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AUTHOR Wilson, William Julius, Ed. TITLE The Ghetto Underclass: Social Science Perspectives. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. INSTITUTION American Academy of Political and Social Science, Philadelphia, Pa. REPORT NO ISBN-0-8039-3174-3 PUB DATE Jan 89 NOTE 245p. AVAILABLE FROMSage Publications, Inc., 2111 West Hillcrest Drive, Newbury Park, CA 91320 (ISBN-0-8039-3174.-3, $24.00 paperback; ISBN-0-8039-3173-5, $36.00 hardcover). PUB TYPE Collected Works Serials (022) -- Reports - Research/Technical (143) JOURNAL CIT The Annals; v501 Jan 1989

EDRS PRICE MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS Family (Sociological Unit); Fathers; *Ghettos; Homeless People; Influences; Lower Class; Marriage; *Minority Groups; Mothers; *Poverty; *Public Policy; *Social Problems; Unemployment; *Urban Areas; Urban Problems

ABSTRACT This volume presents the research findings of numerous scholars on the theme, The Ghetto Underclass: Social Science Perspectives. The following 13 articles are included: (1) "The Cost of Racial and Class Exclusion in the Inner City" (L. Wacquant and W. Wilson); (2) "Urban Industrial TransitiOn and the Underclass" (J. Kasarda); (3) "Absent Fathers in the Inner City" (M. Sullivan); (4) "Sex Codes and Family Life among Poor Inner-City Youths" (E. Anderson); (5) "Employment and Marriage among Inner-City Fathers" (M. Testa, and others); (6) "Single Mothers, the Underclass, and Social Policy" (S. McLanahan and I. Garfinkel); (7) "Puerto Ricans and t.l.c Underclass Debate', (M. Tienda); (8) "Immigration and the Underclass" (R. Reischauer); (9) "The Urban Homeless: A Portrait of Urban Dislocation" (P. Rossi and J. Wright); (10) "Equal Opportunity and the Estranged Poor" (J. Hochschild); (11) "The Logic of Workfare: The UnderClass and Work Policy" (L. Mead); (12) "Institutional Change and the Challenge of the Underclass" (R. Nathan); and (13) "The Underclass: Issues, Perspectives, and Public Policy" (W. Wilson). The .volume also includes reviews of 41 books in the following categories: (1) International Relations and Politics; (2) Africa,Asia, and Latin America; (3) Europe;(4) United states;(5) Sociology; and (6) Economics. (VM)

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OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE

The Ghetto Underclass: Social Scien6e Perspectives

Special Editor: WILLIAM JULIUS WILSON

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THE COST OF RACIAL AND CLASS EXCLUSION IN THE INNER CITY Lac J. D. Wacquant and William Mho Wikon URBAN INDUSTRIAL TRANSITION AND THE UNDERCLASS John D. Ktuania 26

ABSENT FATHERS IN THE INNER CITY Mawr L Sulltvws .18 SEX CODES AND FAMILY LIFE AMONG POOR INNER-CITY YOUTHS Elijah Anderson 59 EMPLOYMENT AND MARRIAGE AMONG INNER-CITY FATHERS Mark Testa. Nan Marie Astone. Marilyn Krogh, and Kathryn M. Neekerman 79 SINGLE MOTHERS, THE UNDERCLASS, AND SOCIAL POLICY Sara McIanahan and Irwin Garfinkel 92

PUERTO RICANS AND THE UNDERCLASS DEBATE Marta Tlenda 105

IMMIGRATION AND THE UNDERCLASS Robert D. Reischauer 120 THE URBAN HOMELESS: A PORTRAIT OF URBAN DISLOCATION Pete.- IL Rossi and James D. Wright 132 EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND THE ESTRANGED POOR Jennffer L Kochschild 143 THE LOGIC OF WORKFARE: THE UNDERCLASS AND WORK POLICY Lawrence M. Mead 156 INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE AND THE CHALLENGE OF THE UNDERCLASS Richard P. Nathan 170 THE UNDERCLASS: ISSUES, PERSPECTIVES, AND PUBLIC POLICY William Julius Wilson 182

BOOK DEPARTMENT 193

INDEX 231 BOOK DEPARTMENT CONTENTS

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND POLITICS COHEN, STEPHEN PHILIP, ed. The Security of South Asia: American and Ash= &mealy= PARANIPE, SHRIKANT. U.S. licasproliferation ?Obey in Action: South Atia. Raju G. C, Thomas 193 DARBY, PHILLIP. nave Fares of Imperialism: British wad AmericanApproaches to Asia and AIWA 1870-1970. Martin Wolfe 194 DOWTY, ALAN. Closed Borders: The Contemporary Assault on Threviom of Movement. Norman L Zucker 195 HELD, DAVID. Models of Democracy. Maxwell Bloomfield 196 SAVIGEAR, PETER. Cold War or Detente in the 1980s. Scott Nichols 197 SCHOULTZ, LARS. National Security and United Slates Policy toward Latin Amerka. Sherrie L Bayer 198

AFRICA, ASIA, AND LATIN AMERICA BEININ, JOEL and ZACHARY LOCKMAN. Workers on the Nile:Nationalism, Communism, Islam and the Emtian Working Class, 1882-1954. Charles Issawi 199 BILL, JAMES A. The Eagle and the Lion: The Tiagrdy of American-lranian Relations. Mansour Farhat* 200 BREWER. JOHN D. Afier Soweto: An Unfinished Journey. George W.Shepherd 201 DITTMER, LOWELL. China's Cr.-ninuotu Revohaiotv ThePost-Liberation Epoch. 1949-1981. Thomas P. Lyons 201 JANETTA, ANN BOWMAN. Epidemics and Mortality in &plyModem Japan. Susan Cotts Watkins 202 LEVI, DARRELL E. The Pradas t f Sao Paulo. limit: An EliteFamily and Social Change, 18447-1930. Dain Borges 203 PEARSON, M. N. The Portuguese in India. Sanjay Subrahmanyam 204

EUROPE AGANBEGYAN. ABEL The Economic Challenge of Perestroika. ElizabethClayton 205 ATIYAH, P. S. and R. S. SUMMERS. Form and Substance in Anglo-AmericanLaw: A Comparative Study in Legal Reasoning, Legal Theory. and Legal Institutions. Anthony Trawiek Bouscaren 206 LaPALOMBARA, JOSEPH. Democracy Italian Style. Alberta Sbragia 207 RE1CHMAN, HENRY. Railwaymen and Revohakin: Russia, 1905; McDANIEL, TIM. Autocracy, Caphalism, and Revolution in Russia. Donald W. Treadgold 208 SHINN, WILLIAM T., Jr. The Decline of the Russian Nasant Househoki Holland Hunter 208 TUCKER, ROBERT C. Political Culture and leadership in Russia: From Lenin to Gorbachev; BAHRY, DONNA. Outside Moscow: Power, Polities, and Budgetary Policy in the Soviet Republics. Anthony D'Agostino 209 VITAL, DAVID. Zionism: The Crucial Phase. Mitchell Cohen 210

9 UNITED STATES BERMAN, WILLIAM C. Witham Albright and the Vietnam War: The Dissent of a homed ReaNst. Jeff Broadwater 211 GREEN, DAVID. Shatabse the Minot! Consciousness: The Laraauage of Peaks in Arnett:Q*11u McKinley to Reagan. Edward L. &reaps 211 POLLACK. NORMAN. The lust Polky: Populism. Low. and Human Welfare. John F. Bauman 212 SMITH, GRAHAM. When An Crow Met John &di: Mac* American Soldiers in World War II Muth& William R. Beer 213 STOWE, STEVEN M. buimacy and Power in the South: Ritual in the Lives cf the Planters. Richard Uwe 214 WELCH, SUSAN and TIMOTHY BLEDSOE Urban Reform and lis Consequences: A Study in Representation. Joseph F. Zimmernum 215 ZANAVI, GERALD. Workers, Managers, arid Werare Capitalbm: The Shoeworkers and Towers of Endkou Johnson, IMO-19,50. Margaret Ripley Wotfe 216

