...Like most challenging, longstanding problems, the underclass will improve with aid, but it will require time. The underclass is not simply an obstacle that can be overcomed with one quick fix. It requires sufficient time to allow multiple programs to work through the kinks and accumulate successful results. As William Wilson claims in The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy, short-term and target-specific programs are needed now. However, they are hardly a true solution, because they do not address the problems of economic organization, which Wilson argues has the heaviest impact on the underclass. He suggests the solution is universal programs that help all individuals, both advantaged and disadvantaged, with less emphasis on racial discrimination and more on fixing economic organization (123-4). Personally, I agree with Wilson. The underclass is a...
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...Sinclair uses slaughterhouse to repersent the socirty to the underclass and the hogs in the slaughterhouse to repersent the underclass workers. For example, in chapter 3, he describes the hogs that “they were so innocent, they came so very trustingly; and they were so very human in their protests.” This quotation shows that in hogs is hopeful to where they are going to go, but they don’t know that thay are going to face is excruciation and death. Jurgis uses the hogs to represent the immigrants who come to America with their beautiful American dream, thinking about the wonderful life in America, such as Jurgis. However, what they don’t know where they are going to a society that never give them the life in their dream but only oppression, hopeless, inhuman and injustice, the “slaughterhouse.” By indecating the difficulty and helpless of those underclass people to the readers throught using symbolism, Sinclair makes the central idea much more...
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...describe a person’s socioeconomic status. They are upper class, middle class, lower class, and underclass. Upper class families tend to have inherited their wealth. They have a family tradition of social prominence that goes back throughout several generations and puts emphasis on the external family. Countless upper class families consider proper rearing more important than formal schooling in preparing to achieve adult roles. Children of upper class who do receive schooling normally attend private schools and colleges. Their focus of education is usually on an occupation that holds a high status, such as business, medicine, and law. Children of upper class families may be perceived as more knowledgeable because of this. In addition, children receive proper health care because their parents can afford it (Berns, 2010). Underclass families tend to have a feeling of hopelessly regarding their ability to gain wealth. They feel as though they are stuck where they are at and cannot get out. “The underclass is composed of many faces: female-headed families; street-living homeless alcoholics, drug users, and the mentally ill who have been deinstitutionalized; the destitute elderly, illegal aliens, rural families from economically depressed areas; and any other group who, for whatever reason, cannot get an adequate education, job, or housing” (Berns, 2010, p. 101). Children of underclass families do not have access to private schools and colleges normally because of their lack of...
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...into three classes: top 1%, middle class, and underclass each showing the average kitchen table for their class. Wuerker uses a strategic layout, colors, details, and captions to demonstrate his point. This visual is effective because it criticizes the inequality of the riches in America. From the first glance of Wuerker’s layout of the image stands out. The three social classes of America are divided and stacked strategically to portray the artist’s message. The top 1% takes up half of the frame while the middle class and underclass share the other half. With this placement Wuerker displays how the top 1% controls well beyond their means. The three tables are also pictured in a static manor; each table is enclosed and separated from the others. The separation demonstrates the difficultly in moving from one class to the other. Wuerker ultimately shows that there is no social mobility in the United States; one is ultimately destined to remain where they are. The color contrast between each table also helps distinguish the social rankings among the classes. The top 1% has a vibrant gold through out the entire frame. Gold Hernandez 2 represents riches and power, best exemplified by the higher class. The middle class is shown in green, also known as the color of money. When compared between the three classes, the middle class does have money but not much more than the underclass and nowhere near the top 1%’s riches. The underclass’ frame is drawn mostly in blue with no connection...
