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When Work Disappears : The World of the New Urban Poor
Wilson, one of our foremost authorities on race and poverty, challenges decades of liberal and conservative pieties to look squarely at the devastating effects that joblessness has had on our urban ghettos. Marshaling a vast array of data and the personal stories of hundreds of men and women, Wilson persuasively argues that problems endemic to America's inner cities;from fatherless households to drugs and violent crime.
Wilson's achievement is to portray this crisis as one that affects all Americans, and to propose solutions whose benefits would be felt across our society. At a time when welfare is ending and our country's racial dialectic is more strained than ever.
Wilson's achievement is to portray this crisis as one that affects all Americans, and to propose solutions whose benefits would be felt across our society. At a time when welfare is ending and our country's racial dialectic is more strained than ever.
322 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
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About the author
William Julius Wilson
39Ìýbooks88ÌýfollowersWilliam Julius Wilson is an American sociologist, a professor at Harvard University, and an author of works on urban sociology, race, and class issues. Laureate of the National Medal of Science, he served as the 80th President of the American Sociological Association, was a member of numerous national boards and commissions. He identified the importance of neighborhood effects and demonstrated how limited employment opportunities and weakened institutional resources exacerbated poverty within American inner-city neighborhoods.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
August 29, 2023
It is just as indefensible to treat inner-city residents as superheroes who are able to overcome racist oppression as it is to view them as helpless victims.
This book is remarkable to read now, as it documents a phenomenon that has only grown more widespread in the years since its publication. William Julius Wilson set his sights on understanding the causes and effects of urban poverty, particularly as it afflicted the black community.
The process Wilson identifies will be familiar to most Americans now: As factories close and industry decamps, well-paying jobs for people without college degrees dry up. The disappearance of decent work causes a kind of domino effect. Those who can move out do so, leaving only the most disadvantaged to stay. Little by little, the community starts to crumble. Families fall apart as people—particularly fathers—are unable to support their children. Drug use and drug dealing become widespread in a community with few legitimate employment opportunities.
Meanwhile, the government provides little support for the people trapped in this situation. The chronically underfunded schools do not provide a ladder out of poverty. The lack of public transportation means that people who do not own cars have little opportunity to find work elsewhere. Mothers are forced to choose between staying on welfare, facing stigma and losing a sense of autonomy, or taking minimum-wage work and losing health insurance—for themselves and their children. Instead of providing drug counseling and addiction support, the primary response is to incarcerate drug offenders in large numbers, which only further debilitates the community and makes family life even more difficult.
By now, this basic process has played out in many parts of America. But before it affected rural whites, it hit urban African Americans. And here is where the country’s racial attitude became a major factor. For the public response to this suffering was not sympathetic; rather, people worried about “thugs� and “super predators,� making American streets unsafe—people so dangerous that they could not be helped, only locked away. The public pointed the finger at “welfare queens� and accused poor mothers of milking the system to live a life of ease. In other words, as is so often the case in the United States, we blamed the poor for living in poverty.
As Wilson, a distinguished sociologist, is at pains to show, the key factor in this process is the disappearance of jobs. When there is no opportunity to make a decent living, a community suffers. Nowadays such a thesis is hardly controversial. Indeed, we have seen it play out in many parts of the country. But at the time, it was a vital point to make, since the public discourse insistently framed the problem as a kind of moral failing on the part of the poor. Either that, or some sort of negative cultural attribute was blamed. And, of course, all of this was racially coded. But as more and more communities succumb to this process, the explanations relying on personal responsibility or cultural traits seems less and less plausible. This is a structural problem.
This is not to say that Wilson is against using culture as an explanation. To the contrary, in the first part of this book, where he relies on surveys and interviews performed by his team, he notes how living in such an environment can cause adaptations that are maladaptive elsewhere. This can become a self-reinforcing cycle, since negative stereotypes are sometimes borne out, and used to further stigmatize the community. One of the most fascinating sections are a series of interviews with employers in the area, many of whom give excuses and justifications for not wanting to hire black employees, particularly males. But even more striking is that most of Wilson’s respondents endorsed the basic American value system of individualism and personal responsibility. Those on welfare did not relish a life of ease, but longed for work that could support themselves and their children.
The second part of this book looks at larger trends and solutions. Wilson notes that the sort of urban poverty widespread in American cities is virtually nonexistent in Europe, and credits the strong safety net there. His own proposals for improving the lives of the urban poor are familiar by now—universal healthcare, improved infrastructure, more funding for education—but they do not seem much closer to reality now than in 1996, when this book was published. We can start moving in direction at any time. All that is lacking is the political will.
March 20, 2017
This is 20 years old now, but really is the backdrop and the alarm call to both and of this last year, even though the focus in on the urban poor. I was reminded of this by a recent GRs comment about Hillbilly Elegy and how "income and outcome" are extricably linked in a causal fashion! Wilson's surveys clearly show that no jobs or poor jobs lead to dysfunction in all other parts of the lives of the urban poor (much more so that individual characteristics like lack of motivation!) that disproportionately includes POC and immigrant populations.
November 3, 2008
The urban poor are happy to take welfare, never work, commit crimes, do drugs, etc. Sound familiar? People love to tout this idea of the urban poor, based on anecdotes, popular TV and movies, and some media approaches. However, Wilson describes, quite convincingly, a world of the urban poor who yearn for the "American Dream" like the rest of us, who want to work, contribute to society, and make their lives (and their children's lives) better, but are simply unable to do so.
This book can get dry by piling on statistic after statistic, chart after chart, but always seems to bring the reader back in by presenting direct quotes from people, typically from ghetto areas of Chicago, on how their lives are effected by their situations. It puts a human face on the issues of poverty in America - a human face that rarely gets seen.
For all of those who have grown up in suburban areas, small towns, or cloistered urban situations, I recommend you read this book and open your eyes to the true world of the urban poor. Yes, there are some bad apples, as in any society - but these people want to improve their lives - and we need to ensure we enact responsible policies and give them the opportunity to do so.
This book can get dry by piling on statistic after statistic, chart after chart, but always seems to bring the reader back in by presenting direct quotes from people, typically from ghetto areas of Chicago, on how their lives are effected by their situations. It puts a human face on the issues of poverty in America - a human face that rarely gets seen.
For all of those who have grown up in suburban areas, small towns, or cloistered urban situations, I recommend you read this book and open your eyes to the true world of the urban poor. Yes, there are some bad apples, as in any society - but these people want to improve their lives - and we need to ensure we enact responsible policies and give them the opportunity to do so.
January 14, 2017
This sociological study was published in the late '90s. It explores the effects of mass joblessness in urban, grossly impoverished, minority neighborhoods/communities as the economy shifted from a manufacturing to a service base in the U.S. between the '70s and '90s (and as globalization began to take hold).
I read it now because I thought it might provide useful insights, given that we are clearly on the cusp of a transition from a service-based economy to a largely jobless economy, as artificial intelligence promises to come for the good, middle-class jobs that have allowed some people to avoid the first round of economic devastation (many of my privileged middle-class friends, I suspect, haven't so long to sneer at poor, isolated people who have been left behind, given that we'll all be joining them soon).