SOCIOLOGY ARONICA. MICHELE TERESA. Beyond Charismatic Leadership: 77w New York Catholic Worker Movement; HORNSBY-SMITH, MICHAEL P. Roman Catholicx in England: Studies in Social Structure since the Second World War. Mary Jo Neitz 216 BAILEY, THOMAS. Immigrant and Native Workers: Contrasts and Competition; MacLEOD, JAY. Ain No Makhe It: Leltoled Aspirations in a Low-Income Neighborhood. Roger Waldinger 218

DENCH, GEOFF. Minorities in the Open Society: Prisomrs of Ambivaknce. Michael Omi . 219 GILMORE, DAVID D. Aggression and Community: Paradoxes of Andabssian Culture: COLLIER, GEORGE A. Socialists of Rural Andahuia: Unacknowledged RevolutiontMes of the Second Republic. Leonard Blumberg 220 GINZBERG, ELI, HOWARD S. BERLINER, and MIRIAM OSTOW. Young People at Risk: Is Prevention Possible? Maris A. Vinovskis 221 NEITZ, MARY JO. Charisma and Community: A Study of Rel4gious Commitment within the Charismatic Renewal. Michele Teresa Armies

ECONOMICS BAJUSZ, WILLIAM D. and DAVID J. LOUSCHER, Arms Sales and the U.S. Economy: The Impact of Restricting Military Exports. Alan Heston 223 CARFUNY, ALAN W. Ruling the Waves: The Polithol Economy of buernational Shipping. George Modelski 223 COX, ROBERT W . Production, Power, and World Order: Social Forces in the Making of History. John Adams 224 147-7"

ANNALS, AAPSS, 501, January 1909

The Cost of Racial and Class Exclusion in the inner City

By LOIC J. D. WACQUANT awl WILLIAMJULIUS WILSON

ABSTRACT: Discussions of inner-citysocial dislocations are often severed from the struggles and structural changes in thelarger society, economy, and polity that in fact determi= them, resulting in undueemphasis on the individual attributes of ghetto residents and onthe alleged pip of the so-called culture of poverty. This article provides adifferent perspective by drawing attention to the specific features of theproximate social structure in which ghetto residents evolve and try to survive. This isdone by contrasting the class composition, welfare trajectories,economic and financial assets, and social capital of blacks who live in Chicago'sghetto neighborhoods with those who reside in this city's low-poverty areas.Our central argument is that the interrelated set of phenomena captured bythe term "underclass" is primarily social-structural and that the inner city isexperiencing a crisis because the dramatic growth in joblessness andeconomic exclusion associated with the ongoing spatial and industrial restructuringof American capitalism has triggered a process of hyperghettoization.

Lok J. D. Wacquant is pursuing doctonues insociology at the University of Chicago and the &vie des hautes etudes en sciences sociaks, Paris. He ispresently a research assistant on the Urban Poverty and Family Structure Project, investigatingthe relationships between class, race, and joblessness in the United Strifes. A MacArthur prize fellow, William Julius Wilson isthe Lucy Flower Distinguished Service Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at the Universityof Chicago. He is the author of Power, Racism, and Privilege; The Declining Significanceof Race; The Truly Disadvantaged; and coeditor of Through Different eyes.

NOTE: This article is based on data gathered and analyzed as partof the University of Chicago% Urban Poverty and Family Structure Project, whose principalinvestigator is W. J. Wilson. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Ford Foundation,the Carnegie Corporation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Institute for Research onPoverty, the Joyce Foundations the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the SpencerFoundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, and the Woods CLaritable Fund. ft RACIAL AND CLASS EXCLUSION 9

it FTER a long eclipse, the ghetto hasThis vision of poverty has found perhaps rv made a stunning comeback into tlwits man vivid expression in du lurid colkaive consciousness of Anwrica. Notdescriptions of ghetto resicknts that have since the riots of the hot summers offlourished in the paws of popular maga- 196648 have Um black poor received so zines and on tekvised programs de vt. 'ed much attention in academic, activist, andto the emerging underclau.2 Descriptions policymaking quarters alike) Persistentand explanations of the current predica- and rising poverty, especially among chil-meat of inner-city blacks put the emphasis dren, mounting social disruptions, theon individual attributes and the alleged continuing degiadation of public housing grip of the so-calkd culture of poverty. and public schools, concern over the This article, in sharp contrast, draws eroding tax base of cities plagtmd by large attention to the specific features of the ghettos and by the dilemmas of gentrifi- proximate social structure in which extto cation, the disillusions of liberals over residents evolve and strive, against formid- welfare have au combined to put the able odds, to survive and, whenever they black inner-city poor back in the spot-can, escape its poverty and degradation. light. Owing in large part to the pa-vasiveWe provide this different perspective by and ascendant influence of conservative profiling blacks who live in Chicago's ideology in the United Statm however,inner city, contrasting the situation of recent discussions of the plight of ghetto those who dwell in low-poverty areas blacks have typically been cast in in- with residents of the city's ghetto neighbor- dividualistic and moralistic terms. The hoods. Beyond its sociographic focus, the poor are presented as a mere aggregationcentral argument running through this of personal cases, each with its own logic article is that the interrelated set of and self-amtained causes. Severed fromphenomena captured by the term "under- the struggles and structural changes inclass" is primarily social-structural and the society, economy, and polity that inthat the ghetto is experiencing a "crisis" fact determine them, inner-city dislo- not because a'welfare ethos" has mysteri- cations are then portrayed as a self-ously taken over its residents but because imposed, self-sustaining phenomenon,joblessness and economic exclusion, hav- 1. For instance, Sheldon H. Danziger and ing reached dramatic proportions, have Maki H. Weinberg, eds., Fighting fbverty: ;Mat triggered a process of hyperghettoization. Works and What DoesnY (Cambridge, MA: Har- Indeed, the urban black poor of today yard University Press, 1986)., William Kornblum, differ both from their counterparts of "Lumping the Poor. What Zs the Underclass?" earlier years and from the whitepoor in Dimly, Summer 1934, pp. 275-302; William Julius that they are becoming increasingly con- Wilson, The Ihdy Disadvantage& lite Inner City, the Underclass and Publk Pokey (Chicago: Uni- centrated in dilapidated territorial en- verity of chimp) press. 1987); Rose m. Brewer, claves that epitomize acute social and "Black Women in Poverty: Some Comments on econmnic marginalization. In Chicago, Female-Headed F analies,* Sign s *lona 1 of Women for instance, the proportion of all black in Culture and Society. 13(2)331-39 (Winter 19g8); Fred R. Harris and Roger W. Wilkins, eds., Qtdet poor residing in extreme-poverty areas Mats: Rare and Poverty En the United States (New 2. William Julius Wilson,"The American U n- York: Pantheon, 1933). Martha A. Gephart and derclass: Inner-Oty Ghettos and the Norms of Robert W. Pearson survey recent research in their Citizenship" (Godkin Lecture, John F. Kennedy "Contemporary Research on the UrbanhYler- School of Government, Harvard University, Apr. class," Items, 420-41-10 (June 1988). 1938), offers a critical dissection of these accounts. THE ANNALS OF THE AMERILANACADEMY 10 that is, census tracts with a population at TIN purpose of this article is to begin least 40 percent of which comprises poor to highlight this specificallysociological personsshot up from 24 percent to 47dimension of the changing reldity of percent between 1970 and 1980.By this ghetto poverty by fanning on Chicago's (late, fully 38 percent of all poor blacks in inner city. Using data from a mukistage, c 10 largestAmerican cities lived inrandom sample of black residents of extreme-poverty tracts, contrastedwith Chicago's poor communities,s we show 22 percent a decade before, and with only that ghetto dwellers do face specific ob- 6 percent of poor non-Hispanic whites.3 stacles owing to the characteristics of the This growing social and spatial column-social structure they compose. We begin, tration of poverty creates a formidable by way of backgrouml, by sketching the and unprecedented set of obstaclesforaccelerating degradation of Chicago's in- ghetto blacks. As we shall see, the social ner city, relating the cumulationof social structure of today's inner cityhas beendislocations visited upon its South and radically altered by the mass exodusofWest sides to changes in the city's econ- jobs and working families and by the omy over the last thirty years. rapid deterioration of housing, schools, businesses, recreational facilities, and other community organizations, further 5. The following is a summary deectiptionof exacerbated by government policies of the sample design and charachsistics of the datafor this article. The data or rne from a surveyof 2490 industrial and urban laissez-faire. that inner-city residents of Chicago fielded by theNa- have channeled a d'aproportionate share tional Opinion Research Center in 198647 forth; of federal, state, and municipal resources Urban Poverty and Fannly Structure Project ofthe to the more affluent. The economicand University of Chicago. The sample for blacks was social buffer provided by a stable black drawn randomly from residents of theeity's 377 tracts with poverty rates of at krast 20.0 percent,the working class and a visible, if small, black citywide swage as of *.ar last census. It was middle class that cushioned the impact of stratified by parental status and included 1184 downswings in the economy and tied respondents-415 men and 769 womenfor a ghetto residents to the world of work has completion rate cd. 83.0 percent for black parents all but disappeared. Moreover, the social and 78.0 percent for black neaps:ems. Of the 1166 black respondents who still lived in the city at the networks of parents, friends, and associ- time they were interviewed, 405, or 34.7 percent, ates, as well as the nexus of localinstitu- resided in low-poverty tractsthat is, tracts with tions, have seen their resources for eco- poverty rates between 20.0 aad 29.9 pcmentto nomic stability progressively depleted. In which were added 41 individuals, or 3.5 percent, sum, today's ghetto residentsface a closed who had moved into tracts with poverty rates below 20.0 percent; 364, or 31.2 percent, lived in high- opportunity structure. poverty tractstracts with poverty ratesof 30.0 to 3. A detailed analysis of changes in population, 39.9 percentand are excluded from the analyses poverty, and poverty concentration in these10 cities reported in this artidc and 356, or 303 patent, is presented in Lciic J.D. Wacquant and William inhabited extreme-poverty areas, including 9.6 per- Julius Wilson, "Poverty, Joblessness and theSocial cent in tracts with poverty rates above 50.0 percent. Transformation of the Inner City," in Reforming The latter include 63 persons, or 17.7 percent of all Welfare PoNcy, ed. D. Ellwood and P. Coning- extreme-poverty-am residents, dwelling in tracts ham (Cambtidgc, MA; Harvard University Press. with poverty rates in excess of 70.0 percentpublic forthcoming). housing projects in most cases. All the results 4. See Gregory D. Squires et at, Chicago: presented in this article are based on tmweighted Race, Class. and the Response to UrbanDecline data, although weighted data exhibit essentially the (Philadelphia Temple University Press. 1987). same patterns.