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...Realism occurred in the 70’s and 80’s in changing politics. The realist view is that crime is not just a social construction, but is a real problem that needs to be tackled. Realists believe that there has been a significant rise in the crime rate and favours a tough approach against it, as they think that other theories have failed to offer a solution to crime. The left realists Lea and Young attempt to give an explanation to street crime, committed by young people in urban areas. These sociologists took a victim survey which suggested that working-class and black people, especially elderly women, have a fear of street crime, as they are often victims of crime. Their explanation of why crime is committed by revolves around three key concepts. Firstly, relative deprivation, which explains how one person feel sin relation to another, this leads into crime very easily as people can feel as if others are unfairly better off than they are, and this resentment can lead to crime. Lea and Young suggests that although in today’s society people are more affluent they are still aware of their relative deprivation because of the media and advertising, which increase everyone’s expectation on standards of living. This is linked to the idea of individualism, because this undermines the family and community values of mutual support, cooperation and selflessness, which results in anti-social behaviour. The second concept of why crime is committed is marginalisation. Left realists argue...
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...Deviance is an act of behaviour that goes against the norms and values of society, such as being loud in the cinema. Right Realists believe crime is a real problem to be tackled not just a social construction (Interactionism) due to a significant rise in crime especially with street crime such as burglary and assault. They are concerned about the widespread fear of crime and about the impact of crime on its victims and argue other theories have failed to offer realistic solutions. In this essay I will outline and assess Right realists explanations of crime by referring to Wilson, Marsland, Hircshi, and use New right theorists Murray and Clark to support and criticise them. Right realist share New Right/ neo-conservative views about the underclass causing and committing crime. They argue that crime has become out of control and that society should get tougher on crime with harsher sentencing. In 1980s and 1990s society witnessed increasing levels of crime. Wilson is the father of Right Realism. He was a right wing policy advisor to Ronald Regan and had a very conservative view. Thus believing people are responsible for their own lives. He rejected the claim that the economic recession was to blame for the crime explosion due to the economic boom in the 1960s was accompanied by a huge rise in crime too. Wilson argued men living in inner cities are the main source of crime- they are socially and biologically determined to becoming criminals, as they have not been socialised properly...
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...The white underclass is economically oppressed and given a certain social status. For example, the white underclass was ongoing economic oppression in the automotive industry. The automotive industry took a decline with the end of WWII. The combination of high oil prices and competition from foreign manufactures effected companies such as Chrysler and Ford. The beginning of WWII, the automotive industries received ten million dollars in war efforts. With the great depression, it brought blue collar working class to white underclass status. The unemployed white underclass used to work in the automotive industry and made decent money. The automotive industries were not located in the cities, but in rural towns like Duluth, Minnesota and Portland, Maine. There was no reason for blue collar class people of Lakeside to attend school. Their education level did not exceed the tenth grade. With no extended education, it made the white underclass underemployed. Parents told their sons to not waste their time with school and come to work in the automotive industry as young as 14 to 15 years old. The girls were told to go to college to find a husband (Lecture). Today, American car parts are being manufactured overseas. In Flint, Michigan the majority of people made parts and worked on the assembly line. It went from fifty people working on the assembly line to just having three people making sure the machines were working properly (Lecture). The economy once driven by industry is now...
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...The destructors "The destructors" by Graham Greene is a story that talks about warfare between people in the top class and underclass. There is a gang which is consisted by several kids who are all stay in the underclass. They are too young to understand what the class struggle exactly means. After their county suffers the war and their homes are destroyed, they hate the unfair phenomenon exist in the society. They hate the war leaves them such a miserable life. When they aim to destroy Mr. Tomas's house, which is the only survived house in this area after the war, their purpose is only for destroying anything that better than theirs. They don't take money from Mr. Tomas who belongs to the top of class; they only want to make this society treat everyone as the same. However, tearing down Mr. Tomas's house is not only a childhood mischief but a definitely delinquency. When Mr. Tomas loses all of his property, how poor he is. He earns money by his hard work, so he deserves to have a good standard of living. Eventually, people's jealousy and hate destroy his life. In the end of the story, when the driver, who also lives in the underclass, finds what happen to Mr. Tomas, he only thinks this is funny instead of having any sympathy for him. In his inner mind, he may be satisfied by what the kids do. However, the unfair phenomenon in the society cannot be destroy by several groups or even by time passes. This phenomenon will continue exist in the...
