When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor

The urban poor are happy to take welfare, never work, commit crimes, do drugs, etc. Sound familiar? People love to tout this idea of the urban poor, based on anecdotes, popular TV and movies, and some media approaches. However, Wilson describes, quite convincingly, a world of the urban poor who yearn for the "American Dream" like the rest of us, who want to work, contribute to society, and make their lives (and their children's lives) better, but are simply unable to do so. This book can get dry by piling on statistic after statistic, chart after chart, but always seems to bring the reader back in by presenting direct quotes from people, typically from ghetto areas of Chicago, on how their lives are effected by their situations. It puts a human face on the issues of poverty in America - a human face that rarely gets seen. For all of those who have grown up in suburban areas, small towns, or cloistered urban situations, I recommend you read this book and open your eyes to the true world of the urban poor. Yes, there are some bad apples, as in any society - but these people want to improve their lives - and we need to ensure we enact responsible policies and give them the opportunity to do so.

I found When Work Disappears very insightful and definitely a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the issues of urban poverty, the interplays of race and class and the global machinations that aggravate poverty in domestic U.S. contexts.In the introduction, Wilson gives a solid history and analysis of the perceptions and institutionalized roles of the poor in America. He gives interesting, objective and valuable takes on the Moynihan report and Hernstein & Murray's The Bell Curve among others, contextualizing the various schools of thought and how they interact. He discusses the conservative theories that focused on poverty as stemming from destructive individual behavior as well as the liberal theories "black perspective" that blamed social structures and painted the inner-city poor as superheroes who survived racial oppression, to the absolute neglect of the destructive realities. He says "the tendency of some liberals to deny the very existence of culturally destructive behavior and attitudes in the inner city is once again to diminish the importance of the environment in determining the outcomes and life chances of individuals.He articulates this point so well - it's a thorny issue that when mentioned by non-African-Americans risks them being construed as racist, and when mentioned by African-Americans, risks them being construed as sell-outs. Sweeping the reality under the rug never helped anyone. He makes no excuses, and delves into the underlying forces - the flight of not just higher income earners from urban cities, but the flight of jobs. One of the most important positions he adopts in the book is that there is a difference between the consequences of inner-city poverty and inner-city joblessness. He posits, "The consequences of high neighborhood joblessness are more devastating than those of high neighborhood poverty. A neighborhood in which people are poor but employed is different from a neighborhood in which people are poor and jobless." Wilson also does well to discuss the relationship between poverty and global, political processes. His approach stands in contrast to the usual approach that isolates poverty within the U.S. without discussing it within a larger, universal context. His balanced views do not label capitalist America the enemy; neither does he label it a friend.Ultimately, I like the book because in it, Wilson does not play the blame game with regards to who creates/maintains the underclass. He does not dabble in rhetoric, and does not overemphasize or understate the role of race in poverty. He states that" as the turn of the century approaches, the movement for racial equality needs a new political strategy that will appeal to a broader coalition and address the many problems that originate in historical racism and inner-city residents. We must recognize that these problems cannot be solved through race-based remedies alone."In short, I enjoyed reading and learnt a whole lot. Kudos to WJW on

I think there are two major problems with theories that attempt to explain black poverty as something completely or primarily due to welfare, "culture", or genetics: first, they seem to lack a comprehensive understanding of African-American history. Second, from everything I've seen, such theories totally ignore the very similar conditions experienced by other ethnic/national minority groups in many advanced as well as developing countries (ex: Gypsies, Maori, Aboriginies, etc.). On the other hand, an author such as Wilson offers a very refreshing insight into the conditions of the urban poor. While his policy prescriptions call for a much stronger, activist government, the focus of this book is the analysis of the current conditions of the black urban poor and how it reached it's current state. In that sense, it should be accesible to all political stripes. Also, this book is not in any way a "marxist" critique; it never criticizes American or global "capitalism" as the cause of the poor's suffering. The citing of socio-economic factors, such as technological and industrial changes, as a major factor in the deteriorating conditions of the urban poor is quite a different thing than stating that one can only solve such problems by overthrowing capitalism (this is a marxist perspective, not Wilsons). Also, the author's analysis does not lack addressing issues of "personal responsibility" or cultural, behavioral norms. On the contrary, he takes these very sensitive issues head-on and concludes that in some important ways there is a distinctive sub-culture (a "culture of poverty"), but not for the reasons some intellectuals assert (welfare, genetics, etc.). Differing social norms concerning work ethic, education, attitudes at work, etc. primarily exist because of the high rate of concentration and separation of the black urban poor from white, middle-class society. Those who grow up in a community where joblessness is actually the norm (and all of its associated ills) will not have adequate preparation for decent-paying jobs that require good education, work references, and interpersonal skills. I could say so much more, but I should probably limit this review to concluding that Wilson's work is destined to become a classic sociological reference and an important guide for other writers as well as policy-makers.

I am grateful for Wilson's book-long rebuttal to the many simplistic and wrong-headed arguments made for cutting welfare and, generally, for punishing underprivileged people for being poor. Though at times dry as dust and clogged with statistics, this is ultimately a great book which provides progressives and liberals with ammunition. The last chapter is an indispensable meditation on possible solutions both long- and short-term to the tragic persistence of degrading inner-city joblessness which keeps our country from true greatness.