The book is fine, a fairly standard sociological inquiry, robustly researched, clearly written, accessible to a broad audience. But I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't more detail on the how and why of joblessness itself necessarily leading to chaos and breakdown (as opposed to economic insecurity leading to breakdown). Wilson asserts that people are simply undisciplined and will more or less naturally shift toward faffing about without the discipline imposed by a job.
I disagree. I think people are perfectly capable of self-discipline and society itself could benefit hugely if millions of people are freed from the imperative to work in order to survive. Perhaps what needs to shift is our definition of "work." Freed from economic insecurity, might not people have time to "work" on taking care of themselves (exercise and healthy eating actually take up several hours a day!), "work" by mentoring young people, providing friendship and aid to the elderly and ill, etc., and most importantly work creatively on projects that are personally and culturally enriching but almost value-less in the capitalist market (I am thinking of arts and crafts- creating/making/building experiences (books, art, theatre, dance, etc.) or truly beautiful, useful, and unique objects that all of us can share...)?
Mass joblessness is coming, perhaps within the next twenty years, and if we don't shift our toxic ideology, and quickly, we're all going to suffer a great cost.
Finally, Wilson's solutions to mass joblessness were ok, I suppose, but still firmly rooted in the ideology of work and way too reliant on faulty assumptions about the actual value of private sector jobs.
I read it now because I thought it might provide useful insights, given that we are clearly on the cusp of a transition from a service-based economy to a largely jobless economy, as artificial intelligence promises to come for the good, middle-class jobs that have allowed some people to avoid the first round of economic devastation (many of my privileged middle-class friends, I suspect, haven't so long to sneer at poor, isolated people who have been left behind, given that we'll all be joining them soon).
The book is fine, a fairly standard sociological inquiry, robustly researched, clearly written, accessible to a broad audience. But I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't more detail on the how and why of joblessness itself necessarily leading to chaos and breakdown (as opposed to economic insecurity leading to breakdown). Wilson asserts that people are simply undisciplined and will more or less naturally shift toward faffing about without the discipline imposed by a job.
I disagree. I think people are perfectly capable of self-discipline and society itself could benefit hugely if millions of people are freed from the imperative to work in order to survive. Perhaps what needs to shift is our definition of "work." Freed from economic insecurity, might not people have time to "work" on taking care of themselves (exercise and healthy eating actually take up several hours a day!), "work" by mentoring young people, providing friendship and aid to the elderly and ill, etc., and most importantly work creatively on projects that are personally and culturally enriching but almost value-less in the capitalist market (I am thinking of arts and crafts- creating/making/building experiences (books, art, theatre, dance, etc.) or truly beautiful, useful, and unique objects that all of us can share...)?
Mass joblessness is coming, perhaps within the next twenty years, and if we don't shift our toxic ideology, and quickly, we're all going to suffer a great cost.
Finally, Wilson's solutions to mass joblessness were ok, I suppose, but still firmly rooted in the ideology of work and way too reliant on faulty assumptions about the actual value of private sector jobs.
June 15, 2007
William Julius Wilson has made arguably the greatest scholarly contributions to the problem of the urban poor of any academic in the last quarter century. Wilson has convincingly demonstrated a spatial mismatch between jobs and the poor who need them, he has highlighted the consequences of the marked changes in out-of-wedlock births and the decline in two-parent families, and he has shown the connection between trends in family formation and joblessness. All the while, Wilson has insisted on class, not race, to be the explanatory variable for the plight of the urban poor. Still, When Work Disappears is not the best example of his perspective. That can be found in his earlier work, The Truly Disadvantaged. Unlike in The Truly Disadvantaged, Wilson has defeated all his academic adversaries and at the time of publishing When Work Disappears in the late 90s, he was no longer under attack. As a result, When Work Disappears lacks the rigorous argument that permeates his earlier work.
May 20, 2025
While written in 1996. The book really reflects problems at their root cause when it comes to the urban poor, especially black folks in urban inner cities. Reading this book in 2025 proved that his theories about what will happen if we don’t do real changes have come true, which vastly increases the trust in the author. I think this is great prequel to read the new 2025 book outclassed by Joan Williams
February 2, 2019
(one of my heroes) (2000 words, Summer 1997) and praised it effusively:
"Wilson shows you just why it is very difficult to come out of the ghettos with a stable character, self-respect, a clear head, and a conviction that America is a land of opportunity.
". . . the fact [is] that there just aren't enough jobs, even lousy jobs, out there. For millions of Americans (only about half of them black), it's not work or go hungry. It's stay on welfare or eat out of dumpsters.
"Wilson makes clear why life in the ghetto unfits you for participation in American society, and would do so regardless of your genetic endowment or of anything else. He shows you, in detail, how the ghettos strip people of civilized traits in the same way that the concentration camps did.
". . . American suburbanites have tacitly decided to turn the ghetto children over to the crack dealers.
"Wilson would like to see the United States institute schools [like France’s école maternelles], as well as a national system of performance standards for school work, a system that would force ghetto public schools to become something more than holding pens. [my emphasis]
"Wilson offers a battery of further suggestions about how we might stop creating generations of more and more wretched, desperate proto-criminals.
Rorty ends by proposing the U.S. severely reduce it’s military budget and that it “raise the tax rates on people making more than $50,000�, because, in his essay's final sentence:
“what kind of country is it that can live with the thought that nine-tenths of its children are scheduled to profit from the utter ruin of the other tenth?�
I agree with Rorty's lament but disagree with his assessment of the situation & of his praise for the book. My view of Wilson's book is much closer to , who wrote an annihilating 4000-word review (The New Republic, Oct. 28, 1996). Klein begins, like Rorty, by stating
"Respect must be paid. More than any other individual, Wilson deserves credit for civilizing the once noxious debate on race and poverty...."
"Wilson refused to romanticize the violence of the slums as an appropriate, if inchoate, rebellion against racist 'oppression.' He would not condone the exploding out-of-wedlock birthrate as an 'alternative' lifestyle.
"[Wilson] had come close [in 1987] to acknowledging the truth of the conservative insistence that there were serious normative problems in the slums.
"Liberals required a new line of defense against [Charles] Murray's total and influential assault; and gradually they found themselves using Wilson's economic determinism to counter Murray's governmental determinism. [my emphasis]
"It seemed clear that the moral collapse of the dependent poor was a phenomenon too complicated to be explained merely by economic determinism or by Murray's equally simple notion of liberal 'good intentions' gone awry.
"Wilson's sort of sociology ... hates normative judgments and loves statistics....
"Wilson has transcended nothing. His new book doesn't begin to scratch the surface of our urban complications.
[I totally agree with that view.]