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...perpetuates moral panics as a means of swaying the public to agree with their views. For example, the media claims that elderly people are scared to be attacked when venturing out, when in actuality crimes against OAP’s are minimal. (0.3 against men 75+ and 0.2 against women aged the same). Right realists believe that official statistics often underreport crime. But right realists believe they are able to paint a more realistic picture of crime and deviance in the UK. Right realists believe that crime is a growing social problem and is largely committed by lower working class male juveniles, often black, in inner city areas. Right realists believe that there are six causes of crime: The breakdown in moral fabric of society; a growing underclass in the UK; a breakdown in social order; opportunity for crime and that some people commit crime as a deliberate and rational choice. As more crime is committed, society itself deteriorates and this in turn leads to more crime. Marsland in 1988 stated that crime and deviancy is linked to the breakdown in the moral fabric of society. Schools and religion have become less effective agencies of social control and that the moral glue of society, which gave it its authority, has gone. Marsland believes that this has led to a decline in morality and as a consequence, crime has increased. Durkheim advocated that institutions such as the family make society and that without them, society breaks down. Over the years, the respect for people’s...
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...one works a full time job. They are able to employ an in home caregiver to care for the children. They are able to have better health care, and are also able to purchase healthier food for the family. Upper class families have mannerisms and values that are distinct from those of the underclass families. Upper class children are socialized into high culture, for example, being taken to the opera or playing a musical instrument. Upper class children have a better education since they are placed in private schools at the elementary levels, and then sent off to private boarding schools and universities. They have the means to travel everywhere and offer the children the experience of seeing other worlds and cultures. In an underclass family we often see both parents working; in some families only a single parent has to work long hours to put food on the table. Since they have to work long hours, they spend very little time with their children. Some underclass families do not have a high education and are not able to help their children with their homework. Most parents of underclass families do not see the benefit of participating in activities their children have in school. Underclass families lack role models and quality time with their parents. This lack of attention and love creates a vicious circle of teenage pregnancies and drug abuse. They cannot afford good food and health care so their children miss out on good nutrition essential for their growth and development...
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...Killer dogs 1. The first text is written by Jamie Doward. He mentions a senior police officer named Bernard Hogan-Howe who has demanded a change in the law on dangerous dogs. He wants a new law because a little girl was brutaly killed by a pit bull. The reason for changing the law is to protect children and victims of dog attacks in general. The girl's death led to an inspection where dog owners could get their perhaps dangerous and illegal dogs examined by the police. About 200 dogs where sent away. But later the dogs who got sent away was given back because of the big grey area there is about defining a dangerous dog. A man from a kennel club also said “ Pit bulls have certain traits but in the hands of responsible owners they would not be a danger”(L. 39-40). RSPCA is also critical about the current law and says that only a few people can define an American pit bull. The second text is written by Victoria Stilwell who’s an animal-behaviour expert. She gives an outline on how you should act and deal with dogs. She says that it is important that you take your dog to dog training. She also says that it's very important that you chose your dog very carefully. She claims that it is the owner of the dogs’ responsibility if someone gets hurt and you may never leave kids alone with dogs. She uses the following example: “You would not leave your baby alone with a stranger - so why a dog?”(L.16). She does not believe the whole breed is the problem but only how the pets are raised...
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...suffering in an individual’s lifespan, depicts the level of happiness in their next life. Marxists would say that with this ideology people live ‘modest’ lives. People are brainwashed into accepting their ‘fate’ rather than attempting to rise above it, in hopes of a lavish afterlife. However Marx’s work is very outdated as he wrote most of it in the 1800s and although the basis of what he said may still be the case, a lot of it no longer applies to current society as people have begun questioning rather than accepting their circumstances. Louis Althusser developed on Marxists theories; he believed that the underclasses are controlled by the ruling class. Althusser deduces that as a result of ruling class ideas being inflicted on the underclass, they are brainwashed into believing their ideologies of life. For example: predetermined ideas about gender, class, ethnicity and sexuality. Louis Althusser discusses ideology suggesting that people lose their individuality and become subjects based on ideological views. He goes on to say ideology interpellates these individuals, as subjects (the subject is given meaning through ideology). They are no longer individuals but...
