Word: underclass
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Wilson makes no bones about being a social democrat, and his policy suggestions are correspondingly nothing if not ambitious in the context of American politics. He is not afraid to claim that helping the underclass entails an overhaul of the American economy and growth in the public sector...
...real impact of the concentration of poverty in the ghettos and the increasing social isolation of the underclass has been to create "a social milieu significantly different from the environment that existed in these communities several decades ago." Increasingly, the members of the underclass live in a world radically different from mainstream society...
...recognition of the impact of structural constraints and opportunities on the life chances of the underclass opens up a slew of public policy alternatives. Wilson states in his preface that a major goal of The Truly Disadvantaged is precisely to spell out some of these public policy alternatives...
Given that the underclass is over-whlemingly comprised of Blacks and Hispanics, it may at first seem suprising that Wilson opposes affirmative action. Wilson has two objections to racespecific policies. First, affirmative action programs in their different forms all tend to benefit the relatively well-off disproportianately. For inner-city Blacks without access to an appropriate job market, affirmative action is of little use. Secondly, race-specific policies are notoriously unpopular politically, especially in times when the economy suffers setbacks...
...both economic growth and a tight labor market" combined with fiscal and monetary policies designed to curb inflation. A tight labor market would raise wages and aid the truly disadvantaged disproportionately, as increased labor force participation rates for both Black men and Black women would go far in stabilizing underclass family and community structure...