"This is a tortured, unconvincing and profoundly disappointing book. The reason is clear. Wilson's ideology is at war with his data. In his introduction, he repeats ... the notion that the growth of an urban underclass was caused by 'structural' economic shifts, the globalization of muscle-labor jobs that, allegedly, inflicted deindustrialization, 'downsizing' and wage stagnation upon the broad American middle class. This is a tired idea.
"His own empirical work shows that these poor people are different, sadly, from you and me. They are isolated from us; they have different values. And it seems very clear that their problems were neither entirely caused by the loss of work, nor will they be entirely solved by government action.
"In New York, welfare caseloads tripled during the 1960s, a period of historically low unemployment, even among black males. There is strong evidence, too, that crime exploded before the jobs began to leave. In New York, robbery rates remained fairly stable through much of the twentieth century—including the Great Depression, a period of intense joblessness and despair that did not cause any normative changes among blacks or whites. But robbery quintupled from 1962 to 1967 ... and then doubled again from 1967 to 1972.... Again, those were flush, jobful times. So what was really going on? Wilson is right, no doubt, that joblessness eventually intensified all these problems. Clearly, the despair deepened in the 1970s and 1980s; a community in which 80 percent of the children are born out of wedlock is qualitatively different from a community in which 25 percent are born out of wedlock. Robbery increased incrementally after 1972, but murder became epidemic: Wilson cites an increase in the homicide rate from eighty deaths per 100,000 teenage black males in 1984 to 180 in 1992, a result of the crack-and-weaponry culture that began to flourish. But Wilson never addresses the entirely plausible possibility that businesses began to flee the inner cities in the early 1970s—along with many of the remaining middle-class residents, black and white—as a consequence of higher crime, a declining pool of educated or disciplined workers and higher taxes (which were themselves caused by the increased cost of dealing with all these disasters). To entertain such an interpretation would be to admit that the phenomenon of underclass poverty is not entirely, or even predominantly, an economic phenomenon. And it would be to admit a degree of meta-economic complexity that Wilson's politics will not allow. [my emphasis]
"what he calls 'concentration effects' and 'ghetto-related behavior patterns' ... are desperate euphemisms for the 'culture of poverty' that Wilson considers a neoconservative slur.
"the great moral tragedy of post-New Deal liberalism was the tendency not only to absolve antisocial behavior, but also to memorialize it as a revolt against shallow and restrictive 'bourgeois' values. There was a tacit alliance between the intelligentsia and the poor, a romanticization of alienation.
". . . if the problem is the loss of "good" manufacturing jobs, how will a federal pick-and-shovel program solve it...?
Klein ends by opining: "it would be a fantasy to believe that even a rigorous, lavishly funded jobs program would have much impact on the doom and devastation of the inner cities. The cultural forces pulling in the opposite direction are simply too powerful. ... the problem is not the absence of jobs. It is the absence of restraint."
I don't agree with everything Klein asserts, but his view of Wilson's book is much closer to my own than Rorty's.
The New York Times published a good favorable review:
Andrew Hacker wrote an unenlightening review for the New York Review (Nov. 28, 1996):
Wilson recently co-taught a course at Harvard on the popular tv series called The Wire, described in this oped:
He co-published a longer, 10,000-word essay on The Wire in 2011 for Critical Inquiry:
Wilson says: "the disappearance of work in many inner-city neighborhoods is the function of a number of factors beyond [ghetto residents’] control."
Wilson blames "the forces of social organization": "Ghetto-related practices involving overt emphasis on sexuality, idleness, and public drinking [result from] the failure of forces of social organization.... In short . . . ghetto-related behaviors often represent particular cultural adaptations to the systematic blockage of opportunities in the environment of the inner city and the society as a whole. These adaptations are reflected in habits, skills, styles, and attitudes that are shaped over time.
He also identifies as villain the constraint(s) imposed by "organizational channels of privilege and influence": "In addition to constraints associated with limited access to organizational channels of privilege and influence, there are also constraints on the choices they can make because they lack access to mainstream sources of information....
"The social action [of ghetto residents] ... ought not to be analyzed as if it were unrelated to the broader structure of opportunities and constraints that have evolved over time. This is not to argue that individuals and groups lack the freedom to make their own choices, engage in certain conduct, and develop certain styles and orientations, but it is to say that these decisions and actions occur within a context of constraints and opportunities that are drastically different from those present in middle-class society.
Jan. 26, 2019
Mar 15, 2014
"Wilson shows you just why it is very difficult to come out of the ghettos with a stable character, self-respect, a clear head, and a conviction that America is a land of opportunity.
". . . the fact [is] that there just aren't enough jobs, even lousy jobs, out there. For millions of Americans (only about half of them black), it's not work or go hungry. It's stay on welfare or eat out of dumpsters.
"Wilson makes clear why life in the ghetto unfits you for participation in American society, and would do so regardless of your genetic endowment or of anything else. He shows you, in detail, how the ghettos strip people of civilized traits in the same way that the concentration camps did.
". . . American suburbanites have tacitly decided to turn the ghetto children over to the crack dealers.
"Wilson would like to see the United States institute schools [like France’s école maternelles], as well as a national system of performance standards for school work, a system that would force ghetto public schools to become something more than holding pens. [my emphasis]
"Wilson offers a battery of further suggestions about how we might stop creating generations of more and more wretched, desperate proto-criminals.
Rorty ends by proposing the U.S. severely reduce it’s military budget and that it “raise the tax rates on people making more than $50,000�, because, in his essay's final sentence:
“what kind of country is it that can live with the thought that nine-tenths of its children are scheduled to profit from the utter ruin of the other tenth?�
I agree with Rorty's lament but disagree with his assessment of the situation & of his praise for the book. My view of Wilson's book is much closer to , who wrote an annihilating 4000-word review (The New Republic, Oct. 28, 1996). Klein begins, like Rorty, by stating
"Respect must be paid. More than any other individual, Wilson deserves credit for civilizing the once noxious debate on race and poverty...."
"Wilson refused to romanticize the violence of the slums as an appropriate, if inchoate, rebellion against racist 'oppression.' He would not condone the exploding out-of-wedlock birthrate as an 'alternative' lifestyle.
"[Wilson] had come close [in 1987] to acknowledging the truth of the conservative insistence that there were serious normative problems in the slums.
"Liberals required a new line of defense against [Charles] Murray's total and influential assault; and gradually they found themselves using Wilson's economic determinism to counter Murray's governmental determinism. [my emphasis]
"It seemed clear that the moral collapse of the dependent poor was a phenomenon too complicated to be explained merely by economic determinism or by Murray's equally simple notion of liberal 'good intentions' gone awry.
"Wilson's sort of sociology ... hates normative judgments and loves statistics....
"Wilson has transcended nothing. His new book doesn't begin to scratch the surface of our urban complications.
[I totally agree with that view.]
"This is a tortured, unconvincing and profoundly disappointing book. The reason is clear. Wilson's ideology is at war with his data. In his introduction, he repeats ... the notion that the growth of an urban underclass was caused by 'structural' economic shifts, the globalization of muscle-labor jobs that, allegedly, inflicted deindustrialization, 'downsizing' and wage stagnation upon the broad American middle class. This is a tired idea.
