Murray arguing that Underclass is not a cultural deviation but it is a symptom of class inequality. For Wilson (1978) there was a Black Underclass due to structural reasoning. The Structural Underclass is a Liberal left perspective that argues Government policy and economic change has created a minority class who are economically redundant (Macdonald, 1997). The legitimate opportunities of obtaining money through employment is limited, causing a deviant Underclass culture to appear (Macdonald, 1997).
Wilson (1978) identified that the underclass exists within the urban black ghettos of North America. He commented that there are several interrelated factors from which this Underclass emerged. Firstly, discrimination and white fear of blacks concentrated this group within the cities. Secondly, within these cities there was a change from manufacturing to service provision. This meant that especially for young men, who often did not have many skills, only lower paid jobs were available (Anderson and Taylor, 2008), but it meant for educated black people they had more opportunities. Lastly, after the Civil Rights Movement, many Working and Middle-class blacks moved to the suburbs in the hope of finding jobs, therefore leaving the poorer blacks concentrated in the cities. In his work Wilson (1978) …show more content…

Agnosticism is questioning the theory, so whilst there may be the possibility of an Underclass, there is a lack of empirical substantiation to really add validity (MacDonald, 1997). Whist many have tried to deliver evidence, they all conclude only a possibility of such a concept (Roberts, 1997, Williamson, 1997, MacDonald and Marsh, 2005). Whereas atheism is the argument against the theory entirely. This section will look at these is more depth by exploring critics of the theory, and evidence which suggests the underclass is a

Show More
Related
985 Words | 4 Pages

Jay MacLeod’s book Ain’t No Making’ It is a treatise on social reproduction theory, that is, the ways in which class inequality is reproduced across generations, and is equally relevant and informative to understanding the cycle of poverty today as it was in 1987 when it was first published. The explanations of the life trajectories of the men studied in this book are especially important in light of the inflamed rhetoric and intense debate that characterize the interactions between the two distinct ideologies that have bifurcated the theorists of educational reform: Economically deterministic theories and the theories emphising the autonomy of the cultural level. Though the attempt of the author is to provide a perspective which allows for the simultaneous existence of the two theories. We will see that neither perspective can be said to be entirely endorsed by the conclusions found in Ain’t No Makin’ It.

Read More
468 Words | 2 Pages

One main pattern throughout Ruby Payne’s framework is her use and ability to create broad and incorrect systems. These systems include Payne’s concepts of class, race, and the culture of poverty. Payne constructed her framework to be easily understood, so she decided to discuss only three socioeconomic classes (p. 3). These three classes are poverty, middle class, and wealthy (Payne, p. 42-43). When teaching children about social classes we usually tell them these three classes, and this is because it is simple to understand.

Read More
1318 Words | 6 Pages

The American dream is a dream of a land in which one can prosper with ambition and hard work. This idea has created many illusions for some because in reality the American dream is proven to be something that is rarely achieved. No individual is guaranteed success or destined for failure, but it is apparent that women, people of color, and those born into poverty will face greater obstacles than others, despite being a greater part of the American population. An author that tackles the issue of class in the United States is Gregory Mantsios. In his essay, “Class in America-2009”, Mantsios aims to prove that class affects people’s lives in drastic ways.

Read More
515 Words | 3 Pages

When students are unaware of the history of social class, they begin to believe false information, such as, poor people deserve to be poor. Loewen does a great job of pointing out student’s misunderstanding of social status and strongly believes that it is the high school text books to

Read More
1090 Words | 5 Pages

Stephen Marche wrote an argument trying to argue the point that we as Americans are not as equal as we have always believed we were. Marche is a mainstream writer and a novelist with his first novel published in 2005. Many of his articles can often be read in the New York Times and the Atlantic. In his article “We Are Not All Created Equal: The Truth about the American Class System” he gives valid points and details to inform us the truth behind what we think we see.

Read More
1522 Words | 7 Pages

William Julies in his book, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. He tries to address and discuss what happens when jobs leave the black communities and what is the reason jobs are leave the inner cities of black communities. He claims that work disappears because of poor economic conditions and academically abled works in poor or black communities. As a result, jobs tend to move to suburbs or to other countries even. He says that this cause a chain of events, when big businesses leave smaller business lack the customers able to buy their products and that causes those small mom and pop companies to close down as well, leaving the black community in a state of distress.

Read More
570 Words | 3 Pages

Class Stereotypes Stereotypes are seen as overgeneralized ideas, images, or beliefs of a person based on a group of people. Stereotypes can either be taken or said in a negative or positive way but mostly seen in a negative way. Stereotypes are formed on a life experience, idea or a belief a person may have towards one person based on the person’s gender, race, religion or social class. The most common stereotypes are of the social classes which are the: upper, middle and lower class.

