The Plight of the Inner-city Disadvantaged

William Julius Wilson is a passionate socialist for the plight of the inner-city disadvantaged. In particular, he stresses the dilemma faced by many inner city African Americans living in ghettos created since the establishment of Affirmative Action in an Executive Order by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. Although black subjugation began as a consequence of racism, due to the action of President Johnson much has changed in the past few decades to alter the underlying explanation of its present state. Wilson's book, When work disappears: the world of the new urban poor, is a systematic analysis of the modern constraints on inner city African Americans. Wilson provides detailed data to support his study, collected by the Center for the Study of Urban Inequality at the University of Chicago. It includes convincing statistical figures and actual responses provided by inner city residents.

It is pertinent to note that the neighborhoods depicted in When work disappears were once flourishing communities. They once had social organization supported by a committed labor force, because all blacks were forced to live in certain areas through both formal and informal regulation. City directives were the most prevalent formal regulations. Informal regulation was due to the institutional practices of banks, the federal government and real estate agencies, as well as unofficial social policy caused by racism. President Johnson's creation of Affirmative Action forced the termination of such practices and encouraged the movement of upper- and middle-class blacks into predominantly white neighborhoods. Unfortunately, informal social policy could not be dismantled through legal means and, thus, remained intact. As upper- and middle-class blacks moved out of the neighborhoods to live with whites, the white population moved out to the suburbs away from their new neighbors. The depopulation of upper- and middle-class blacks from inner-city, black neighborhoods left only poor blacks. It also led to the migration of businesses, where upper- and middle-class blacks had once been employed. This is also on top of problems experienced nationwide over the advent of deindustrialization. The poor black population left in the wake of this migration did not have the means to leave and were, thus, forced to inhabit these virtual ghost towns. The term ghetto underclass has been created to classify inhabitants of these neighborhoods. An interesting feature of this situation is that, while it is a legacy of racism, it was the abolition of segregation that created the downward spiral of these neighborhoods.

Wilson begins his book by noting real concerns of inner-city residents of the ghetto underclass, each of whom comments on the critical decline of their neighborhoods. He explains that this deterioration is due to the "breakdown of social institutions and ... [the] rise in rates of social dislocation" (p. 5) that has occurred following the movement of upper- and middle-class blacks out of the neighborhoods in the late 1960s. This collapse of social institutions has led to the dilapidation of inner-city neighborhoods as a result of troubled attitudes brought on by collective social dislocation. Here, social dislocation refers to the loss of labor-intensive jobs in the inner city from business migration and deindustrialization. Social organization in each of the three categories (formal institutions, voluntary associations and informal networks) has progressively weakened to the point of complete failure in some cases. The urban-black population was already a highly segregated through, the loss of these jobs and the mobility of the upper- and middle-class blacks intensified the poverty of the neighborhoods. This situation then led to the rise in drug trafficking and other illegal activities, brought on in the search for other means of revenue by desperate residents. He notes that many residents of inner-city ghettos do have a negative view of their neighborhoods and have expressed interest in living elsewhere, but do not have the means to do so.

Deindustrialization was already a nationwide problem, and not only in the United States. Its affect was felt first and most severely by the black community. Because they were the last hired to these labor-intensive jobs primarily due to segregation, they were also the first fired. With deindustrialization, the opportunity for job mobility also ended. Now, the only jobs that are available are service sector jobs that do not have a job-ladder for workers to ascend. This means that there is no means for economic mobility, and those willing to work will not be able to improve their standard of living. For this reason, "a nonworking class of prime-age males" is growing among inner-city blacks, and yet a larger portion of the urban, poor black population is "often unemployed...work[s] part-time, or ... work[s] in temporary jobs" (p. 26). This choice is not due to the lack of intelligence as advocated in Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray's The Bell Curve, nor to ethnic attitudes, such as laziness, as might be the conservative view. Wilson states that the two issues, lack of intelligence and laziness, are not causes but effects of other factors. He points out that the attitudes produced are mainly due to opportunities for education and other social factors, which will be discussed later in this paper. It is apparent that education is more important than ever in the work place, with many firms restructuring to support the growing number of college graduates each year.

Inner-city residents are sometimes informally restricted to their ghetto underclass lifestyle; they often have difficulty finding a suitable job within a reasonable distance from their home for the reasons specified above. In this situation, transportation can become costly in comparison to the real wages earned. Additionally, those who do take jobs located at a distance from their home are then concerned for their possessions while they are away at work, due to the high crime rate often experienced in these communities. These reasons also contribute to the refutation of a central liberal tenet that asserts racism is still at the heart of joblessness among urban blacks.

Wilson wants to stress that not all residents in these communities are responsible for the demise of their neighborhoods but are restricted to accepting it as a way of life. Because of deteriorating social organization in communities, drug trafficking, crime and gang activities are hard to curb. Youth, who are brought up in this environment, often adopt this lifestyle as their own. In addition, those residents that remain uninvolved do often cut themselves off from contact with other residents for fear of their own safety and will purchase a weapon for self-defense purposes (p. 61). These actions help to further the weakening of social structures within communities, and another vicious cycle begins.

Often the poor are blamed for their situation, in this case the black, urban poor. As Wilson has and will demonstrate, it is not true; many people find themselves in these situations are a product of circumstance. "[R]esidents of these jobless black poverty areas face certain social constraints on the choices they can make in their daily lives" (p. 52). Major factors are limited employment and a declining educational system in these urban areas. Few residents do make the effort to obtain employment and those that do "are, in effect, working against all odds" (p. 53). Those that do not find work, often have lower levels of self-worth; consequently, "[t]he longer the joblessness persists, the more likely these self-doubts will take root" (p. 76).
When brought up in situations as these, children often lack certain qualities that make them suitable for the labor force. Social networks often found in more prosperous communities, help to raise and educate a child because they are an extension of the home. Parents of other households monitor and report the behavior of children in the neighborhood when they find something wrong and the parents are able to address the child's conduct. As Hillary Clinton's book affirmed, It takes a village to raise a child.