"His own empirical work shows that these poor people are different, sadly, from you and me. They are isolated from us; they have different values. And it seems very clear that their problems were neither entirely caused by the loss of work, nor will they be entirely solved by government action.
"In New York, welfare caseloads tripled during the 1960s, a period of historically low unemployment, even among black males. There is strong evidence, too, that crime exploded before the jobs began to leave. In New York, robbery rates remained fairly stable through much of the twentieth century—including the Great Depression, a period of intense joblessness and despair that did not cause any normative changes among blacks or whites. But robbery quintupled from 1962 to 1967 ... and then doubled again from 1967 to 1972.... Again, those were flush, jobful times. So what was really going on? Wilson is right, no doubt, that joblessness eventually intensified all these problems. Clearly, the despair deepened in the 1970s and 1980s; a community in which 80 percent of the children are born out of wedlock is qualitatively different from a community in which 25 percent are born out of wedlock. Robbery increased incrementally after 1972, but murder became epidemic: Wilson cites an increase in the homicide rate from eighty deaths per 100,000 teenage black males in 1984 to 180 in 1992, a result of the crack-and-weaponry culture that began to flourish. But Wilson never addresses the entirely plausible possibility that businesses began to flee the inner cities in the early 1970s—along with many of the remaining middle-class residents, black and white—as a consequence of higher crime, a declining pool of educated or disciplined workers and higher taxes (which were themselves caused by the increased cost of dealing with all these disasters). To entertain such an interpretation would be to admit that the phenomenon of underclass poverty is not entirely, or even predominantly, an economic phenomenon. And it would be to admit a degree of meta-economic complexity that Wilson's politics will not allow. [my emphasis]
"what he calls 'concentration effects' and 'ghetto-related behavior patterns' ... are desperate euphemisms for the 'culture of poverty' that Wilson considers a neoconservative slur.
"the great moral tragedy of post-New Deal liberalism was the tendency not only to absolve antisocial behavior, but also to memorialize it as a revolt against shallow and restrictive 'bourgeois' values. There was a tacit alliance between the intelligentsia and the poor, a romanticization of alienation.
". . . if the problem is the loss of "good" manufacturing jobs, how will a federal pick-and-shovel program solve it...?
Klein ends by opining: "it would be a fantasy to believe that even a rigorous, lavishly funded jobs program would have much impact on the doom and devastation of the inner cities. The cultural forces pulling in the opposite direction are simply too powerful. ... the problem is not the absence of jobs. It is the absence of restraint."
I don't agree with everything Klein asserts, but his view of Wilson's book is much closer to my own than Rorty's.
The New York Times published a good favorable review:
Andrew Hacker wrote an unenlightening review for the New York Review (Nov. 28, 1996):
Wilson recently co-taught a course at Harvard on the popular tv series called The Wire, described in this oped:
He co-published a longer, 10,000-word essay on The Wire in 2011 for Critical Inquiry:
Wilson says: "the disappearance of work in many inner-city neighborhoods is the function of a number of factors beyond [ghetto residents’] control."
Wilson blames "the forces of social organization": "Ghetto-related practices involving overt emphasis on sexuality, idleness, and public drinking [result from] the failure of forces of social organization.... In short . . . ghetto-related behaviors often represent particular cultural adaptations to the systematic blockage of opportunities in the environment of the inner city and the society as a whole. These adaptations are reflected in habits, skills, styles, and attitudes that are shaped over time.
He also identifies as villain the constraint(s) imposed by "organizational channels of privilege and influence": "In addition to constraints associated with limited access to organizational channels of privilege and influence, there are also constraints on the choices they can make because they lack access to mainstream sources of information....
"The social action [of ghetto residents] ... ought not to be analyzed as if it were unrelated to the broader structure of opportunities and constraints that have evolved over time. This is not to argue that individuals and groups lack the freedom to make their own choices, engage in certain conduct, and develop certain styles and orientations, but it is to say that these decisions and actions occur within a context of constraints and opportunities that are drastically different from those present in middle-class society.
Jan. 26, 2019
Mar 15, 2014
June 14, 2024
A STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF JOBLESSNESS ON POVERTY, ETC.
William Julius Wilson (born 1935) is an African-American sociologist, who worked at the University of Chicago (1972-1996) before moving to Harvard. He is also the author of important books such as ' The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy.'
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1996 book, “For the first time in the twentieth century most adults in many inner-city neighborhoods are not working in a typical week. The disappearance of work has adversely affected not only individuals, families, and neighborhoods, but the social life of a city at large as well� The consequences of high neighborhood joblessness are more devastating than those of high neighborhood poverty. A neighborhood in which people are poor but employed is different from one in which people are poor and jobless. Many of today’s problems in the inner-city ghetto neighborhoods---crime, family dissolution, welfare, low levels of social organization, and so on---are fundamentally a consequence of the disappearance of work.� (Pg. xiii)
He adds, “This book attempts to demonstrate that social structural factors are important for understanding joblessness and other experiences of the inner-city poor, but that there is much these factors do not explain. Although race is clearly an important variable in the social outcomes of inner-city blacks, much ambiguity remains about the meaning and significance of race in certain situations. Cultural factors do play a role� Social psychological variables � must be integrated� We need a broader vision that includes ALL of the major variables and� reveals their relative significance and their interaction in determining the experiences and life chanced of inner-city residents.� (Pg. xiv)
He continues, “The tendency of some liberals to deny the existence of culturally destructive behavior and attitudes in the inner city is once again to diminish the importance of the environment in determining the outcomes and life chances of individuals. The environment embodies both structural and cultural constraints and opportunities� This book also emphasizes that the disappearance of work and the growth of related problems in the ghetto have aggravated an already tense racial situation in urban areas.� (Pg. xviii-xix) He outlines, “I have in mind a vision that promotes values of racial and intergroup harmony and unity and rejects the commonly held view that race is so divisive that whites, blacks, Latinos, and other ethnic groups cannot work together in a common cause� I believe that this vision, supported by a public rhetoric of interracial unity, is essential to address the problems discussed in this book.� (Pg. xxi-xxii)
He states, “ghetto-related behaviors often represent particular cultural adaptations to the systematic blockage of opportunities in the environment of the inner city and the society as a whole. These adaptations are reflected in habits, skills, styles, and attitudes that are shaped over time.� (Pg. 72)
He notes, “There are many factors involved in the precipitous decline in marriage rates and the sharp rise in single-parent families. The explanation most often heard in the public debate associates the increase of out-of-wedlock births and single-parent families with welfare� However, the SCIENTIFIC evidence offers little support for the claim that AFDC benefits play a significant role in promoting out-of-wedlock births�. There is no evidence to suggest that welfare is a major factor in the rise of childbearing outside marriage.� (Pg. 94)
He observes, “Affirmative action policies, however, did not really open up broad avenues of upward mobility for the masses of disadvantaged blacks� they provided opportunities for those individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds with the greatest educational and social resources. A careful analysis of data on income, employment, and educational attainment would probably reveal that only a few individuals who reside in the inner-city ghetto have benefited from affirmative action.� (Pg. 197)
He continues, “The major distinguishing characteristic or affirmative action based on need is the recognition that the problems of the disadvantaged---low income, poor education, cultural and linguistic differences---are not always clearly related to previous racial discrimination. Children who grow up in homes plagued by these disadvantages are more likely to be denied an equal chance in life because the development of their aspirations and talents is hindered by their environment, regardless of race. Minorites would benefit disproportionately from affirmative opportunity programs designed to address these disadvantages because they suffer disproportionately from the effects of such environments, but the problems of disadvantaged whites would be addressed as well.� (Pg. 198)
He suggests, “A comprehensive race-neutral initiative to address economic and social inequality should be viewed as an extension of---not a replacement for---opportunity-enhancing programs that include race-based criteria to fight social inequality. I feel that such programs should employ flexible criteria of evaluation in college admission, hiring, job promotion, and so on, and should be based on a broad definition of disadvantage that incorporates notions of both NEED and RACE.� (Pg. 205)
He concludes, “Increasing the employment base would have an enormous positive impact on the social organization of ghetto neighborhoods. As more people become employed, crime, including violent crime, and drug use will subside; families will be strengthened and welfare receipt will decline significantly; ghetto-related culture and behavior, no longer sustained and nourished by persistent joblessness, will gradually fade� The attitudes of employers toward inner-city workers will undergo change, in part because they would be dealing with job applicants who have steady work experience� The long-term solutions that I have advance would reduce the likelihood that a new generation of jobless workers would be produced from the youngsters now in school and preschool. We must break the cycle of joblessness and improve the youngsters� preparation for the new labor market in the global economy.� (Pg. 238)
This book will be of great interest to those studying the economic and sociological factors affecting inner cities.
