When Work DisappearsThe World of the new urban poor

William Julius Wilson

Lindsey Boyett Erin Miller Amy Pitlik

Politics 367May 14, 2004Dr. Craig Allin

As An Outsider Looking In:Class Participation Poll

Is joblessness due to:

fatherless households?

Drugs?

Violent crime?

Welfare?

Behavioral patterns?

All of the above?

William Julius WilsonBackground History

(b. Dec. 20, 1935, Derry Township, Penn., U.S.), African-American sociologist whose views on race and urban poverty helped shape U.S. public policy and academic discourse. In two seminal works,

Wilson maintained that class divisions and global economic changes, more than racism, created a large black underclass. In When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor (1996), he showed how chronic joblessness deprived those in the inner city of skills necessary to obtain and keep jobs.

New Urban Poverty

Methodology Who Are the New Urban Poor? Economic, Social, & Political

Factors

Methodology

Urban poverty and family life study Statistical Data Anecdotal Evidence

Who are the New Urban Poor? Individuals who live in poor, segregated

neighborhoods home to a substantial amount of unemployed adults.

African Americans are disproportionately disadvantaged due to their degree of segregation, isolation, & poverty concentration

Economic Factors

Deindustrialization Expansion of high skill jobs, loss of

manufacturing sector Loss of inner-city jobs to suburban

market

Social Factors

Strength of social organization Level of residential

participation/responsibility Strength of formal institutions and

informal networks

Political Factors

Federal Housing Policy Minimum Wage Poverty Threshold Welfare

The Social Policy Challenge

Current Policies Obstacles surrounding better

public policy The Future of policy

recommendations

Current Policies

Welfare Healthcare Affirmative action

Obstacles inhibiting better public policy

Ethnic collisions Exportation of jobs White based ideas

The future of policy recommendations

Reshaping welfare Halting racial segregation Relationships

Cities and suburbs Employment, family support,

education

Concluding Thoughts and Perspectives

With the disappearance of work, self-efficacy fails and jobless rates will skyrocket.

No matter how far you are down the road, getting discouraged will only set you back halfway.

“Life is what you make it. No one is going to give you something for nothing”

Current political situations should enable us to address social inequality in America.

Conclusion Continued

One has not succeeded in America unless one can pass the chance for success on to one’s children.

We must break the cycle of joblessness to improve future generations for the new labor market and global economy.