Underclass
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2008-07-10T17:12:54Z
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Deleted the silliness about "ballheadians".
The contemporary concept of the underclass is a sanitized term for what was known in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as the undeserving poor, and may have been coined by American sociologist and anthropologist [[Oscar Lewis]] in 1961. The underclass, according to Lewis, has "a strong present-time orientation, with little ability to delay gratification and plan for the future" (p. xxvi). The term was also used by [[Gunnar Myrdal]] in 1962, before the usage came into wide circulation in the early 1980s, following [[Ken Auletta]]`s (1982) use of the term in three articles published in [[The New Yorker]] in 1981, and in book form a year later. Auletta refers to the underclass as a group who do not "assimilate" (1982: xvi quoted in Morris, 1994: 81), identifying four main groups:
*the passive poor, usually long term [[Welfare economics|welfare]] recipients;
*the hostile street criminal, drop-outs, low-class prostitutes, and drug [[addict]]s;
*the [[hustler]]s, dependent on the underground economy, but rarely involved in violent [[crime]];
*the traumatised drunks, drifters, [[homeless]] bag ladies, and released [[Mental illness|mental patients]].
[[Karl Marx]] referred to a group he called the [[lumpenproletariat]]. He described this group as:
:This scum of the depraved elements of all classes ... decayed [[roué]]s, vagabonds, discharged soldiers, discharged jailbirds, escaped galley slaves, swindlers, [[mountebank]]s, [[lazzaroni]], pickpockets, tricksters, gamblers, brothel keepers, [[tinker]]s, beggars, the dangerous class, the social scum, that passively rotting mass thrown off by the lowest layers of the old society." <ref>Marx and Engels, 1950, p. 267.</ref>
Many other terms have been used to "describe a section of society which is seen to exist within and yet at the base of the [[working class]]."<ref>Mann, 1992, p. 2.</ref>
==United States==
[[Image:Gilbert model.png|thumb|250px|The socio-economic stratification of American society as outlined by Dennis Gilbert.<ref name="The American Class Structure">{{cite book | last = Gilbert | first = Dennis | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 1998 | title = The American Class Structure | publisher = Wadsworth Publishing | location = New York | id = 0-534-50520-1}}</ref>]]
{{main|American lower class}}
In the United States the term is used by certain sociologists such as [[Dennis Gilbert]] to described the most disenfranchised [[Social class in the United States|socio-economic demographic]] with the least access to scarce resources. The American underclass is estimated to constitute roughly 12% of households. [[Income in the United States|Incomes]] are far below the median and often fall below the [[Poverty in the United States|poverty line]]. The vast majority of persons in this class are, for a variety of reasons, not active participants in the [[labor force]]. The underclass is, therefore, distinguished from other social classes by its reliance on government transfers. Only a few members of this class have [[Educational attainment in the United States|graduated from high school]].<ref name="The American Class Structure">{{cite book | last = Gilbert | first = Dennis | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 1998 | title = The American Class Structure | publisher = Wadsworth Publishing | location = New York | id = 0-534-50520-1}}</ref><ref name="Marriages, Families & Intimate Relationships">{{cite book | last = Williams | first = Brian | authorlink = | coauthors = Stacey C. Sawyer, Carl M. Wahlstrom | year = 2005 | title = Marriages, Families & Intimate Relationships | publisher = Pearson | location = Boston, MA | id = 0-205-36674-0}}</ref>
Further discussion of the social implications of labeling the underclass can be found in Herbert J. Gans' book The War Against the Poor.
==See also==
*[[Social class]]
*[[Social exclusion]]
*[[Social hierarchy]]
*[[Social inequality]]
*[[Social mobility]]
*[[Reserve army of labour]]
*[[Overclass]]
*[[Subculture]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Socialclass}}
[[Category:Poverty]]
[[Category:Social classes]]
{{sociology-stub}}
[[de:Unterklasse (Soziologie)]]
[[fr:Couches populaires]]
[[pl:Underclass]]
[[sh:Potlačena klasa]]