3 RACIAL AND CLASS EXCLUSION

DEINDUSTRIALIZATION AND material foundations of dm traditional HYPEROHEITOIZATION ghetto. Among these strtmtural shifts are Social conditions in the ghettos ofthe decentralization of industrial plants, Northern metropolises have never beenwhich commenced at the time of World enviabk, but today they are scaling new War I but accelerated sharply after 1950, heights in deprivation, oppression, andand the flight of manufacturing jobs bards*. The situation of Chicago's blackabroad, to the Sunbelt states, or to the inner city is embkmatk of the social suburbs and exurbs at a time when blacks changes that have sown despair and were continuing to migrate en masse to exclusion in these communities As Tabk Rustbelt central cities; the wend decon- 1 indicates, an unprececknted tangle ofcentration of metropolitan economies social woes is now gripping dm blackand the turn toward service industries communities of the city's South Side andand occupations, promoted by the grow- West Side. In the past decade alone, theseing separation of banks and induatrY; and racial enclaves have experienced rapidthe emerge= of post-Taylorist, so-called increases in the number and percentageflexible forms of organizations and gen- of poor families, extensive out-migrationeralized corporate attacks on unions of working- and middle-class households, expressed by, among other things, wage stagnationif not real regressionofcutbacks and the spread of two-tier wage income, and record levels of unemploy-systems and labor contractingwhich ment. As of the last census, over two-has intensified job competition and thirds of all families living in these areastriggered an explosion of low-pay, part- were headed by women; about half of thetime work. This means that even mild population had to rely on public aid, forforms of racial discriminationmild by most adults were out of a job and only ahistorical standardshave a bigger im- tiny fraction of them had completed pact on those at the bottom of the college(' American class order. In the labor-sur- The single largest force behind this plus environment of the 1970s, the weak- increasing social and economic margin-ness of unions and the mtrenchment of alization of large numbers of inner-citycivil rights enforcement aggravated the blacks has been a set of mutually rein-structuring of unskilled labor markets forcing spatial and industrial changes in along racial lines,8 marking large num- the country's urban political economy7 Organised Capitalism (Madison: Univemity of Wis- that have converged to undermine the consin Press, IM); Claus Offe, Discaganired Capi- talism: Contemporary Dwujormations of Work 6. A mote detailed analysis of social changes and Politics, al. John Keane (Cambridge: MIT on Chicago's South Side is in William Julius Wilson Press, 1985); Fred Block, Revising Stat. Theory: et aL, "The Ghetto Underclass and the Changing Essays on Politics and Postindustrialism (Phila- Structure of Urban Poverty," in Quiet Riots, ed. delphia: Temple University Press, 1987); Donald A. Hanis and Wilkins. Hicks, Advanced hulustrial Development (Boated: 7. Space does not allow us to do more than Oelgeschlager, Gun and Hain, 1985); Barry Blue- allude to the transformations of the American stone and Bennett Harrison, The Great 11-11an economy as they bear on the ghetto. For provocative (New York: Basic Books, 1988); Michael J. Fiore analyses of the systemic disorganization of advanced and Charles F. Sahel, The Second Indtatrial Divide: capitalist economies and polities and the impact, Possibilitiesfor Prosperity (New York: Basic Books, actual and potential, of postindustrial and flexible- 1984). specialization trends on cities and their labor mar- 8. See, for instance, Norman Fainsteili. "The kets, see Scott Lash and John Urry, The .E.,d of Underclass/ Mismatch Hypothesis as an Explana- TABLE 1 SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS OF CHICAGO'S GHETTO NEIGHBORHOOD, 1970-80

Residents Families below Female-Headed MedianFamily with Four-Year Area Poverty Line Unemployed Families income College Degree (percentage) (percentage) (percentage) (percentage) 1970 1980 1970 1980 1970 1980 1970 1980 1970 1980

West Side Near West Side 36 47 8 16 37 66 6.0 7.5 5 13t East Garfield Park 32 40 a 21 34 61 6.4 9.7 1 2 North Lavendate 30 40 9 20 33 61 7.0 9.9 2 3 West Garfield Park 25 37 8 21 29 58 7.5 10.9 1 2

South Side Oakland 44 61 13 30 48 79 4.9 6.5 2 3 Grand Boulevard 37 51 10 24 40 76 6.6 6.3 2 3 Washington Park 26 43 a 21 35 70 6.5 8.1 2 3 91 Near South Side 37 43 7 20 41 76 5.2 7.3 5

SOURCE: Chicago Fact Book Consortium,Local Community Fact Book: Chicago Metropolitan Area(Chicago: Chicago Review Press. 1984). In thousands of dollars annually. tincreases due to the partial gentrification of these areas.