As suggested in Figure 4.1, there is a positive relationship between the percent of black households with both a spouse and children and the percent of those households in poverty over 20% (p. 90). In addition, Figure 4.2 indicates that black respondents are statistically less likely to not marry in census tracts with 20% or more families in poverty (p. 91). Conservatives may believe that inner-city blacks generally hold lower moral principles than conventional American families, but the reasons for this relationship are that the norms of mainstream life gradually disintegrate with the increase of joblessness, including likelihood of marriage. This is also compounded when out-of-wedlock mothers choose to utilize welfare rather than accept a position in the formal workforce that might be temporary and/or less economically advantageous. It is for these reasons that children brought up without a two-parent family "are less-likely to be socialized in a work environment" (p. 107). Conservatives may believe that the choice to not enter the formal workforce is a choice, but it is a consequence of the environment in which these children are reared.

Employers can also influence the rate of joblessness among inner-city blacks. Poor past experiences, or in some cases no past experience with inner-city blacks, can shape employer hiring practices. Techniques used to screen potential employees or notify the public of openings often exclude certain segments of the population, such as newspapers used for job vacancies and forms of "statistical discrimination ... [or] making judgments about an applicant's productivity ... on the basis of his or her race, ethnic background, or class" (p. 129). This type of prejudice is often originates from past experiences with inner-city blacks. But as the liberal opinion might assert that this is pure racial prejudice, Wilson reveals that 12 of 15 minority African-American employers approached in the survey also "expressed views about inner-city blacks workers ... that were coded as negative" (p. 130). In reality, skill levels in certain areas are more desirable by employers, but it is not always the apathetic attitude towards work conservatives might advocate, but could once again be due to the quality of the neighborhood, in which the candidate was raised.

The dominant characteristic of the American belief system is that "it is the moral fabric of individuals, not the social and economic structure of society, that is taken to be the root of the problem" (p. 164). This thinking, though somewhat true, does not take into consideration the realities of the social and cultural impediments that exist to inhibit inner-city blacks from entering the formal workforce. In the Urban Poverty and Family Life Study it is evident that inner-city residents do "internalize the basic American idea that people can get ahead in life if they try" (p. 181) and do prefer to work. However, they do understand that they are also hindered in their search for work.

Neither the liberal and conservative policy prescriptions take into consideration the entirety of the situation that inner-city residents encounter. It is because of this single-minded perspective that there has been no significant improvement on the widespread issue of poverty. Generally, conservatives are too focused on individual weaknesses, whereas, some liberals do ascribe to the structural and environmental explanations to inner-city poverty. Unfortunately, this liberal view is usually overshadowed by the common belief that racism is to blame. Due to these theoretical barriers, welfare will not be the meaningful social-intervention agency that it was intended to be.

Race relations have been steadily worsening in the inner-city environment. It is even thought that these feelings are so entrenched that to think that they could be overcome is almost unfathomable (p. 183). The media coverage of racial violence does nothing to change this view. However, in contrast to this, Americans do support programs that support individual initiative by inner-city residents. These "compensatory or opportunity-enhancing affirmative action programs are supported because they reinforce the belief that the allocation of jobs and economic rewards should be based on individual effort, training, and talent" (p. 204).

Wilson does make a valid point in saying that although "[i]t would have been ideal if programs based on the principle of freedom of the individual opportunity were sufficient to remedy racial inequality in our society," they do not do so (p. 196). As stated earlier, these programs disproportionately benefit racial minorities, who do not originate from low income, inner-city neighborhoods. To resolve this disparity in political prescription, Wilson calls for a coalition of leaders from across the political spectrum to combat not only the truly disadvantaged, but also those of the working- and middle-class that are also experiencing economic problems shared by inner-city residents. He also states that there must be flexible criteria to take in consideration racial ethnicity.

To combat the problems created by a declining industrial-base, Wilson proposes that the United States has much to learn from the European model. He suggests national education standards, which bring to mind the No Child Left Behind Act. However, I believe that this is a good way to improve the educational experience for students, if they are provided the opportunity to work with exceptional teachers in an environment conducive to learning. Wilson recommends national subsidiaries to inner-city schools with provisions for educational tools; this plan presents a strong political policy towards reducing the decline in social values. In addition to education policy, he suggests a school-to-work program that would increase the success of students entering the workforce out of high school. Here, once again, he maintains that the United States could pattern their program after the European example. Luckily, he does note that the European case also has its own drawbacks, but that both entities could do to learn from each other and improve their social policy through consideration of the other's strengths.

Wilson presents an exhaustive and comprehensive justification for the current situation of inner-city black residents. He begins with the historical significance of racial actions that rendered black minorities in a subordinate social position. Then, his explanation of effect of social policy in preventing many inner-city blacks from advancing out of the ghetto. In addition, he presents a thorough case on how conservative and liberal theories continue to support this vicious cycle.

Unfortunately, Wilson does have problems in his policy prescription. Beyond educational policy, he only does to describe problems and what could be done to enhance opportunities for inner-city residents, and the disadvantaged at large. He does not provide the extensive guidelines for procedure as in the first half of the book. His solutions could even be described as impractical or impossible, which he even states himself. Despite this shortcoming, this text does a great justice in informing policymakers and citizens, alike, that there is a problem and something must be done to remedy it or the nation will suffer.

Wilson, William Julius. When work disappears: the world of the new urban poor. Vintage; Reprint edition. 1997.