Solving Black Inner-City Poverty By William Julius Wilson
FILM QUESTIONNAIRE #2
DUE DATE: 10/8/10
NAME:
Solving Black Inner-City Poverty: William Julius Wilson, Films for the Humanities, Inc., 1994 [30 minutes]
1. What has been the main cause of the rise of concentrated poverty in the urban ghetto since the 1970s according to Wilson? (4 points)
Wilson argues that one of the main cause of the rise of concentrated poverty in the urban ghetto since the 1970s is the fact of segregation. In the 1970s the poor, middle class and upper class all lived in the same neighborhoods. This gave the poor more opportunities to find jobs through interaction with the wealthier tier of citizens. Nowadays, the less fortunate cluster in the ghettos and create their own life-ways, which makes it increasingly …show more content…
In his book The Declining Significance of Race he further examines the question; "Why do poverty and unequal opportunity persist in the lives of so many African Americans?" In response, he traces the history and current state of powerful structural factors impacting African Americans, such as discrimination in laws, policies, hiring, housing, and education. He argues against either/or politicized views of poverty among African Americans that either focus blame solely on cultural factors or only on unjust structural factors. He tries to demonstrate the importance of understanding not only the independent contributions of social structure and culture, but also how they interact to shape different group outcomes that embody racial …show more content…
On one hand, African Americans never were especially dependent on jobs in the manufacturing sector, so deindustrialization in itself has not had a major impact on African Americans, and that, on the other hand, the relative labor market success of poorly-educated immigrants in the postindustrial era shows that there is no absence of jobs for those with few skills.
To me, Wilson puts forth the attitude that a persons patterns and norms of behavior tend to be shaped by those with which he or she has had the most frequent or sustained contact and interaction. First, he seems to argue that external influences or differential associations are on of the key pillars to his theory, secondly, the out-migration of middle-class minorities, and thirdly, the problem of distance and spatial mismatch - between inner city residents and places of potential employment. He also attributed the increasing rate of inner city marriage disintegration to consistent states of
DUE DATE: 10/8/10
NAME:
Solving Black Inner-City Poverty: William Julius Wilson, Films for the Humanities, Inc., 1994 [30 minutes]
1. What has been the main cause of the rise of concentrated poverty in the urban ghetto since the 1970s according to Wilson? (4 points)
Wilson argues that one of the main cause of the rise of concentrated poverty in the urban ghetto since the 1970s is the fact of segregation. In the 1970s the poor, middle class and upper class all lived in the same neighborhoods. This gave the poor more opportunities to find jobs through interaction with the wealthier tier of citizens. Nowadays, the less fortunate cluster in the ghettos and create their own life-ways, which makes it increasingly …show more content…
In his book The Declining Significance of Race he further examines the question; "Why do poverty and unequal opportunity persist in the lives of so many African Americans?" In response, he traces the history and current state of powerful structural factors impacting African Americans, such as discrimination in laws, policies, hiring, housing, and education. He argues against either/or politicized views of poverty among African Americans that either focus blame solely on cultural factors or only on unjust structural factors. He tries to demonstrate the importance of understanding not only the independent contributions of social structure and culture, but also how they interact to shape different group outcomes that embody racial …show more content…
On one hand, African Americans never were especially dependent on jobs in the manufacturing sector, so deindustrialization in itself has not had a major impact on African Americans, and that, on the other hand, the relative labor market success of poorly-educated immigrants in the postindustrial era shows that there is no absence of jobs for those with few skills.
To me, Wilson puts forth the attitude that a persons patterns and norms of behavior tend to be shaped by those with which he or she has had the most frequent or sustained contact and interaction. First, he seems to argue that external influences or differential associations are on of the key pillars to his theory, secondly, the out-migration of middle-class minorities, and thirdly, the problem of distance and spatial mismatch - between inner city residents and places of potential employment. He also attributed the increasing rate of inner city marriage disintegration to consistent states of