15 RACIAL AND CLASS EXCLUSION 13

boa of inner-city blacks with the stamp of city has been a steep =I accelerating rise economic redundancy. in labor market exclusion. In the 1950s, In 1954, Chicago was still near the ghetto blacks had roughly the same rate Might of its industrial power. Over 10,000 of employment as the average Chicagoan, manufacturing establishments operated with some 6 adults in 10 working (see within the city limits, employing a total of Table 2). While this ratio has not changed 616,000, imluding nearly half a million citywide over the ensuing three decades, prodiction workers. By 1982, the number nowadays most residents of the Black of plants had been cut by half, providing BeIrcanncn fmd gainful employment and II mere 277,000 jobs for fewer than 162,000 must resort to welfare, to participation in blue-collar employeesa loss of 63 per- the second economy, or to illegal activities cent, in sharp contiast with the overall in order to survive. In 1980, two persons growth of manufacturing employnx-nt in in three did not hold jobs in the ghetto the country, which added almost I million neighborhoods of East Garfield Park and production jobs in the quarter century Washington Park, and three adults in starting in 1958. This crumbling of the four were not employed in Grand Boule- city% industrial base was accompanied by vard and Oakland.10 substantial cuts in trade employnwnt, As the metropolitan economy moved with over 120,000 jobs lost in retail and away from smokestack industries and wholesale from 1963 to 1982. The mild expanded outside of Chicago, emptying growth of serviceswhich created an the Black Belt of most of its manufacturing additional 57,000 jobs during the samejobs and employed residents, the gap period, excluding health, financial, and between the ghetto and the rest of the social servicescame nowhere near to city, not to mention its suburbs, widened compensating for this collapse of Chi-dramatically. By 1980, median family cago% low-skilled employment pool. Be- income on the South and West sides had cause, traditionally, blacks have relieddropped to around one-third and one- heavily on manufacturing anxi blue-collar half of the city average, respectively, employment for economic sustenance,9 compared with two-thirds aixl near parity the upshot of these structural economicthirty years earlier. Meanwhile, some of changes for the inhabitants of the inner the city's white bourgeois neighborhoods tion for Black Economic Deprivation," Polities and and upper-class suburbs had reached Society, 15(4403-52 0986-87) Wendy Winter- over twice the citywide figure. Thus in mute, 'Recession and 'Recovery% Impact on Black 1980, half of the families of Oakland bad and White Workers in Chicago"(Chicago: Chicago to make do with less than $5500 a year, Urban League, 1983); Bruce Williams, sack Work- while half of the families of Highland ers in an Industrial Suburb: The Struggle against Discrimination (New Brunswick, N.I: Rutger Uni- Park incurred incomes in excess of versity Press, 1987). $43,000. 9. In 1950, fully 60 percent of employed black 10. Rates of joblessness have risen at a much men and 43 percent of black women in Chicago had faster pace in the ghetto than for blacks as a whole. blue-collar occupations, skilled and unskilled com- For comparative data on the loniterm decline of bined, compared to 48 percent and 28 percent of black labor force participation, cep, among males, white men and women, tespectively. See "Black see Reynolds Fatley and WalteT IL Allen, The Metropolis 1961, Appendix," in St. Oair Drake Color Line and the (hsality of 1.4fe in America (New and Horace R. Cayton, Mae* Metropolis: A Study York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1987); Katherine of Negro Life in a Northern City, 2 wls., rev, and L. Bradbury and Lynn E Brown, "Black Men in the enlarged ed. (originally 1945; New York: Harper & Labor Market," New England Economic Review, Row, 1962). Mar.-Apr. 1986, pp. 32-42. 1 6 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICANACADEMY 14

TABLE 2 THE HISTORIC RISE OF LABORMARKET EXCLUSION IN CHICAGO'S GHETTO NEIGHBORHOODS,1080-80

Adults Not Employed (Percentage?

1950 1970 1980

44.8 city of Chicago 43.4 41.5

West Side Near WestSide 49.8 51.2 64.8 67.2 EastGarfield Park 38.7 51.9 62.2 North Lawndale 43.7 56.0

South Side 76.0 Oakland 49.1 64.3 74.4 Grand Boulevard 47.5 58.2 67.1 Washington Park 45.3 52.0

SOURCE: Computed from Chicago Fact BookConsortium,Local Community Feet Book: Philip M. Hauser and Evelyn M. Kitegawa,Local Community Filet Chicago Metrecolitan AM; Inventory, 1953). Book for Chicago, 1950(Chicago: University of Chiaago, Chicago Community NOTE: Labor market exclusion is measured bythe percentage of adults not employed, aged 16 years and older for 1970 and 1980, 14 yearsand older for 1950.

A recent ethnographic account of empty lots. Whatever buildings once stood on changes in North Kenwood, one ofthe the lots are long gone. Nothing gets buih on poorest black sections on thecity's South 47th. ..Over the years one apartment building after another has been condemned Side, vividly encapsulates the accelerated by the city and torn down. Today many physical and social decay of tir ghettoblocks have the bombed-out look of Bain and is worth quoting at some length: after World War II. There are huge, barren In the 1960's, 47th Street was still thesocial areas of Kenwood, covered by weeds,brieks, hub of the South Side black community.Sues and broken bottles.11 eyes light up when shedescribes how the street Duncan reports how this disappear- used to be filled with stores, theaters andance of businesses and loss ofhousing nightclubs in which one could listen to jazz have stimulated the influx of drugs and bands well into the evening. Sue remembers the street as "soulfuL" Today the streetmight criminal activities to undermine the strong be better characterized as soulless.Some sense of solidarity that once permeated stores, currency exchanges, bars andliquor the community. With no activities or stores continue to exist on 47th.Yet, as one organizations left to bring them together walks down the street, one is struck more by or to represent them as acollectivity, with the death of the street than by its life.Quite half the population gone in 15 years, the literally, the destniction of human life occurs remaining residents, some of whom now frequently on 47th. In terms of physiralrefer to North Kenwood as the "Wild struetures, many stores are boarded upand West," seem to be engaged in a perpetual abandoned. A few buildings have bars across the front and are closed to the public, but they are not empty. They areused, not so secretly, I I. Arne Duncan, 'The Values, Aspirations, by people involved in illegal activities.Other andOpportunities of the Urban Underelass"(BA stretches of the street are simply barren, honors thesis, Harvard University, 1987). pp. 18 ff.