Read More
1317 Words | 6 Pages

According to William Julius Wilson in When Jobs Disappear the transition from the institutional/Communal Ghetto to the Jobless/Dark Ghetto was driven by economic transformations in American from the late 1960’s to the 1990’s. While for Logic Waquant in Urban Outsiders, thought the economic factors were significant; the political factors were more impact. William Julius Wilson most studied about south side of Chicago it’s a classical example of inner city its wasn’t like before in the 1960’s it’s was a community and by the late 70’s the community was gone. According to Wilson, even though it’s was gone the community was not even a wealth community its was a poor community the majority member of that community where indeed Black American

Read More
1311 Words | 6 Pages

On top of this, he argues that the white middle class are unrelenting with their methods of depriving black advancement in American society. Knowledge of this incites many blacks to occupy dead-end jobs, or to settle for mediocrity in the face of adversity. A large number of black males in America find themselves forced to take jobs that offer no security, or socioeconomic growth. He also contends that many blacks are not very literate and therefore left behind in cultural revolutions like the information age. For twelve months between 1962 and 1963, Liebow and a group of researchers studied the behavior of a group of young black men who lived near and frequently hung around a street corner in a poor black neighborhood in downtown Washington, D.C. Liebow’s participant observation revealed the numerous obstacles facing black men on a day-to-day basis, including the structural and individual levels of racial discrimination propagated by whites in society.

Read More
1302 Words | 6 Pages

African-Americans were unemployed or underpaid in the 1930’s that it was hard for them to provide for their own families. In an article by the Washington State University, it reads “At that time non-whites were barred from most unions, had considerably lower pay scales, almost twice the unemployment rate, and were frequently abused on the job”(Pinckney). African-Americans were greatly underpaid and mistreated in the workplace no matter where you worked. They encountered the inequality of being forced into manual labor and being underpaid, while the white men could stay as the higher class and rule above all. In our society today a multitude of African-Americans still experience lower pay and higher rate of poverty.

Read More
1236 Words | 5 Pages

More job opportunities began to open up therefore, there was an increased need for skilled workers. Companies thought it was a great idea to hire African Americans who would be more than willing to work, grant them a smaller pay and have their business continue to thrive in the prosperous decade. The white leaders of the industry often took advantage of policies to ensure that African Americans would be confined to the least desirable jobs with the lowest wages (Phillips 33). Within the jobs, workers would also be faced with discrimination. The African Americans would receive death threats in their place of work almost daily and were made to feel as if they were only there to benefit the economy (Phillips 39) For many years in American History, African Americans only received training to be skilled workers, as it didn 't seem necessary for them to receive any further education (Blanton 1).

Read More
1359 Words | 6 Pages

In contrast, the inner city became entangled with cycles of poverty and urban decline. Despite the improvement in sanitation, their residents, most of them people of color, faced not only economic and housing problems, but also were victims of environmental racism. In response, many residents of the inner city began to demand better conditions and equality. The contrast between suburbs and

Read More
977 Words | 4 Pages

There is lower, middle, and upper class, but there are also subcategories that fill the gaps in between, like the impoverished and the top one percenters. “Class in America”, written by Gregory Mantsios, addresses the myths and realities about socioeconomic class in America and how they affect American lives. His article highlights the unequal divide that has persisted over the course of history and will continue to manifest in the future. To introduce the existence of this issue, Mantsios states that this country’s citizens “don’t like to talk about class...or class privileges, or class oppression, or the class nature of society” (Mantsios 378). This is the case in America today because people are neglecting to acknowledge the existence of these elusive

Read More
108 Words | 1 Pages

Between 1910 and 1930, African Americans migrated from the rural South to the urban North in search of better economic opportunities and as a means of escaping the racism of the South, but they were disillusioned with what they encountered. To begin, African Americans still experienced racism—segregation, profiling, and unjust law enforcement—In the North, though it was more subtle. As a result, blacks were forced into lower-paying jobs than whites. Thus, while the northern white, middle-class population grew wealthier during the post-WWI economic boom and were moving to the suburbs, blacks and other poor, working-class groups were left in the cities, the state of which grew progressively

Read More
1189 Words | 5 Pages

Anglo-Saxons Americans became the “employing and land-owning” class, while African-Americans became exclusively the “laboring class” (Course Reader 5). The newly granted citizenships created a need for additional resources. Grady in a speech takes note of this by saying, “No section shows a more prosperous laboring population than the [black southerners]… He shares our school fund, has the fullest protection of our laws…” (Course Reader 5).

Read More

More about Structural Underclass Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document