William Julius Wilson (born 1935) is an African-American sociologist, who worked at the University of Chicago (1972-1996) before moving to Harvard. He is also the author of important books such as ' The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy.'
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1996 book, “For the first time in the twentieth century most adults in many inner-city neighborhoods are not working in a typical week. The disappearance of work has adversely affected not only individuals, families, and neighborhoods, but the social life of a city at large as well� The consequences of high neighborhood joblessness are more devastating than those of high neighborhood poverty. A neighborhood in which people are poor but employed is different from one in which people are poor and jobless. Many of today’s problems in the inner-city ghetto neighborhoods---crime, family dissolution, welfare, low levels of social organization, and so on---are fundamentally a consequence of the disappearance of work.� (Pg. xiii)
He adds, “This book attempts to demonstrate that social structural factors are important for understanding joblessness and other experiences of the inner-city poor, but that there is much these factors do not explain. Although race is clearly an important variable in the social outcomes of inner-city blacks, much ambiguity remains about the meaning and significance of race in certain situations. Cultural factors do play a role� Social psychological variables � must be integrated� We need a broader vision that includes ALL of the major variables and� reveals their relative significance and their interaction in determining the experiences and life chanced of inner-city residents.� (Pg. xiv)
He continues, “The tendency of some liberals to deny the existence of culturally destructive behavior and attitudes in the inner city is once again to diminish the importance of the environment in determining the outcomes and life chances of individuals. The environment embodies both structural and cultural constraints and opportunities� This book also emphasizes that the disappearance of work and the growth of related problems in the ghetto have aggravated an already tense racial situation in urban areas.� (Pg. xviii-xix) He outlines, “I have in mind a vision that promotes values of racial and intergroup harmony and unity and rejects the commonly held view that race is so divisive that whites, blacks, Latinos, and other ethnic groups cannot work together in a common cause� I believe that this vision, supported by a public rhetoric of interracial unity, is essential to address the problems discussed in this book.� (Pg. xxi-xxii)
He states, “ghetto-related behaviors often represent particular cultural adaptations to the systematic blockage of opportunities in the environment of the inner city and the society as a whole. These adaptations are reflected in habits, skills, styles, and attitudes that are shaped over time.� (Pg. 72)
He notes, “There are many factors involved in the precipitous decline in marriage rates and the sharp rise in single-parent families. The explanation most often heard in the public debate associates the increase of out-of-wedlock births and single-parent families with welfare� However, the SCIENTIFIC evidence offers little support for the claim that AFDC benefits play a significant role in promoting out-of-wedlock births�. There is no evidence to suggest that welfare is a major factor in the rise of childbearing outside marriage.� (Pg. 94)
He observes, “Affirmative action policies, however, did not really open up broad avenues of upward mobility for the masses of disadvantaged blacks� they provided opportunities for those individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds with the greatest educational and social resources. A careful analysis of data on income, employment, and educational attainment would probably reveal that only a few individuals who reside in the inner-city ghetto have benefited from affirmative action.� (Pg. 197)
He continues, “The major distinguishing characteristic or affirmative action based on need is the recognition that the problems of the disadvantaged---low income, poor education, cultural and linguistic differences---are not always clearly related to previous racial discrimination. Children who grow up in homes plagued by these disadvantages are more likely to be denied an equal chance in life because the development of their aspirations and talents is hindered by their environment, regardless of race. Minorites would benefit disproportionately from affirmative opportunity programs designed to address these disadvantages because they suffer disproportionately from the effects of such environments, but the problems of disadvantaged whites would be addressed as well.� (Pg. 198)
He suggests, “A comprehensive race-neutral initiative to address economic and social inequality should be viewed as an extension of---not a replacement for---opportunity-enhancing programs that include race-based criteria to fight social inequality. I feel that such programs should employ flexible criteria of evaluation in college admission, hiring, job promotion, and so on, and should be based on a broad definition of disadvantage that incorporates notions of both NEED and RACE.� (Pg. 205)
He concludes, “Increasing the employment base would have an enormous positive impact on the social organization of ghetto neighborhoods. As more people become employed, crime, including violent crime, and drug use will subside; families will be strengthened and welfare receipt will decline significantly; ghetto-related culture and behavior, no longer sustained and nourished by persistent joblessness, will gradually fade� The attitudes of employers toward inner-city workers will undergo change, in part because they would be dealing with job applicants who have steady work experience� The long-term solutions that I have advance would reduce the likelihood that a new generation of jobless workers would be produced from the youngsters now in school and preschool. We must break the cycle of joblessness and improve the youngsters� preparation for the new labor market in the global economy.� (Pg. 238)
This book will be of great interest to those studying the economic and sociological factors affecting inner cities.
February 12, 2011
When I first read this book i thought it was fine. It gave a really clear depiction of how racism divided America between the urban poor and affluent white suburbia. It talks about how this divide literally separates the urban poor from jobs out in the suburbs. It goes into great detail of how companies left our cities taking jobs with them and leaving the urban poor with nothing. I thought it was a thorough and eye opening look at the cause of poverty in America.
