The Underclass Debate

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The UnderclassDebate
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Who are the underclass?

• Historically, the underclass are people who were
  seen as below the working class, people with low
  morals and no skills.
• Karl Marx called these people the
  lumpenproletariat and referred to them as scum

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The modern underclass

• There is no agreed definition of who this group
  are.
• Most definitions seem to share the following
  characteristics
• Joblessness by choice
• Social exclusion
• Benefit dependency
• Criminality and fecklessness

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Saunders (1990)

• a stratum of people who are generally poor,
  unqualified and irregularly or never employed.
  This underclass is disproportionately recruited
  today from among Afro-Caribbeans, people living
  in the north, those who are trapped in run-down
  council estates or in single parent families

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Runciman 1990

• those members of British society whose roles
  place them more or less permanently at the
  economic level where benefits are paid by the
  state to those unable to participate in the
  labour market at all they are the poor of
  today

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The modern debate

• In modern Britain, there are many areas of high
  unemployment, criminality and poverty. These are
  associated with people dependent on benefits to
  survive.
• Murray, an American sociologist says that the
  underclass exist because people have become
  dependent on benefits and have no incentive to
  work.
• Is this analysis a true reflection of British
  society?

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Views of the underclass

• Cultural explanations suggest that it is the
  failure of individuals or whole groups in society
  that creates an underclass in society
• Murray

• Structured views of the underclass suggest that
  society itself is flawed. The government has not
  provided adequate work.
• Wilson

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Cultural Explanations It is the fault of the
individuals/groups

• By the time slum children are 6 or 7 they
  have usually absorbed the basic values and
  attitudes of their subculture and are
  psychologically geared to take full advantage of
  any opportunities which may occur in their
  lifetime Oscar Lewis

The underclass is characterised by family
instability, violent crime, drug abuse, dropping
out of employment and scrounging off the
state. Charles Murray
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Structured Underclass

• Different from the cultural underclass
  perspective because it blames the inequalities in
  society, rather than the cultural values of the
  poor.
• The underclass exists because the material
  resources needed to succeed in society are
  distributed unequally.
• Field (1989) supports this idea because he argues
  that in times of economic recession and failure,
  there is more evidence of an underclass emerging,
  an example being the end of the Thatcher
  government.

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Relevant studies to consider and quote

• These ideas provide you with evidence to support
  your analysis of the underclass debate

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Golding and Middleton

• Newspaper reporting gives rise to the notion of
  underclass.
• Most reports view benefit recipients as
  scroungers who enjoy comfortable life styles at
  the expense of tax-payers.
• This is far from reality for most people but is a
  powerful myth.

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Howard Williamson (1990)

• Studied a group of 16-17 year olds not involved
  in formal employment or education.
• WHY? Unhappy childhood, history of abuse, drug
  misuse and law breaking.
• EVALUATION
• Not a fixed cultural group as different people
  had differing experiences. Some were
  entrepreneurial and not all offended regularly.
• Most still subscribed to the dominant set of
  values but simply could not get there.

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William Wilson (1996)

• The government has failed to generate enough jobs
  for people.
• This leads to social isolation in bad
  neighbourhoods
• Joblessness is a way of life
• This undermines the nuclear family and destroys
  the social fabric of poor people.

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Assessing and evaluating underclass debates

• Why are some sociologists reluctant to accept the
  term?
• Is it better to talk of excluded groups rather
  than an underclass?
• Are the underclass different from the ordinary
  working class?

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Outline and assess sociological theories of the
underclass
A Cultural Problem
A Structural Problem

• Lewis Culture of poverty
• Murray Culturally distinct
• Marsland Dependency on benefits

• Tom Hall Homeless in Southerton
• Williamson SZY
• Field Not one category
• Rex and Tomlinson
• Structural Break

Conclusion Is there an underclass? If so, which
theories account for it best?