MANUEL S.

ENVERGA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION

AN AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY
Lucena City

INSTITUTE OF GRADUATE SCHOOL AND RESEARCH

Master in Public Administration

ACTIVITY 1

Justine Price Danielle G. Bunales

MPA 327 Public Policy

Title : The Truly Disadvantaged: The

Inner City, the Underclass,
and
Public Policy
Author : William Julius Wilson
Publisher & Year of Publication : University of Chicago Press
1987

 BRIEF SUMMARY:

William Julius Wilson's The Truly Disadvantaged represents the

debate of the last 10 to 20 years about race, poverty, and public
policy. Part of Wilson's rationale for the book is the belief
that conservative policy analysts and ideologues have gained the
upper hand in presenting their case about black urban poverty. He
hopes to provide a framework of liberal analysis that will allow
a better understanding of the causes of the intensifying black
poverty. Wilson presents several powerful arguments and
supporting data that debunk the claims of some conservative
social policy analysts regarding urban poverty and race. The book

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also makes significant contributions to the state of knowledge
regarding race, poverty, and public policy. But despite the
achievements of the book, Wilson is limited by his assumption
that debates about urban poverty and race must be confined
between liberals and conservatives. The author amasses impressive
evidence that the major cause of growing poverty and pathology in
the black community is the increasing joblessness of black males,
as well as the declining number of black males available to
support families. He writes: . . . contrary to popular opinion,
there is little evidence to provide a strong case for welfare as
the primary cause of family breakups, female-headed households,
and out-of-wedlock births . . . .the evidence for the influence
of male joblessness is much more persuasive .... we argue that
both the black delay in marriage and the lower rate of
remarriage, each of which is associated with high percentages of
out-of-wedlock births and female-headed households, can be
directly tied to the labor-market status of black males. As we
have documented, black women, especially young black women, are
facing a shrinking pool of "marriageable" men.
 ANALYSIS:

Wilson defines this group differently from the urban poor of the
1960s. This decade's underclass is mostly black, socially
isolated, and comprised primarily of unmarried mothers dependent
on welfare and the jobless fathers of their children. A decade
ago, the situation in the inner-city neighborhoods was quite
different. Manufacturing jobs used many more unskilled workers
than the service jobs that partially replaced them. Fifteen years
ago, inner-city communities were "working" class rather than
today's underclass neighborhoods. The truly disadvantaged have
retreated to lives of helplessness and hopelessness.

Welfare and affirmative action policies are failing the

underclass. A combination of welfare practices and rising
unemployment rates for young black males have led to the rapid
growth of single-parent families. Incarceration rates for this
group of young males are also rising and further depressing
opportunities for two-parent families to emerge from the truly
disadvantaged. Young black women are facing a shrinking pool of
"marriageable" (economically stable) men.

Affirmative action programs offer no hope to the underclass.

Wilson reviews a broad range of research studies that show race-
specific practices such as affirmative action have only benefited
those blacks least in need. Worse yet, the truly disadvantaged

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show a negative social benefit from such practices. As an
alternative to "targeted" programs, Wilson presents a strong case
for public policies that will stem the tide of social isolation
characterizing today's urban poor. He maintains that the most
effective way to improve the life chances of the ghetto
underclass will result from universal programs the more
advantaged groups of all races can positively relate to.

 CONTENT:
Renowned American sociologist William Julius Wilson takes a look
at the social transformation of inner city ghettos, offering a
sharp evaluation of the convergence of race and poverty.
Rejecting both conservative and liberal interpretations of life
in the inner city, Wilson offers essential information and a
number of solutions to policymakers. The Truly Disadvantaged is
a wide-ranging examination, looking at the relationship between
race, employment, and education from the 1950s onwards, with
surprising and provocative findings.
 ORGANIZATION:
The book was organized well and was able to capture all
politically disadvantaged in the west in the last 10 to 20 years.
 REFLECTION:
The Truly Disadvantaged, which was selected by the editors of the
New York Times Book Review as one of the sixteen best books of
1987.

The Truly Disadvantaged, written by Harvard University Professor

William Julius Wilson, was first published in 1987. It
significantly impacted the debate on both the causes of urban
(ghetto) poverty and the potential public policy solutions.
Wilson argued fundamentally that changes in the structure of the
U.S. economy were the primary drivers of increased social and
economic dislocation of the urban poor, which would require
comparable solutions based on national and regional economic
reforms. Wilson presented a public policy agenda based on this
economic analysis, informed by an assessment of adverse
behavioral norms and discrimination as factors facilitating the
persistence of an urban "underclass."

Twenty-six years later, given that most of these challenges have

been exacerbated by the global recession, high rates of

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unemployment, and the increased social isolation of poor urban
areas, Wilson's work remains relevant.