But Tim Wise's book Colorblind is a rebuttal to this one. Wise argues that Wilson portrays racism as being something of the past. Wise details how people of color (Hispanics, Blacks and Asians) are discriminated against when they look for employment. How the more qualified are not hired. How the more qualified are underpaid. Asians are more educated but do not earn as much on average as whites. Societies ills are not a thing of a past they are very much at work in the present.
But Tim Wise's book Colorblind is a rebuttal to this one. Wise argues that Wilson portrays racism as being something of the past. Wise details how people of color (Hispanics, Blacks and Asians) are discriminated against when they look for employment. How the more qualified are not hired. How the more qualified are underpaid. Asians are more educated but do not earn as much on average as whites. Societies ills are not a thing of a past they are very much at work in the present.
July 10, 2010
the content is a little statistics heavy, which can be monotonous to read at times, and that's what bumped it down a star for me. otherwise, the book is a very interesting look at the factors that contribute to the makeup of the urban poor. contrary to popular belief, those factors are not made up 100% by "bad choices" or a "lack of values." the author contends, quite convincingly, that unequal access to jobs, housing, basic & supplemental services, and educational opportunities are major players in this game.
July 26, 2011
A dry pedestrian read which states the obvious -- unemployment and under education are the cause of urban poverty. In some ways, the book is in your face -- for example the 40% drop in real income for unskilled workers from pre-Reagan to post-Reagan. A closer look at the institutional contributions both gov't and corporate would have provided a narrower focus.
April 3, 2011
This is an incredible book. It describes the economic conditions of people trying to makes ends meet in a world where work is scarce. The moral compromises, the failure of the economic and political system to address this and the social circumstances and results. Very good.
November 8, 2018
If you have ever wondered why the segregated neighborhoods of America are rampant with crime, drug use, misguided youth and joblessness, Wilson's work offers some answers.
Best taken in small doses.
Best taken in small doses.
March 21, 2020
Solid reading experience, very informational analysis, and includes solutions & proposals to combat joblessness. Many of the insights and observations appear apt and accurate. Wilson writes about the attitudes that are prevalent and common in inner cities, particularly those that can be described as apathetic, despondent, belligerent and rebellious. He talks about real issues, such as why welfare is characterized & stigmatized as means for young, unmarried Afro-American mothers, and why there is a grievous cycle of higher rates of pregnancy within that system. Wilson touches on the poor record of young Afro-American men who don't hold much in the realm of work ethics: they're tardy or absent, disinclined to receive instruction from supervisors, steal, and are least likely to give a damn. Rather than deny the record he faces it and then goes deeper to reason why such young men behave in such manners that are self-destructive and self-recriminating.
I really like the subject matter of the book but did feel bogged down after the repetitive citing of statistical observations and trends among ethnicities. Graph after graph, chart after chart, illustrating the obvious: Afro-Americans are behind Euro-Americans & Latinos (& Asians) in every way. But, conversely, some statistics express the oneness of ethnicities in America. Indeed the expertise of Wilson is displayed in his parsing through the numbers, and the bars on the chart, to reveal hidden factors that lead to, and inveterate causes which manifest themselves in, increasing poverty and deteriorating social rights for the jobless. My favorite moments in reading the book were from his descriptive, narrative, conversational-style passages, and I grew numb to the many comparisons of percentages, decades, sub-groups, and so on.
I would recommend this book for those concerned. It's not a light-read though. My personal ethnicity is mixed half Afro half Asian, and I did identify with many of the problems that Wilson cited. I had (and have) friends who I couldn't ever imagine reading a book willingly, out of curiosity or erudition. Couldn't pay them to read a book! Lol. And I confess myself to just loving the "kick-it", those days when I'd just "chill" with the homies, no plans or appointments, relying on family (for the dinner, and for the bed, and for the driveway, and for the showers). Yet I'm also aware of the injustices that are known among my friends. There is an air of futility. As the saying has been heard, "We are living in a white man's world." There was a point in the book when this phrase was expressed, more or less, i.e. the feeling among some Afr0-Americans that no matter how good their track record is, and no matter the obstacles surmounted and evils shunned, the efforts and the produce of Afro-Americana will never be accepted on equal footing. Just when things might improve there will appear legislation to bat down such signs.
Wilson describes several important factors that have led to joblessness, namely the advancing technology that displaces low-skilled workers and necessitates more specific education and particular training. Industrial restructuring is also a big factor that causes many jobs to disappear from the city and to reappear in the suburbs. Wilson mentions then how discouraging it becomes for resource-less individuals to seek jobs so far away. He'll compare Afros to Mexicans and note that the latter possess veritable social networks (family, friends, friends' coworkers, et. al.) that allow for carpools, job-leads & interviews, as well as mental support. A further point he'll make is to say that migrants already come from impoverished conditions and so are more readily willing to take menial jobs.
There are as well some revealing interviews from employers who make clear their thoughts on Afro-American workers. And in fairness I heard not a hint of bigotry or meanness in their (employers) responses. Much of the book can be described in this frank way. Wilson speaks to the problems, analyzes their sources, and willfully proposes plans, remedies and solutions. If he left the book without any such proposals then I'd be feeling deprived, or taken for a ride, as it were, but because he does wrap it all up with three plans to consider I bump this up to the 4-star rating.
I really like the subject matter of the book but did feel bogged down after the repetitive citing of statistical observations and trends among ethnicities. Graph after graph, chart after chart, illustrating the obvious: Afro-Americans are behind Euro-Americans & Latinos (& Asians) in every way. But, conversely, some statistics express the oneness of ethnicities in America. Indeed the expertise of Wilson is displayed in his parsing through the numbers, and the bars on the chart, to reveal hidden factors that lead to, and inveterate causes which manifest themselves in, increasing poverty and deteriorating social rights for the jobless. My favorite moments in reading the book were from his descriptive, narrative, conversational-style passages, and I grew numb to the many comparisons of percentages, decades, sub-groups, and so on.
I would recommend this book for those concerned. It's not a light-read though. My personal ethnicity is mixed half Afro half Asian, and I did identify with many of the problems that Wilson cited. I had (and have) friends who I couldn't ever imagine reading a book willingly, out of curiosity or erudition. Couldn't pay them to read a book! Lol. And I confess myself to just loving the "kick-it", those days when I'd just "chill" with the homies, no plans or appointments, relying on family (for the dinner, and for the bed, and for the driveway, and for the showers). Yet I'm also aware of the injustices that are known among my friends. There is an air of futility. As the saying has been heard, "We are living in a white man's world." There was a point in the book when this phrase was expressed, more or less, i.e. the feeling among some Afr0-Americans that no matter how good their track record is, and no matter the obstacles surmounted and evils shunned, the efforts and the produce of Afro-Americana will never be accepted on equal footing. Just when things might improve there will appear legislation to bat down such signs.