1 7 RACIAL AND CIASS EXCLUSION 15

&Aar; omnium contra omnesfor sheerthe larger sociKy and provides basic survival. One informant expesses this minimal resources for social mobility, if succimgly: "'It's gotten worse. They tore only within a truncated black class strut:- down all the building, dderioratin' theture. And the social ills that have long neighborhood. All your friends have tobeen associated with segregated pov- leave. They are just spreading out yourertyviolent crime, drugs, housing de- mellahs [close frknds]. It's not no neigh- terioration, family disruption, commer- borhood anymore.'"I2 With the ever-cial blight, and educational failurehave present threat of gentrificationmuch ofreached qualitatively diffesent propor- tlw area is prim lake-front property that tions and have beconw articulated into a would bring in huge profits if it could benew configuration that endows each with turned over to upper-class condomini-a more deadly impact than before. ums and apartment complexes to cater to If the "organized," or institutional, the needs of the higher-income clientele ghetto of forty years ago described so of Hyde Park, which lies just to tlwgraphically by Drake and Caytoni5 im- southtiw future of the community ap- posed an enormous cost on blacks collec- pears gloomy. Ow resident explains: tively,16 the "disorganized" ghetto, or "'They want to put all the blacks in the hyperghetto, of today carries an even projects. They want to buikl buildings forlarger price. For, now, not only are the rich, and not us poor people. They are ghetto residents, as before, dependent on trying to move us all out. In four or fivethe will and decisions of outside forces years we will all be gone.'" that rule the field of powerthe mostly Fundamental changes in the organiza- white dominant class, corporations, real- tion of America's advanced economytors, politicians, and welfare agencies have thus unleashed irresistible cen-they have no control over and ate forced trifugal pressures that have broken downto rely on services and institutions that the previous structure of the ghetto and are massively inferior to those of the set off a process of hyperghettoization." wider society. Today's ghetto inhabitants By this, we mean that the ghetto has lost much of its organizational strengththe 15. Drake and Cayton, Mack Metropoks. "pulpit and the press," for instance, have 16. Let us emphasize here that this contrast virtually collapsed as collective agen- between the traditional ghetto and the hyperghetto of toda/ implies no nostalgic celebration of the ciesas it has become increasingly mar- ghetto of yesteryear. If the latter was organization- ginal economically; its activities are no ally and socially integrated, it was not by choice but longer structured around an internal and under the yoke ri total black subjugation and with relatively autonomous social space that the threat of racial violence looming never too far in the background. See Arnold Hirsch, Makhtg the duplicates the institutional structure ofSecond Ghetto: Race and Housing in Mow 1940-1960 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 12. In ibid.. p. 21. 1983), for an account of riots and violent white 13. In ibid., p. 28. opposition to housing desegregation in Chicago in 14. See Gary Orfield, "Ghettoization and Itsthe two decades following World Was U. The Alternatives," in The New Urban Reality, ed. P. organized ghetto emerged out of necessity, asa Peterson (Washington, DC: Rrookinp Institution.limited, if creative, response to implacable white 1985), for an account of processes of ghettoization; hostility; separatism was never a voluntary develop- and Wacquant and Wilson, "Poverty, Joblessness ment, but a protection against unyielding pressures and Social Transformation," for a preliminaryfrom without, as shown in Allan H. Spear, Black discussion of some of the factors that underlieChicago: The Making of a Negro Ghetto, 18%- hyperghettoization. 1920 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968). I THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 16 comprise almost exclusively the mostadjacent tracts. Thus when we counter- marginal ami on:messed sections of thepose extreme-poverty areaswith low- black community. Having lost the eco-poverty areas, we are in effect comparing nomic underpinnings and much of theghetto ne;Pborhoods with other black fine texture of organizations and patternedareas, most of which aremoderately activities that allowed ptevious genera-poor, that are not part ofChicago's tions of urban blacks to sustain family,traditional Black Belt. Even though this community, and collectivity even in thecomparison involves a truncated spectrum face of contintwd economic hardship and of types of neigliborhoods,17 the contrasts unflinching racial subordination, theit reveals between low-poverty and ghetto inner-city now presents a picture of radi-tracts are quite monounced. cal class and racial exclusion. It is to a It should be noted that this distinction sociographic assessment of the latter that between low-poverty and ghetto neighbor- we now turn. hoods is not merely analytical but cap- tures differences that are dearly perceived THE COST OF by social agents themselves. First, the LIVING IN THE GHEITO folk category of ghetto does, in Chicago, refer to the South Side and West Side, Let us contrast the social structure ofnot just to any black area of the city; ghetto neighborhoods with that of low-mundane usages of the term entail a poverty black areas of the city of Chicago. social-historical and spatial referent rather For purposes of this comparison, wethan simply a racial dimension. Further- have classified as low-poverty neighbor-more, blacks who live in extreme-poverty hoods all those tracts with rates of pov-areas have a noticeably more/native ertyas measured by the number ofopinion of their neighborhood. Only 16 persons below the official povertylinepercent rate it as a "good" to "very good" between 20 and 30 percent as of the 1980place to live in, compared to 41 percent census. Given that the overall povertyamong inhabitants of low-poverty tracts; rate among black families in the city isalmost I in 4 fmd their neighborhood about one-third, these low-poverty areas"bad or very bad" compared to fewer can be considered as roughly representa-than 1 in 10 among the latter. In short, the tive of the average non-ghetto, non-contrast between ghetto and non-ghetto middle-class, black neighborhood of Chi-poor areas is one that is sociallymeaning- cago. In point of fact, nearlyall-97ful to their residents. percentof the respondents in this cate- traditional ghetto gory reside outside The black clan structure la neighborhoods areas. Extreme-poverty and ow of the ghetto comprise tracts with at least 40 percent of their residents in poverty in 1980. These The first major difference between tracts make up the historic heart oflow- and extreme-poverty areas has to do Chicago's black ghetto: over 82 percent 17. Poverty levels were arbitrarily limited by of the respondents in this category inhabit the sampling design: areas with less than 20 percent the West and South sides of the city, in poor persons in 1980 were excluded at the outset, and tracts with extreme levels of poverty, being areas most of which have beenall black generally rtlatively underpopulated, ended up being for half a century and more, and an underrepresented by the random sampling pro- additional 13 percent live in immediately cedure chosen. 1 9 RACIAL AND CLASS EXCLUSION 17 with tlxir class structure (see Figure I). Atypes of neighborhoods have a more sizable majority of blacks in low-povatyfavorable class mix resulting from their tracts are gainfully employed: two-thirdsbetter rates of employment: 78 percent in hold a job, including 11 percent withlow-poverty areas and 66 percent in the middle-ciass occupations awl 55 percentghetto. If women are much less freqinntly with working-class jobs, while one-thirdemployed-42 percent in low-poverty do not work. Is These proportions areareas and 69 percent in the ghetto do not exactly opposite in the ghetto, where fullyworkthey have comparable, that is, 61 percent of adult residents do not work, severely limited, overall access to middle- one-third have working-class jobs and aclass status: in both types of neighbor- mere 6 percent enjoy middk-class status.hood, only about 10 percent hold cre- For those who reside in the urban core,dentialed salaried positions or better. then, being without a job is by far the These data are hardly surprising. They most likely occurrence, while being em-stand as a brutal reminder that joblessness ployed is the exception. Controlling forand poverty are two sides of the same gender does not affect this contrast,coin. The poorer the neighborhood, the though it does reveal the greater ectmomicmore prevalent joblessness and the lower vulnerability of women, who are twice asthe class recruitment of its residents. But likely as men to be jobless. Men in boththese results also reveal that the degree of 18. Class categorirs have been roughly defmed economic exclusion observed in ghetto on the basis of the respondent's curent occupation neighborhoods during the period of slug- as follows: the middle class comprises managers, gish economic growth of the late 1970s is administrators, executives, professional specialbas. still very much with us nearly a decade and technical staff; the working class includes bath blue-collar workers and noncredentialed white- later, in the midst of the most rapid collar workers; in the jobless category fall all those expansion in recent American economic who did not hold a job at the time of the interview. history. OUT dividing line between middle and working As we would expect, there is a close class, cutting across white-collar occupations, isassociation between class and educational consistent with recent research and theory on classfor example, Erik Olin Wright, awes (New credentials. Virtually every member of York: Verso, 1985); Nicolas Abercrombie and John the middle class has at least graduated Uny, Copit4 Labour and the Middle Clamsfrom high school; nearly two-thirds of (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1983)and on working-class blacks have also completed contemporary perceptions of class in the blacksecondary education; but less than half- communitysee Reeve Vanneman and Lynn Can- non Weber, 7he American Perception of Class 44 percentof the jobless have a high (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1987), school diploma or more. Looked at from chap. 10. The category of the jobless is admittedly another angle, 15 percent of our educated heterogeneous, as it should be given that therespondentsthat is, high school gradu- identity of those without an occupational position is ates or betterhave made it into the ambiguous and ill-defined in reality itself, It includes people actively looking for work (half the men and I salaried middle class, half have become woman in 10), keeping house (13 percent of the men white-collar or blue-collar wage earners, and 61 percent of the women), and a minority of and 36 percent are without a job. By respondents who also attend school part- or full- comparison, those without a high school time (16 percent of the males, 14 percent of the education are distributed as follows: 1.6 females). A few respondents without jobs declared themselves physically unable to work (6 percent of percent in the middle class, 37.9 percent the men, 3 parent of the women). in the working class, and a substantial 18 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