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...Running Head: Poverty Examination of a Concept: Poverty Shelton Land Virginia Commonwealth University Poverty 2 EXAMINATION OF A CONCEPT: POVERTY Introduction Poverty has existed persistently since it was uncovered. The results of a family or individual living in poverty range from infectious diseases to drug abuse. “As the economy has shifted from the industrial sector to services and computer based technology, the impact has hit hardest for working class and poor families, with limited education, job skills and employment opportunities” (Walsh, 2003, pp.17). Despite the effects of poverty, different individuals have different perceptions about the persisting problem. Some assert that poverty is a natural condition of man; while others view it as self-imposed, imposed, or a debilitating economic situation. This paper will examine the many concepts of poverty and discuss how it is related to at least two theoretical perspectives on human behavior, how it has changed over time, current issues related to poverty and how these issues are similar and different for two countries. Definition Many scholars and researchers define poverty as an insufficiency of the material necessities of life. The disparities between the rich and poor have increased so solemnly since the industrial revolution that it formed a poverty line. A poverty line which is used in defining what percentage of the population is poor based on the economy. Poverty 3 The US Census Bureau (2009) cites...
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...Killer Dogs There are various views on dangerous dogs and their owners. Who’s to blame for the number of attacks on kids? In what follows I shall give an outline of these views presented in three texts by three different people and also how they’ve chosen to write these texts. The first text “Police back new law on killer dogs” is written by Jamie Doward who works for The Guardian. Because of the death of the five-year-old Ellie Lawrenson there has been a national debate concerning dangerous dogs. Senior police officer Bernard Hogan-Howe believes that the current legislation is confused and needs to be overhauled. Though it seems that the owners of these dogs are the target rather than the dogs themselves. Kiel Simpson whose dog killed Ellie Lawrenson is facing a jail sentence despite the fact that he’s already serving a life sentence. “The confusion saw hundreds of people in the Merseyside area hand in their dogs to police during an amnesty amid concerns they might be prosecuted.” (p. 2, ll. 27-28). Clearly the owners seem to the problem in this text since they are the ones who have purchased these dangerous animals. “Pit bulls have certain traits but in the hands of responsible owners they would not be a danger. The act hasn’t worked; it’s failed to prevent a significant number of attacks.” (p. 2, ll. 39-40). This just emphasizes the view on this subject. Once again the owners are to blame because they haven’t been responsible when it comes to controlling their...
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... for example, poverty and marginalisation and then aim to find strategies to tackle crime. Right realists argue to understand crime we must be aware that crime happens due to three factors, biological differences, socialisation and the underclass and lastly rational choice. Right realists such as Wilson and Herrnstein put forward a biosocial theory of criminal behaviour- a combination of biological and social factors. Wilson and Herrnstein argue some individuals are innately more aggressive and therefore are more likely to commit crimes. Also, Herrnstein and Murray argue the main cause of crime is low intelligence, which is yet another biological factor that can explain the occurrence of crime. This therefore gives us an understanding that crime can occur due to biological factors such as being genetically more aggressive and having low intelligence. Rights realists also argue crime also occurs due to poor socialisation and the underclass. Right realists explain that to decrease offending we need to therefore be socialised into a nuclear family and socialised with norms and values. Charles Murray argues that crime rate is increasing due to the growing of an underclass who fails to socialise their children properly. Murray argues underclass is rising in UK and America due to ‘welfare dependency’ as he calls the welfare state a ‘generous revolution’. The welfare state allows more and more people to become dependent on the state therefore increasing lone families and resulting...
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