Wilson describes several important factors that have led to joblessness, namely the advancing technology that displaces low-skilled workers and necessitates more specific education and particular training. Industrial restructuring is also a big factor that causes many jobs to disappear from the city and to reappear in the suburbs. Wilson mentions then how discouraging it becomes for resource-less individuals to seek jobs so far away. He'll compare Afros to Mexicans and note that the latter possess veritable social networks (family, friends, friends' coworkers, et. al.) that allow for carpools, job-leads & interviews, as well as mental support. A further point he'll make is to say that migrants already come from impoverished conditions and so are more readily willing to take menial jobs.
There are as well some revealing interviews from employers who make clear their thoughts on Afro-American workers. And in fairness I heard not a hint of bigotry or meanness in their (employers) responses. Much of the book can be described in this frank way. Wilson speaks to the problems, analyzes their sources, and willfully proposes plans, remedies and solutions. If he left the book without any such proposals then I'd be feeling deprived, or taken for a ride, as it were, but because he does wrap it all up with three plans to consider I bump this up to the 4-star rating.
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June 19, 2020A big part of my service at Neighborhood House involves workforce readiness, so I am in frequent contact with unemployed individuals. I decided to read this book to learn more about the author's perspective on the phenomenon. William Julius Wilson is a former University of Chicago professor and unofficial advisor to Bill Clinton. He contends that record levels of unemployment and disappearing jobs in inner-city neighborhoods are the root cause of poverty and social distress among African Americans. This perspective interested me because I had always thought that the scourge of drugs and the breakdown of the family were the cause, and that those things caused unemployment. Julius believes that structural changes can cause a turnaround in the wellbeing of poor neighborhoods,
The author traces the problems of the inner city not just to a 'culture of poverty' but to the US transition from a manufacturing to a service economy - a development that was particularly detrimental to urban black residents, who often possess few of the skills, such as computer proficiency, needed in this new kind of economy. The traditional type of blue collar jobs have disappeared, resulting in disenfranchisement and hopelessness for many people. Wilson traces historical U.S. attitudes about poverty, welfare, and race before suggesting policies to "break the cycle of joblessness and improve [students'] preparation for the new [global] labor market."
I would recommend this book to all CTEP members who are working with unemployed adults or even the youth of unemployed families. It sheds light on a perplexing problem, and emphasizes the need to retrain and instill confidence in populations who have been adversely affected by the shift in the economy.
The author traces the problems of the inner city not just to a 'culture of poverty' but to the US transition from a manufacturing to a service economy - a development that was particularly detrimental to urban black residents, who often possess few of the skills, such as computer proficiency, needed in this new kind of economy. The traditional type of blue collar jobs have disappeared, resulting in disenfranchisement and hopelessness for many people. Wilson traces historical U.S. attitudes about poverty, welfare, and race before suggesting policies to "break the cycle of joblessness and improve [students'] preparation for the new [global] labor market."
I would recommend this book to all CTEP members who are working with unemployed adults or even the youth of unemployed families. It sheds light on a perplexing problem, and emphasizes the need to retrain and instill confidence in populations who have been adversely affected by the shift in the economy.
September 19, 2024
This review is long over due. Some of what Wilson described can also apply to those who don’t have regular employment. It nice again reminds me of the importance of work as a source of purpose for life.
Simply, work is not simply a way to make a living and support one’s family. It also constitutes a framework for daily behavior and patterns of interaction because it imposes disciplines and regularities. Thus, in the absence of regular employment, a person lacks not only a place in which to work and the receipt of regular income but also a coherent organization of the present—that is, a system of concrete expectations and goals. Regular employment provides the anchor for the spatial and temporal aspects of daily life. It determines where you are going to be and when you are going to be there. In the absence of regular employment, life, including family life, becomes less coherent. Persistent unemployment and irregular employment hinder rational planning in daily life, the necessary condition of adaptation to an industrial economy.
Simply, work is not simply a way to make a living and support one’s family. It also constitutes a framework for daily behavior and patterns of interaction because it imposes disciplines and regularities. Thus, in the absence of regular employment, a person lacks not only a place in which to work and the receipt of regular income but also a coherent organization of the present—that is, a system of concrete expectations and goals. Regular employment provides the anchor for the spatial and temporal aspects of daily life. It determines where you are going to be and when you are going to be there. In the absence of regular employment, life, including family life, becomes less coherent. Persistent unemployment and irregular employment hinder rational planning in daily life, the necessary condition of adaptation to an industrial economy.
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August 20, 2019This book was written in the mid-90's so seems dated. However, I believe the problems of extreme poverty still plague the US. This book blames the disappearance of manufacturing jobs that have now been replaced with technologies that require skills that these workers do not have. The author suggests that this joblessness over decades has also caused culture changes. The ideas near the end of the book look for government correction of these problems and suggests so ideas but for the most part there has been no consistency in government policies toward improving this situation. An interesting read.
September 9, 2023
I absolutely love reading books that give me a new perspective. I really found this book fascinating. So many stats but also stories and interviews discussing the impacts of joblessness in the urban ghettos. I first heard about this book when a panelist mentioned it while discussing the issue of fatherlessness. After he mentioned it, I immediately got on Amazon and ordered a used version. I’m so glad I did. I feel like it’s opened my eyes and helped me to see aspects that I hadn’t previously. The book was written 25 years ago, but I believe much is still applicable to today. Definitely recommend if you’re into more policy/issue books. (Not a light, easy read.)
March 5, 2021
This was a slow start, but the later chapters do a very good job of pulling together the data he presents at the beginning and making compelling arguments. Wilson swings a bit wide in his conclusion, but it was thought provoking, well written, and compelling overall.
May 8, 2018
I think I'm over reading on this topic. Wilson provides a different view on the topic of poverty in Chicago and he is worth listening to and criticizing if one knows enough on the topic.
September 8, 2018
A very good analysis of joblessness in inner-city America.
July 27, 2023
Had me until the concluding arguments and recommended actions.
Also charter schools didnt work.
Also charter schools didnt work.
September 15, 2012
This is an excellent, fact based, academically approached discussion on race and poverty in the United States. From my vantage point, the conclusions through the book were not particularly eye-opening, but I recognize that for some it might be. This leads me to the comment that I always make about books addressing social policy. The people who need to read this book, those who continue to spew harsh judgments and can be well versed to influence politicians and public opinion, are unfortunately not the ones who will read this book or be receptive to Wilson’s recommendations. For every book such as Wilson’s, there are only ten more that are poised to give contrary information. Even worse, talking heads on news networks have taken over the forum in the United States for political discussion rather than information from leading intellectuals.
Although the book was written in 1996, the problems have only worsened and we are not even near to accomplishing Wilson’s proposals for the U.S., other than making some headway in universal healthcare. The tone of the current election campaigns is leaning toward restricting the necessary government spending to enable structural changes to take place. Furthermore, corporations are under enormous pressure to deliver results that investments in workforce will be geared toward those already equipped with the relevant skill set rather than developing the disadvantaged to suit their needs, which was one of Wilson’s recommendations (a high-school to full time work placement program).
As I am currently residing in Europe, it was interesting to see how the author’s predictions concerning Western Europe came to fruition within the last two years. However, an area where I feel he could have drawn more parallels in his closing chapter was the U.S. and Japan, but this is hindsight bias.