FIGURE 1 ME SLACK CLASS STRUCTURE IN CHICAGO'S LOW- ANO EXTREME-POVERTY AREAS

Middle Class

Working Class

Jobless 1

I ow Poverty Extreme Pover ty Areas Areas

LIt ess than High School Greduet.

SOURCE: Urban Poverty and Family Structure Survey.

majority of 60.5 percent in the jobless tion.19 Fewer than 4 ghetto dwellers in 10 category. In other words, a high schoolcome from a family that owned its home degree is a conditio sine qua non forand 6 in 10 have parents who owned blacks for entering the world of work, letnothing, that is, no home, business, or alone that of the middle class. Not finish- land. In low-poverty areas, 55 percent of ing secondaly education is synonymousthe inhabitants are from a home-owning with economic redundancy. family while only 40 percent had no assets Ghetto residents are, on the whole, less at all a generation ago. Women, both in educated than the inhabitants of otherand out of the ghetto, are least likely to black neighborhoods. This results in partcome from a family with a home or any from their lower chats composition but other asset---46 percent and 37 percent, also from the much more modest aca-respectively. This difference in class demic background of the jobless: fewerorigins is also captured by differential than 4 in 10 jobless persons on the city's rates of welfare receipt during childhood: South Side and West Side have graduatedthe proportion of respondents whose from high school, compared to nearly 6parents were on public aid at some time in 10 in low-poverty areas. It should bewhen they were growing up is 30 percent pointed out that education is one of thein low-poverty tracts and 41 percent in few areas in which women do not farethe ghetto. Women in extreme-poverty worn than men: females are as likely toareas are by far the most likely IQ CO= hold a high school diploma as males infrom a family with a welfare record. the ghetto-50 percentand more likely 19. And from the education ri their fathers: to do so in low-poverty areas-69 percent only 36 percent of ghetto residents have a father versus 62 percent. with at least a high school education, competed to Moreover, ghetto residents have lower 43 percent among those who the outside the ghetto. The different class backgrounds and trajectories uf class origins, if one judges from the ghetto and non-ghetto blacks will be examined in a economic assets of their family of orienta- subsequent paper.

21 RACIAL AND CLASS EXCLUSION 19

TABLE 3 INCIDEPICE OF WELFARE RECEIPT AND FOOD ASSISTANCE AMONG SLACK RESIDENTS OF CHICAGO'S LOW- AND EXTREME-POVERTY AREAS (Percentage)

All Respondents Males Females

Low Extreme Low Extreme Low Extreme poverty poverty poverty poverty poverty poverty

On aid when child 30.5 41.4 263 36.4 33.5 43.8 Currently on aid 25.2 57.6 13.4 31.8 32.4 68.9 Never had own grant 45.9 22.0 68.6 44.5 31.3 11.9 Expects to remain on aid Less than 1 year 52.9 29.5 75.0 56.6 46.1 25.0 More than 5 years 9.4 21.1 5.0 13.0 10.8 22.0 Receives food stamps 33.5 60.2 222 39.1 40.4 70.0 Receives at least one of five forms of food assistancet 51.1 71.1 37.8 45.0 59.6 85.2

SOURCE: Urban Poverty and Family Structure Survey, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Asked of current public-aid recipients only. tincluang pantry or soup kitchen, government food surplus program, food stamps, Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, infants and Children, free or reduced-cost school lunches.

Cia.u, gender, and werare areas on the South Side and West Side trajectories in low- and was officially receiving public assistance, extreme-poverty areas while working- and middle-class black If they are more likely to have been neighborhoods of the far South Side, raised in a household that drew public such as South Shore, Chatham, or Rose- land, had rates of welfare receipt ranging assistance in the past, ghetto dwellers are also much more likely to have been or tobetween ow-fifth and one-fourth.20 None of tin middle-class respondents be cuirently on welfare themselves. Differ- ences in class, gender, and wigiaborhood who live in low-poverty tracts were on cumulate at each juncture of the welfare welfare at the time they were interviewed, trajectoty to produce much higher levels and only one in five had ever been on aid in their lives. Among wc-king-class resi- of welfare attachments among the ghetto dents, a mere 7 percent were on welfare population (Table 3). In low-poverty areas, only one resident and just over one-half had wver had any in four are currently on aid while almost welfare experience. This same relation- ship between class and welfare receipt is half have never personally received assist- ance. In the ghetto, by contrast, over halffound among residents of extreme-poverty the residents are current welfare recipi-tracts, but with significantly higher rates of welfare receipt at all class levels: there, ents, and only one in five have never been on aid. These differences are consistent 12 percent of working-class residents are with what we know from censuses and presently on aid and 39 percent received other studies: in 1980, about half of the 20. Sec Wacquant and Wilson, "Poverty, Job- black population of most community lessness and Social Transformation," fig. 2. 22 20 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY welfare before; even a few middle-class a year and only a small minority anskipate bliw.ks-9 percentare drawing public receiving aid for longer than five years, in assistance and only one-third of tlwm glwtto neighborhoods, by control*, fewer have wirer received any aid, instead of than I in 3 public-aid recipients expect to three-quarters in low-poverty tracts. But be welfare-free within a year and fully 1 in it is among the jobkss that the difference 5 anticipate needing assistance for more between low- and extreme-poverty areas than five years. This diffeience demo:da- is the largest: fully 86 percent of those in tion; increases among the jobless Ed' both ghetto tracts are currently on welfare and genders. For instme, unemployed wom- only 7 percent have never had recourse to en in the ghetto are twice as likely as public akl, compared with 62 percent and unemployed women in low-poverty areas 20 percent, respectivdy, among those to think that they will remain on aid for who live outside the ghetto. more than five years and half as likely to Neighborhood differences in patterns anticipate ruing off the rolls within a of welfare receipt are robust across gen- year. ders, with women exhibiting noticeably Thus if the likelihood of being on higher rates than men in both types of welfare increases sharply as one crosses areas and at all class levels. The handful the line between the employed and the of black middle-class women who reside jobless, it remains that,ateach level of in the ghetto are much more likely to the class structure, welfare receipt is admit to having received aid in the past notably more frequent in extreme-poverty than their male counterparts: one-third neighborhoods, especially among the uszro- versus one-tenth. Among working-class ployed, and among women. This pattern respondents, levels Jf current welfare is confirmed by tlx dataonthe incidence receipt are similar for both sexes-5.0 of food assistance presented in Table 3 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively-- and strongly suggests that those unable to while levels of past receipt again display secure jobs in low-poverty areas have the gr...ater economic vulnerability of access to social and economic supports to women: one in two received aid before as help them avoid the public-aid rolls that against one male in five. This gendertheir ghetto counterparts lack. Chief differential is somewhat attenuated in among those are their financial and eco- extreme-poverty areas by the general nomic assets. prevalence of welfare receipt, with two- thirds of all job/ess males and 9 in 10 Differences in economic and jobless women presently receiving public financial capital assistance. A quick survey of the economic and The high incidence and persistence of financial assets of the residents of Chi- joblessness and welfare in ghetto neighbor- hoods, reflecting the paucity of viable cago'S poor black neighborhoods (Table options for stable employment, take a4) reveals the appalling degree of eco- heavy toll on those who are on aid by nomic hardship, insecurity, and depriva- tion that they must confront day in and significantly depressing their expectations of finding a route to economic self-day out.2f The picture in low-poverty sufficiency. While a slim majority of 21. Again, we must reiterate that our compari- welfare recipients living in low-poverty son excludes ex definitio the black upper- and the tracts expect to be self-supportive within middle-class neighborhoods that have mushmomed 2 3 RACIAL AND CLASS EXCLUSION 21 areas is grim; that in the glxtto is one offor granted are, to put it miklly, not of near-total destitution. obvious access to the black poor. Barely In 1986, the median family imome for one-third of the residents ci low-poverty blacks nationally was pegred at $18,000, areas maintain a personal (locking ac- comared to $31,000 fm white familkz. count; only one in num manes: to do so Black homeholds in Chicago% low-pov-in the ghetto, where nearly three of every erty areas have roughly equivalent in-four persons report no financial asset conmui, mith 52 percent declaring overwhatsoever from a possible list of six and $21),000 annually. Those living in Chi- only 8 percent have at least three of those cago's ghetto, by contrast, command butsix assets. (See Table 4.) Hen, again, a fraction of this figure: half of all ghetto class and neighborhood lines are sharply respondents live in households that dis- drawn: in low-poverty areas, 10 percent pose of less than $7500 annually, twice of the jobless and 48 percent of working- the rate among residents of low-povertyclass blacks have a personal checking neighborhoods. Women assign theiraccount compared to 3 percent and 37 households to much lower income brack- percent, respectively, in the ghetto; the ets in both areas, with fewer than I in 3 in proportion for members of the middk low-poverty areas and I in 10 in extreme-class is similar-63 percentin both poverty areas enjoying more than $25,000 MSS. annually. Even those who work report The American dream of owning one% smaller iwomes in the ghetto: the propor-home remains well out of reach for a tion of working-class and middle-class large majority of our black respondents, households falling under the $7500 mark especially those in the ghetto, where on the South and West sides-12.5 per- barely I person in 10 belong to a borne- cent and 6.5 percent, respectivelyis owning household, compared to over 4 in double that of other black neighbor- 10 in low-poverty areas, a difference that hoods, while fully one-half of jobless is just as pronounced within each gender. respondents in extreme-poverty tracts do The considerably more modest dream of not reach the $5000 line. It is not surprising owning an automobile is likewise one that ghetto dwellers also less frequentlythat hm yet to materialize for ghetto report an improvement of the fmarwial residents, of which only one-third live in situation of their household, with women households with a car that runs. Again, again in the least enviable position. This this is due to a cumulation of sharp class reflects sharp class differences: 42 percent and neighborhood differences: 79fercent of our middle-class respondents and 36of middle-class respondents and 62 per- percent of working-class blaeks register a cent of working-class blacks have an financial amelioration as against 13 per- automobile in their household, contrasted cent of the jobless. with merely 28 percent of the jobless. But, Due to meager and irregular income, in ghetto tracts, only 18 percent of the those financial and banking services that jobless have domestic access to a car-34 most members of the larger society take percent for men and 13 percent for women. in Chicago since the opening of race relations n the The social consequences of such a 1960s. The development of this "new black middle class" is surveyed in Bart Landry, Me New Black paucity of income and assets as suffered Middle Class (Berkeley University of California by ghetto blacks cannot be overempha- Press, 1987). sized. For just as the lack of fmancial 04 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

TABLE 4 ECONOMIC APR" FINANCIAL ASSETS OF BLACK RESIDENTS OF CHICAGO'S LOW- AND EXTREME-POVERTY AREAS Wswantnia/

All Respondents Females Low Extreme Low Extrema Low Extreme poverty poverty poverty poverty poverty poverty

Household income Less than $7,500 .27.2 51.1 18.1 33.6 34.5 59.0 More than $25,000 34.1 14.3 41.4 22 7 29.8 10.5 Finances have improved 32.3 21.1 35.7 23.4 30.4 20.1

Financial assets Has checking account 34.8 12.2 33.3 17.6 36.4 9.9 Hes savings account 35.4 17.8 40,4 26.6 33.1 14.1 Has none of six assets* 48.2 73.6 40.7 63.1 52.6 78.3 Has at least three of sln assets 23.3 8.3 26.8 13.5 21.3 5.8 Respondent owns nothing,' 78,7 96.6 75.6 93.7 80.5 98.0

Material assets of household Owns home 44.7 11.5 49.7 19.8 41.5 7.8 Has a car 64.8 33.9 75.9 51,4 57.7 25.7 SOURCE: Urban Poverty and Family Structure Survey. *Includng personal checking account, savings account, individual retirement account, pension plan, money in stocks and bonds, and prepaid burial. tHome, business, or land.

resources or possession of a home repre- long-in sum, the resources they have sents a critical handicap when one can =as to by virtue of being socially only find low-paying and casual employ- integrated into solidary groups, networks, ment or when one loses ones job, in that or organizations, what Bourdieu calls it literally forces one to go on the welfare "social capitarn Our data indicate that rolls, not owning a car severely curtails not only do residents of extremo-poverty ones chances of competing for available jobs that are not located nearby or that 22. Pierre Bourdiett, "The Forms ti Capkal," are not readily accessible by public in HaneRrook of Theory lord Rearm* for tlw Sociolov of &fixation, ed. J. G. Richardson (New transportation. York: Greenwood Prem, 1966). The crucial role played by relatives, friends, and lovers in strategies Social capital and of survival in poor black communities is documented poverty concentration extensively in Carol B. Stack, AR Our Kin: Strute . gies for Survival In Me* Commosasity (New York Among the resources that individuals Harper & Row, 1974). On the management of can draw upon to implement strategies of relationships and the influence of friends in the social mobility are those potentially pro- ghetto, see also Elliot Liebow, Ta144 Corner: A Study of Negro Streetcorrter Mess (Boston: Uttle, vided by their lovers, kin, and friends and Brown, 1967); Ulf Hannerz, Souls's*: Inquiries into by the contacts they develop within the Ghetto Cksiturv and Community (New York Colum- formal associations to which they be- bia University Press, 1969); Elijah Anderson, A P5 RACIAL AND CLASS EXC1AJSION 23

TABLE 5 SOCIAL CAPITAL Of BLACK RESIDENTS OF CHICAGO'S LOIN- AND EXTRIBINE-POVERTY AREAS 'montage)

All Respondents Males Females

Low Extreme Low Extreme Low Extreme poverty poverty poverty poverty poverty poverty

Current partner Reimondent has no current Partner 32.4 42,0 23.3 39.1 38.0 43.1 Responeent married* 35.2 18.6 40.9 27.0 312 14.9 Partner completed high school 80.9 72.1 83.8 83.0 88.4 71.5 Partner works steadily 69.0 54.3 50.0 34.8 8.3.8 62.2 Partner is on public aid 20.4 34.2 38.6 45.5 16.2 28.6

Best friend Respondent has no best friend 12.2 19.0 14.3 21.1 10.7 18.1 Best friend completed high school 87.4 76.4 83.7 76.3 87.2 76.3 Best friend works steadily 72.3 60.4 772 72.8 65.6 54.8 Hest friend is on Public aid 14.0 28.6 3.0 13.6 20.5 35.3

