William Julius Wilson And Urban Poverty

Decent Essays
When it came to studying urban sociology William Julius Wilson coin the term “underclass”, which was to label the black urban poor. In addition, it conceptualized the urban black poor with crime, joblessness, and uncontrolled sexuality. Williams mentions how urban poverty was a result of three factors such as economic restructuring, industrial decentralization, and residential mobility. William problem was that he tried to exclude the factor of race and the barriers it caused. William wanted to focus on other factors that did not consist of race such as class and culture being a source of the ghetto deprivation. He said that people were disadvantage because of the neighbor. William want to look at race from a neutral standpoint in order to

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In other words, at the time Douglass didn’t understand the difference between white children and colored children. He sees himself equally to them even though at that time colored children were not looked upon equally as white children. Douglass moves on to describe the injustice that slaves experienced in the hands of their master and how slave-owners maintained the system of slavery in the Southern United States, and the tactics that were used. Furthermore, he explains how slavery was dehumanizing for everyone that was involved. With great…

    • 1054 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Lincoln had a strong opinion about the races and where each stood. In one response highlighted in the book, Lincoln expressed that he thought the two races would never be able to live together. He also said that his race, the white race, was the more superior of the two. This type of thinking goes against what we have believed to be true of Lincoln. As we read the Declaration of Independence, we often think of Lincoln when we hear the words “all men are created equal.”…

    • 921 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Smith relates the poverty of many to the wealth of a few by stating one who is very rich must, in return, result in five hundred who are poor (Smith, 96). A system of subordination sets in place to assure that the few stay wealthy and many remain poor. The rich, in particular, are interested in the order of things that can secure them in the possession of their own advantages (Smith, 99). Going along with Smith’s interpretation of the need for a civil government, the poor naturally combine to defend the rich in the possession of their property, in hopes that the rich will defend them in the possession of their own property (Smith, 99). This system allows for a sustained unequal ratio of wealthy to poor individuals.…

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    William Still destroyed the records he had used for so long so that the other people that helped slaves wouldn’t get prosecuted. William Still feared that people in the Underground Railroad would get prosecuted so much that he destroyed the records that he had worked so long…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the great country of the United States, most citizens of this society see what they want to see but never the reality of the criminal justice system. Bryan Stevenson’s book, “Just Mercy”, is his own perspective of what it is really like being a lawyer for wrongly convicted people in hopes of reform in the criminal justice system. After the shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in 2012, many citizens countrywide was outraged at the fact that Zimmerman was not imprisoned for murdering an innocent seventeen year old. This sparked the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter movement. This movement alone brought attention to the inequality and violence against African-Americans internationally.…

    • 764 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Often people in society blame others for non acceptance, when in reality they are inflicting their own struggles upon themselves. As of 2016 there are approximately 325,719,178 people in America-- 126,053,322 non white Americans compared to 199,656,856 white Americans (“Quickfacts”). Based on the statistics, there isn’t a huge gap between the numbers of non white and white Americans in the United States. Nowadays the United States has become a very diverse mixing pot of cultures. Which allows for people to fit into different groups.…

    • 1054 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Segregation in America What makes us different? Why do some of us have unearned privileges while, other will be lucky to receive the bare minimum? These are the questions that Eduardo Bonilla-Silva strives to answer in chapter 2 of his book Racism without Racists. He explores the segregation that still occurs in America and how it has changed but, not disappeared.…

    • 741 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    America blossomed in the 1950’s. The economy was booming; household gadgets, like refrigerators, were becoming more widely available, and suburbs developed, separating people from the chaos of a city and creating a small-town environment. As the middle class of the suburbs expanded, however, so did the widening division between the white and black opportunities. Blacks were left without the prospects whites had to improve their lives. This inequality created tension within the black community as some searched for any outlet to gain control over their lives.…

    • 1078 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In the article “The Good, Racist People,” Ta-Nehisi Coates discusses an event which resulted in Forest Whitaker being accused of shoplifting. What could possibly be a reason to assume Whitaker, a famous actor, had committed shoplifting? From Coates’ point of view, many others want to believe that this encounter was a misunderstanding that had nothing to do with race. Whitaker was accused of shoplifting and then was frisked, based only on his appearance. Coates then goes on to claim that the owner’s apology argued that the incident was a “‘sincere mistake’ and how the worker was a ‘decent man’ who was ‘just doing his job’ ”.…

    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Racial Inequality

    • 1272 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The legacy of racial discrimination and oppression towards people of black descent in America, is one of inequality and mistreatment. In “Being Poor, Black, and American,” William Wilson writes about three types of forces that hinder the progress of blacks in society: political, economic, and cultural. Society’s dialogue on the current socio-economic status of most African Americans leans towards blaming blacks for their own lack of effort and judgment; however, these situations are deeply rooted in factors beyond the control of most ordinary black folk: the government’s deliberate initiatives to create of internal ghettos with project standards of living, the lack of circulation into minority communities, the transition away from a physical…

    • 1272 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As Industrialization fueled the monopolies of America, industrial capitalism came into its own. With the companies expanding and swallowing small industries, many began to criticise its associated problems. During the Progressive Era, people tried to solve the problems, partially being caused by the rapidly changing political system, through independence groups and calling awareness of the wrongs of society. In the 1900s Progressive Movement, social problems reducing around industrial capitalist costs to go up and profits down. This resulted in decreased wages and increased working hours, which began to result in the poverty which was present during this age.…

    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the 19th century, America was faced with the problem of poverty. Two of the groups experiencing poverty were immigrants and African Americans. When immigrants came over to America, most were unequipped with the skills necessary to adapt and become “American,” resulting in them living in their ethnic communities in the poorer areas and being unable to get out of poverty. On the other hand, African Americans faced poverty because of the effects of slavery and racial discrimination. Reformers and self-advocates attempted to help these two communities.…

    • 1678 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Public Housing Failure

    • 1807 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Public Housing in the United States has by many been considered to be a major failure. It has generally failed to provide its residents with a safe environment to live, and outside of the buildings often plagued with violence, segregation, lack of upward mobility, the failure to maintain the buildings for its residents, and unemployment have led to failure in the public housing system. While changes are being made to improve public housing and root out problems such as racism, and corruption within the housing authority, overwhelmingly the history of what was supposed to be a revolutionary way of living for urban poor, has been a failure. Due to the decline of the city at the time public housing arose, racism, and the failure of the federal…

    • 1807 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Black Stacey” is an autobiographical song written by Saul Stacey Williams. It reflects on how his childhood experience and personal insecurities were influenced by peer discrimination, and how he eventually embraced his own skin color. The song’s additional purpose is also to advocate for other musicians to speak on their own struggles with racial self-acceptance and skin color. Williams depicts how he was insecure about his color. He was dark-skinned, darker than anyone else at his high school.…

    • 727 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Whos fault, is it? Ours or our parent’s? As humans we have something that other species don’t have which is the power of free will the freedom to think for our self’s and make decision. Knowing of our free will does that mean that whatever situation we find ourselves in is caused by us. Is our finical state our fault?…

    • 1566 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays