The Underclass Question PDF Download

Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download The Underclass Question PDF full book. Access full book title The Underclass Question by Bill E. Lawson. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.

The Underclass Question

The Underclass Question PDF Author: Bill E. Lawson
Publisher: Temple University Press
ISBN: 9780877229223
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 214

Book Description
This collection of original essays by well-known African-American philosophers considers questions raised by the existence of a group of people in this country whose lives dramatically contradict the American Dream. The plight of the so-called underclass has given rise to intense debates over what social scientists have termed "the paradox of social progress." This is the first full-length philosophical treatment of the underclass debate and one of the few volumes of written by African-American philosophers. The contributors discuss whether the underclass is simply a new label for the poor or whether it indeed represents a distinct class, and they ask: Are there values that are unique to poor urban blacks? What does rap music tell us about the underclass? Do middle-class blacks have an obligation toward poor urban blacks? What are the obligations of the American government to the urban poor? What is wrong with the current conception of urban poverty? The authors find that a combination of attitudes and assumptions about the impact of race, class, the economy, government policies, and conceptions of citizenship makes it difficult to formulate policies that redress the problems faced by the urban poor. Author note: Bill E. Lawson is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Delaware.

The Underclass Question

The Underclass Question PDF Author: Bill E. Lawson
Publisher: Temple University Press
ISBN: 9780877229223
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 214

Book Description
This collection of original essays by well-known African-American philosophers considers questions raised by the existence of a group of people in this country whose lives dramatically contradict the American Dream. The plight of the so-called underclass has given rise to intense debates over what social scientists have termed "the paradox of social progress." This is the first full-length philosophical treatment of the underclass debate and one of the few volumes of written by African-American philosophers. The contributors discuss whether the underclass is simply a new label for the poor or whether it indeed represents a distinct class, and they ask: Are there values that are unique to poor urban blacks? What does rap music tell us about the underclass? Do middle-class blacks have an obligation toward poor urban blacks? What are the obligations of the American government to the urban poor? What is wrong with the current conception of urban poverty? The authors find that a combination of attitudes and assumptions about the impact of race, class, the economy, government policies, and conceptions of citizenship makes it difficult to formulate policies that redress the problems faced by the urban poor. Author note: Bill E. Lawson is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Delaware.

The Underclass Question

The Underclass Question PDF Author: Bill E. Lawson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781566390620
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Book Description
Presents a collection of essays by well-known African-American philosophers that considers questions raised by the existence of a group of people in this country whose lives dramatically contradict the American Dream. This work discusses whether the underclass is simply a new label for the poor or whether it indeed represents a distinct class.

The "Underclass" Debate

The Author: Michael B. Katz
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691188548
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 516

Book Description
Do ominous reports of an emerging "underclass" reveal an unprecedented crisis in American society? Or are social commentators simply rediscovering the tragedy of recurring urban poverty, as they seem to do every few decades? Although social scientists and members of the public make frequent assumptions about these questions, they have little information about the crucial differences between past and present. By providing a badly needed historical context, these essays reframe today's "underclass" debate. Realizing that labels of "social pathology" echo fruitless distinctions between the "deserving" and "undeserving" poor, the contributors focus not on individual and family behavior but on a complex set of processes that have been at work over a long period, degrading the inner cities and, inevitably, the nation as a whole. How do individuals among the urban poor manage to survive? How have they created a dissident "infrapolitics?" How have social relations within the urban ghettos changed? What has been the effect of industrial restructuring on poverty? Besides exploring these questions, the contributors discuss the influence of African traditions on the family patterns of African Americans, the origins of institutions that serve the urban poor, the reasons for the crisis in urban education, the achievements and limits of the War on Poverty, and the role of income transfers, earnings, and the contributions of family members in overcoming poverty. The message of the essays is clear: Americans will flourish or fail together.

The Underclass Question

The Underclass Question PDF Author: Bill E. Lawson
Publisher: Temple University Press
ISBN: 9781439905951
Category : African Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 244

Book Description


The Invention of the 'Underclass'

The Invention of the 'Underclass' PDF Author: Loïc Wacquant
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1509552197
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 193

Book Description
At century’s close, American social scientists, policy analysts, philanthropists and politicians became obsessed with a fearsome and mysterious new group said to be ravaging the ghetto: the urban “underclass.” Soon the scarecrow category and its demonic imagery were exported to the United Kingdom and continental Europe and agitated the international study of exclusion in the postindustrial metropolis. In this punchy book, Loïc Wacquant retraces the invention and metamorphoses of this racialized folk devil, from the structural conception of Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal to the behavioral notion of Washington think-tank experts to the neo-ecological formulation of sociologist William Julius Wilson. He uncovers the springs of the sudden irruption, accelerated circulation, and abrupt evaporation of the “underclass” from public debate, and reflects on the implications for the social epistemology of urban marginality. What accounts for the “lemming effect” that drew a generation of scholars of race and poverty over a scientific cliff? What are the conditions for the formation and bursting of “conceptual speculative bubbles”? What is the role of think tanks, journalism, and politics in imposing “turnkey problematics” upon social researchers? What are the special quandaries posed by the naming of dispossessed and dishonored populations in scientific discourse and how can we reformulate the explosive question of “race” to avoid these troubles? Answering these questions constitutes an exacting exercise in epistemic reflexivity in the tradition of Bachelard, Canguilhem and Bourdieu, and it issues in a clarion call for social scientists to defend their intellectual autonomy against the encroachments of outside powers, be they state officials, the media, think tanks, or philanthropic organizations. Compact, meticulous and forcefully argued, this study in the politics of social science knowledge will be of great interest to students and scholars in sociology, anthropology, urban studies, ethnic studies, geography, intellectual history, the philosophy of science and public policy.

The Truly Disadvantaged

The Truly Disadvantaged PDF Author: William Julius Wilson
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226924653
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 331

Book Description
An assessment of the relationship between race and poverty in the United States, and potential solutions for the issue. Renowned American sociologist William Julius Wilson takes a look at the social transformation of inner-city ghettos, offering a sharp evaluation of the convergence of race and poverty. Rejecting both conservative and liberal interpretations of life in the inner city, Wilson offers essential information and several solutions to policymakers. The Truly Disadvantaged is a wide-ranging examination, looking at the relationship between race, employment, and education from the 1950s onwards, with surprising and provocative findings. This second edition also includes a new afterword from Wilson himself that brings the book up to date and offers fresh insight into its findings. Praise for The Truly Disadvantaged “The Truly Disadvantaged should spur critical thinking in many quarters about the causes and possible remedies for inner city poverty. As policymakers grapple with the problems of an enlarged underclass they—as well as community leaders and all concerned Americans of all races—would be advised to examine Mr. Wilson’s incisive analysis.” —Robert Greenstein, New York Times Book Review “The Truly Disadvantaged not only assembles a vast array of data gleamed from the works of specialists, it offers much new information and analysis. Wilson has asked the hard questions, he has done his homework, and he has dared to speak unpopular truths.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review “Required reading for anyone, presidential candidate or private citizen, who really wants to address the growing plight of the black urban underclass.” —David J. Garrow, Washington Post Book World

The Underclass

The Underclass PDF Author: Ken Auletta
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504093577
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 437

Book Description
The acclaimed author and New Yorker columnist delves into the core of American poverty in the early 1980s: “Invaluable.” —The Washington Post First appearing as a three-part series in the New Yorker, Ken Auletta’s The Underclass provides an enlightening look at the lives of addicts, dropouts, ex-convicts, welfare recipients, and individuals experiencing homelessness. Auletta’s investigation began with a seemingly simple goal: to find out who exactly makes up the poorest of the poor, and to trace the many paths that took them there. As the author follows 250 hardened members of this “underclass,” he focuses on efforts to help them reconstruct their lives and find a functional place in mainstream society. Through the lives of the men and women he encounters, Auletta discovers the complex truths that have made hard-core poverty in America such an intractable problem. In a nation where poverty and welfare rolls are declining but the underclass persists, the United States is as conflicted as ever about its responsibilities toward all its people. With his empathy, insight, and expert reportage, Auletta’s The Underclass remains as pertinent as ever.

