The Underclass: Culture and Race Lecture 11

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The Underclass Culture and RaceLecture 11
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(No Transcript)
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Why are some people persistently poor?

• Possible answers examined (debunked) in Chapter 8
• Because they are mired in a culture of poverty
• Because they are members of an inferior race
• Be sure to distinguish between the cycle of
  poverty and the culture of poverty.

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The Culture of Poverty

• The poor lack sufficient desire and motivation to
  escape poverty
• They dont behave in ways that would help them
  escape poverty. i.e. that prolong their
  impoverishment
• They are self-indulgent and unable to defer
  gratification

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Validating the Culture of Poverty

• Schiller gives two standards that must be
  satisfied to validate the culture of poverty
• It must be shown that the norms and
  aspirations--not just the behavior--of the poor
  are different and that these differences impede
  escape from poverty.
• It must also be shown whether and to what degree
  such differences would disappear under changing
  socio-economic circumstances.
• Source Schiller, p. 142

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Validating the Culture of Poverty, cont.

• Why isnt it sufficient to document differences
  in behavior? Why must we verify differences in
  norms and aspirations?
• What methods can we employ to verify that the
  persistently poor have different norms and
  aspirations?

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Validating the Culture of Poverty, cont.

• What kind of data could we collect to test the
  hypothesis that the persistently poor would not
  join the mainstream if their socio-economic
  circumstances changed?

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A test of deferred gratification

• We saw in the last lecture that birth rates for
  women with family incomes less than 10,000
  (95.8) are almost twice that for women in
  families with incomes of 75,000 and more (54.8).
  Is this evidence that the poor seek more
  immediate gratification than the nonpoor?

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Schillers 4-way test

• We can conclude that values and not circumstances
  differ if
• The satisfaction being deferred is equally
  important to the poor and nonpoor
• There is equal opportunity to defer the
  satisfaction
• The poor and nonpoor suffer equally from
  deferment and
• The probability of obtaining gratification at the
  end of the deferment period is equal for both
  groups
• If any of these conditions is violated,
  observable differences in behavioral outcomes
  must be due to differences in situations.

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Wilsons Underclass Theory

• Persistent urban poverty is the result of the
  combined, interacting effects of joblessness,
  deteriorating neighborhoods, and the oppositional
  culture these forces generate
• Work disappears
• Stable, working-class families move out
• Employment networks disintegrate
• Role models disappear
• Number of two-parent families declines
• Community institutions dependent of resources
  provided by middle-class families decline or
  disappear

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Wilsons Underclass Theory, cont.

• poor youth become socially isolated from
  mainstream social networks that facilitate social
  and economic advancement, and become more
  vulnerable to
• Gangs
• Drugs
• Dropping out of school
• Teen pregnancies
• These behaviors impede their economic and social
  mobility

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Policy Implications

• What types of policies are dictated by the
  Culture of Poverty Theory?
• By Wilsons Underclass Theory?
• Do the two sets of policies overlap? Explain.

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Experiences from American Dream

• Did you find any evidence regarding direct tests
  of aspirations in the chapters about the lives of
  Angie, Jewell, and Opal that support or refute
  the culture of poverty theory? Explain.
• Can you cite passages that suggest that any of
  the women were content with their lives? Which
  ones?

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Experiences from American Dream, cont.

• Did you find any evidence in the chapters about
  the lives of Angie, Jewell, and Opal that
  supports Wilsons theory that the poor respond
  positively to expanded economic opportunities?
  Explain.

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The Racial Inferiority Theory

• Any questions about pp. 148-154?
• We will assume that Schiller is correct when he
  concludes that racial theories of black poverty
  based on the theory of racial inferiority have
  been discredited.

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The Racial Inferiority Theory, Cont.

• Even so, we have to contend with the views of the
  American public
• White Americans favor a racial explanation for
  the overrepresentation of blacks among the poor 3
  to 1.
• 1 in 2 whites believe blacks have less ambition
  than whites
• Fewer that 1 in 6 whites believe racial
  discrimination is a serious problem

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The Racial Inferiority Theory, Cont.

• Clinton said, I really believe that if we passed
  welfare reform . . . we could diminish at least a
  lot of the overt racial stereotypes that I
  thought were paralyzing American politics? (152).
• In your view, has this happened? Explain. Has
  debate over welfare reform been cleansed of
  racism?