One thing that stood out that I think could be helpful in framing discussions such as these, is using “low-skilled� interchangeably with “manufacturing� as a description for work. We need to remove any negative stigma associated with jobs and skill level and reframe our means of thinking that in order for a service industry to exist, a strong base of other industries, including manufacturing, is critical. Otherwise, we face the same logic that a job in an illicit industry is more honorable than earning a honest living as a branded “low-skilled� worker.
According to the US BIS, the manufacturing industry historically has highest GDP multiplier of all industries. I strongly believe manufacturing will eventually make a resurgence back to the U.S. as rising logistics costs and wages in Asia outpace the benefit. We need to ensure that current US citizens are motivated and poised to accept these jobs as a viable option to live versus a glamorized version of life funded by illicit work.
Although the book was written in 1996, the problems have only worsened and we are not even near to accomplishing Wilson’s proposals for the U.S., other than making some headway in universal healthcare. The tone of the current election campaigns is leaning toward restricting the necessary government spending to enable structural changes to take place. Furthermore, corporations are under enormous pressure to deliver results that investments in workforce will be geared toward those already equipped with the relevant skill set rather than developing the disadvantaged to suit their needs, which was one of Wilson’s recommendations (a high-school to full time work placement program).
As I am currently residing in Europe, it was interesting to see how the author’s predictions concerning Western Europe came to fruition within the last two years. However, an area where I feel he could have drawn more parallels in his closing chapter was the U.S. and Japan, but this is hindsight bias.
One thing that stood out that I think could be helpful in framing discussions such as these, is using “low-skilled� interchangeably with “manufacturing� as a description for work. We need to remove any negative stigma associated with jobs and skill level and reframe our means of thinking that in order for a service industry to exist, a strong base of other industries, including manufacturing, is critical. Otherwise, we face the same logic that a job in an illicit industry is more honorable than earning a honest living as a branded “low-skilled� worker.
According to the US BIS, the manufacturing industry historically has highest GDP multiplier of all industries. I strongly believe manufacturing will eventually make a resurgence back to the U.S. as rising logistics costs and wages in Asia outpace the benefit. We need to ensure that current US citizens are motivated and poised to accept these jobs as a viable option to live versus a glamorized version of life funded by illicit work.
Read
January 13, 2010It is an intellectual paradox that living in a society that has been a sea of unemployment, American poverty researchers have concentrated their research interests on the work motivation of the poor rather than on the cyclical nature of employment in the United States. - William Julius Wilson
In the promotion of social rights today, it is important to appreciate that the poor and the working classes of all racial groups struggle to make ends meet, and even the middle class has experienced a decline in its living standard. Indeed, Americans across racial and class boundaries worry about unemployment and job security, declining real wages, escalating medical and housing costs, the availability of affordable child care programs, the sharp decline in the quality of public education, and crime and drug traffincking in their neighborhoods. - William Julius Wilson
Food stamps, Medicaid, and the Supplemental Security Income program (SSI) do provide some relief, but as currently designed, they have virtually no effect on the continuing poverty rates among the nonelderly. In short, targeted programs for the poor in the United States do not even begin to address inequities in the social class system. Instead of helping to integrate the recipients into the broader economic and social life of mainstream society - to "capitalize" them into a different educational or residential stratum, as the GI bill and the postwar federal mortgage programs did for working- and middle-class whites - they tend to stigmatize and separate them. - William Julius Wilson
In the promotion of social rights today, it is important to appreciate that the poor and the working classes of all racial groups struggle to make ends meet, and even the middle class has experienced a decline in its living standard. Indeed, Americans across racial and class boundaries worry about unemployment and job security, declining real wages, escalating medical and housing costs, the availability of affordable child care programs, the sharp decline in the quality of public education, and crime and drug traffincking in their neighborhoods. - William Julius Wilson
Food stamps, Medicaid, and the Supplemental Security Income program (SSI) do provide some relief, but as currently designed, they have virtually no effect on the continuing poverty rates among the nonelderly. In short, targeted programs for the poor in the United States do not even begin to address inequities in the social class system. Instead of helping to integrate the recipients into the broader economic and social life of mainstream society - to "capitalize" them into a different educational or residential stratum, as the GI bill and the postwar federal mortgage programs did for working- and middle-class whites - they tend to stigmatize and separate them. - William Julius Wilson
August 16, 2012
William Julius Wilson is a towering intellectual in the field of sociology who tackles the issues of poverty and joblessness with rigor. His critique of both the liberal and conservative view points about urban youth and the lack of jobs are insightful. He offers pragmatic alternative solutions for both the ordinary citizen and policy-maker to challenge the modern polity. Even Adam Smith would had shuddered at the thought of an economy that might produced mass unemployment and create an underclass that lacks access to resources to help enhance skills so they can participate in the market force. A penetrating analysis of the 70-90s that still has strong philosophical merit in our times. Definitely a worthwhile read.
April 15, 2017
William Julius Wilson’s When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor argues that all the problems we associate with the ghetto (e.g. crime, the drug trade) stem from deindustrialization and the subsequent unemployment, as well as government policies favoring the suburbs over the cities. Wilson also examines the role of such factors as: attitudes, family structure, and race. Furthermore, Wilson also offers a comparative analysis of European and American attitudes about poverty, as well as policy responses.
Wilson’s book is well-researched and attempts to be as objective as possible—he critiques both the conventional liberal and conventional conservative responses to this issue—and presents a solid case for why lack of employment opportunities affects us all
Wilson’s book is well-researched and attempts to be as objective as possible—he critiques both the conventional liberal and conventional conservative responses to this issue—and presents a solid case for why lack of employment opportunities affects us all
July 8, 2011
Though the book may be slightly dated by now, as an overview of the structural failings that have led to the development of high-poverty neighbourhoods Wilson's work is as fascinating as it is depressing. He is careful to draw on as much empirical research as possible (which albeit probably lends to the slight dryness in his tone), and I particularly like is emphasis on balancing cultural and structural factors. His policy recommendations, while definitely well thought out and nuanced seemed to me just slightly too optimistic though I certainly hope that I'm wrong on that count.
March 10, 2008
This is a good book to read if you are curious about poverty and inner city ghettos. The author is a demographer, so he includes a lot of statistics. There are also a lot of qoutes from people who live in these situations. I wouldn't have read it if it hadn't been assigned for a class, but I would say I have a better understanding of what causes poverty and the problems associated with it and what can be done to alleviate it.
March 9, 2007
A very good look at class struggle, income disparity, and the dynamic of changing neighborhoods because of "white flight."
I recommend this to anyone who is remotely interested in urban issues, and wanting to see change in American society.
I recommend this to anyone who is remotely interested in urban issues, and wanting to see change in American society.
October 24, 2008
Great overview of what makes urban areas appear and how they are formulated. Great read for those interested in present day urban studies and great overview of the history. Another surprising good read. Although, this isn't a beach or vacation read for sure. :)
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