Dangerous Classes

Dangerous Classes PDF Author: Lydia Morris
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134943156
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 184

Book Description
This book provides an authoritative and much needed critical review of British and American debates about the underclass, set in the context of historical material and policy developments. The idea of an underclass is based on a notion of social exclusion, be it cultural or structural in nature. It strikes a contrast with the idea of social citizenship. In accepted definitions of the underclass state dependence had come to be seen as a badge of exclusion rather than a guarantee of inclusion. There has been a gradual shift of emphasis in recent commentary from concern with social rights to anxiety about social obligations, much of which relates to the enforcement of the work ethic. Implicit in much of the literature is an inconclusive examination of gender roles, and particularly the failure of single mother to fulfil their social duties. The ambiguities and contradictions of this postion are uncovered. So too is the neglected issue of migrant labour and its use as a source of labour on terms not acceptable to the native population. The implications of this phenomenon for questions of social inclusion and the definition of the underclass are then considered in the wider context of the social construction of the labour market. The book has emerged from the author's long standing interest and research in unemployment, labour market change, gender relations and social policy. It will be of interest to students and researchers in all of these fields.

The Ghetto Underclass

The Ghetto Underclass PDF Author: William Julius Wilson
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1452254540
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 209

Book Description
Sponsored by the American Academy of Political and Social Science William Julius Wilson is a leader in the study of the urban underclass. His controversial thesis states that the fragmentation of the black community along class lines has resulted in a group of blacks who have left the inner city for middle-class suburban life, leaving behind the ghetto underclass of very disadvantaged poor. This thesis has had an enormous impact on the study of urban life, race, and society. Originally published as a special issue of the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, The Ghetto Underclass addresses questions from theoretical, empirical, and policy perspectives. Wilson and other leading social scientists cover demographic and industrial transitions, family patterns, sexual behavior, immigration, and homelessness of the urban underclass. Wilson′s introduction updates recent work on this topic since publication of the Annals issue. The Ghetto Underclass should be read by all students and professionals of urban studies, ethnic studies, sociology, policy studies, political science, social work, social welfare, and education.

Underclass

Underclass PDF Author: John Welshman
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0826434827
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 302

Book Description
Who are those at the bottom of society? There has been much discussion in recent years, on both Left and Right, about the existence of an alleged 'underclass' in both Britain and the USA. It has been claimed this group lives outside the mainstream of society, is characterised by crime, suffers from long-term unemployment and single parenthood, and is alienated from its core values. In Underclass: A History of the Excluded, 1880-2000 John Welshman shows that there have always been concerns about an 'underclass', whether constructed as the 'social residuum' of the 1880s, the 'problem family' of the 1950s or the 'cycle of deprivation' of the 1970s. There are marked differences between these concepts, but also striking continuities. Indeed a concern with an 'underclass' has is many ways been as long as an interest in poverty itself. This book is the first to look systematically at the question, providing new insights on contemporary debates about behaviour, poverty and welfare reform. In a speech in 2006, Tony Blair signalled a major push on social exclusion. He aimed to show the Government's determination to tackle 'a hard core underclass' estimated at 1 m people. The focus in Whitehall had moved to what were termed 'high-risk, high-harm and high-cost families', and to children in care, teenage mothers, and people with mental health problems on benefit. In all of this, the rhetoric of a 'cycle of deprivation', and of inter-generational continuities, was ever-present, and it is those continuities that this book seeks to explore.