The Underclass
Debate
www.educationforum.co.uk
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’
The modern underclass
• There is no agreed definition of who
this group are.
• Most definitions seem to share the
following characteristics:
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Joblessness by choice
Social exclusion
Benefit dependency
Criminality and fecklessness
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 rundown council estates or in single parent
families’
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…’
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?
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
• Structured views of
the underclass
suggest that society
itself is flawed. The
government has not
provided adequate
work.
• Murray
• Wilson
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
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.
Relevant studies to consider
and quote
These ideas provide you with
evidence to support your analysis of
the underclass debate
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.
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.
David Marsland
• Welfare benefits mean people do not need to
look after themselves.
• People choose to stay unemployed.
• High benefits result in high taxation and
takes money away from investment in
business.
• People want handouts from the state but they
should not get them, they should be
encouraged by poverty to go to work for a
living.
Rex and Tomlinson (1979).
The Structural Break.
•
The material disadvantage of the ethnic minorities is so great that it
actually cuts them off from the White working class group.
•
In terms of ethnic minorities, this separation occurred either as a result of
direct racism or due to the fact ethnic minorities have the most poorly
paid, low status jobs.
•
Highlights the point that in capitalist society, the underclass are the
ultimate victims.
EVALUATION.
•
•
Westergaard (1996) has argued that its misleading to see the underclass as
a distinct group outside of the working class because they face and share
many of the same problems.
Britain as a society guarantees certain benefits to each member, NHS,
Education, so it is very difficult to accept the concept of a total structural
break
Oscar Lewis (1958)
• People who are poor feel marginalised.
• They develop a value system that enables
them to survive poverty: fatalism, short-term
thinking, immediate gratification, dishonesty,
limited participation in social and political life.
• The value system they develop helps them to
survive poverty, but it keeps them poor
because they do not develop the social and
educational skills to escape from their
poverty.
Dahrendorf (1987)
• Identifies structural factors such as employment and recession
but adapts his structural explanation to take cultural factors
into account.
• He argues that the longer that people remain in the underclass
the more likely it is that they will assimilate into its cultural
values.
• They will become more dependant on state benefits and
handouts and slowly lose any discipline or motivation.
Tom Hall (2003)
• Spent a year studying homeless groups in Southerton to gain an
insight into their existence.
• On the surface they resembled typical members of the
underclass.
• Tom Hall argues its misleading to just view these youngsters as
having the typical cultural values of the underclass because they
faced many structural constraints such as poor backgrounds and
lack of confidence.
• They eventually tailor their behaviour to fit their difficult
circumstances.
Andy Pilkington (2000)
• Many face racial discrimination which forces them into the
underclass but the idea of an ethnic underclass fails to take into
account the level of diversity amongst ethnic minorities.
• Pilkington (2003) argues that there is no convincing evidence
that ethnic minorities possess the cultural values of the
underclass. Some often have a great deal of cultural capital
• The economic position of most ethnic minorities is improving.
• Only some Pakistanis and Bangladeshis have members of their
community thought to be possible members of the working class.
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.
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?
Outline and assess sociological theories of the underclass
A Cultural Problem
Lewis: Culture of poverty
Murray: Culturally distinct
Marsland: Dependency on
benefits
A Structural Problem
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?