SOURCE: Urban Poverty and Family Structure Survey. °And not separated from his or her spouse. areas have fewer social ties but also that12 percent, respectively, in low-poverty they tend to have ties of lesser socialareas. It also means that intact marriages worth, as measured by the social positionare less frequent (Table 5). Jobless men of their partners, parents, siblings, andare much less likely than working males best friends, for instance. In short, theyto have current partners in both types of possess lower volumes of social capital. neighborhoods: 62 percent in low-poverty Living in the ghetto means being moreneighborhoods and 44 percent in extreme- socially isolated: nearly half of thepoverty areas. Bliwk women have a slight- residents of extreme-poverty tracts havely better chance of having a partner if no current partner-i:lefined here as athey live in a low-poverty area, and this person they are married to, live with, orpartner is also more likely to have com- are dating steadily-and one in five admitpleted high school and to work steadily; to having no one who would qualify as afor ghetto residence further affects the best friend compared to 32 percent andlabor-market standing of the latter. The partners of women living in extreme- poverty areas are leas stably employed Mac e n the Conger (Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 1978); Terry Williams and William Kam- than those of female respondents from blunt, Growing up Poor (Lexington, Mk Lexington low-poverty neighborhoods: 62 percent Books, 1985). in extreme-poverty areas work regularly 24 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY as compared to 84 percent in low-poverty least 04Ce 4 week compared to 37 percent areas. of responlents from hsw-poverty tracts Friends often play a crucial role in life even though wonam tend toattend more in that they provide emotional and ma-regularly than men in both types of areas. terial support, help constmct one's iden-Finally, black women who inhabit the tity, and often open up opportunities that ghetto are also slightly kns likely to know one would not have without thempar- mon c I their neighbors than tkir counter- ticularly in the area ofjobs. We have wen parts from low-poverty areas. Allin all, that ghetto resicknts are more likely than then, poverty concentration has the effect other black Chicagoans to have no close of devaluing the social capital of those friend. If they have a best frierkl, further-who live in its midst. more, he or six is less likely to work, less educated, and twice as likely to be on aid. CONCLUSION: Because friendships tend to develop pri- THE SOCIAL STRUCTURING OF manly within genders and women have GHETTO POVERTY much higher rates of economic exclusion, The extraordinary levels of economic female respondents are much more likely hardship plaguing Chicago's in= city in than men to have a best friend who does the 1970s have not abated, and the ghetto not work and who receives welfare assist-seems to have gone unaffected bythe ance. Both of these characteristics,in economic boom of the past five years. If turn, tend to be more prevalent amonganything, conditions have continued to ghetto females. worsen. This points to the asymmtric Such differences in social capital are causality between the economy and ghetto also evidenced by different rates and poverty23 and to the urgent need to study patterns of organizational participation. the social and political structures that Whik being part of a fonnal organization, mediate their relationship. The significant such as a block club or a community differences we have uncovered between organization, a political party, a school- low-poverty and extreme-poverty areas related association, or a sports, fraternal, in Chicago are essentially a reflection of or other social group, is a rare occurrence their different class mix and of the prev- as a rulewith the notable exception of alence of economic exclusion in the middle-class blacks, two-thirds of whom ghetto. belong to at least one such groupit is Our conclusion, then, is that social more common for ghetto residents-64 analysts must pay more attention to the perrent, versus 50 percent in low-poverty extreme levels of economic deprivation tractsespecially females-64 percent, and social marginalization as uncovered versus 46 percent in low-poverty areas in this article before they further entertain to belong to no organization. As for and spread so-called theories24 about the church membership, the small minority who profess to be, in Weber's felicitous 23. By this we mean that when the economy expression, "religiously unmusical" is slumps, conditions in the ghetto become a lot worse twice as large in the ghetto as outside: 12 but do not automatically return to the status quo erne when macroeconomic conditions improve, so percent versus 5 percent. For those with a that cyclical economic fluctuations lead to stepwise religion, ghetto residence tends to depress increases in social disk/cations. church attendance slightly-29 percent 24. We say "so-called" here because, more often of ghetto inhabitants attend service at than not, the views expressed by scholars in this 27 RACIAL AND CLASS EXCLUSION 25

potency of a ghetlo culture of povertyIt is Ow cumulative structural entrapment that has yet to receive rigorous empiricaland forcible socioeconomic marginaliza- elabortnion. Those who have been push-tion resulting from the historically evolv- ing moral-cultural or individualistic-be-ing interplay of class, racial, and gender havioral explanations of the social disloca-domination, torther with sea changes in tions that have swept through the innerthe organization of American capitalism city in recent years have created a fictitiousand failed urban and social policies, not a normative divide between urban blacks"welfare ethcs," that explain the plight of that, no matter its realitywhich has yettoday's ghetto blacks. Thus, if the concept to be ascertained25cannot but pale whenof underclass is used, it must be a struc- compared to tlw objective structural cleav-tural concept: it must ¬e a new age that separates ghetto residents fromsociospatial patterning of class and racial the larger society and to the collectivedomination, recognizable by the unprece- material constraints that bear on them.26dented concentration of the most socially excluded and economically marginal rnem- regard are little more than a =face formalizatkin bers of tlx dominated racial and economk of the dominant Anxtrican ideologyor common-group. It should not be used as a label to sense notiona poverty that assigns ks origins todesignate a new breed of individuals the moral or psychological defickncies a individual poor persons. See Robert Castel, *La 'flume a lamolded freely by a mythical and all- pauvrete et le statut de lindigence dans une sock*powerful culture of poverty. d'abondance," Acres de la recherche en sciences Because the ptocesses that allocate individuakt and sock*, 19 Jan. 1978, pp. 47-60, for a pungentfamilies to neighborhoods are highly socially sekc- critieal and historical analysis of conceptions oftivc ones, to separate neighborhood effectsthe poverty in the American mind and in American specific impact of ghetto residencefrom the social welfare policy. forces that operate jointly with, or independently of, 23. Initial examination of our Chicago datathem cannot be done by simple controls such as we would appear to indicate that ghetto blacks on have used hese for descriptive purposes. On the public aid hold basically the same views as regards arduous methodological and theoretical problems welfare, work, and family as do other blacks, evenposed by such socially selective effects, sec Stanley those who belong to the middle class. Lieberson, Making It Count The Improvementof 26. Let us emphasize in closing that we are not Social Theoiy and Social Research(Berkeley: Uni- suggesting that differenees between ghetto and non- versity of California Press, 1985), pp. 1443 and ghetto poor can be explained by their residence. passim. ANNALS, AA PSS, SR, January 1989

Urban Industrial Transition and the Underclass

By JOHN D. KASARDA

ABSTRACT: Major U.S. cities have transformedindustrially from centers of goods processing to centers of information processing.Concurrently, the demand for poorly educated labor has declined markedly and the demandfor labor with higher education has increased substantially. Urban blacks have been caught in this web of change. Despite improvements in theiroverall educational attainment, a great majority still have very little schooling and therefore have been unable to gain significant =as to new urban growth industries. Underclass blacks, with exceptionally high rates of school drop- out, are especially handicapped. Whereasjobs requiring only limited education have been rapidly increasing in the suburbs, poorlyeducated blacks remain residentially constrained in inner-city housing.Within under- class neighborhoods, few households have private vehicles, which areshown to be incressingly necessary for employment indispersing metropolitan economic. The implications of interactions among race, space, and urban industrial change are explored. Reasons for the success of recent Asian immigrants in transforming cities are considered, and policr.'s are suggested to rekindle social mobility in the black underclass.

John D. Kasada is Kenan Professor and Chairman of the Department of Sociology atthe University of North Carolina at Owe! Hill, where he also serves as director ofthe Center for Competitiveness and E:mployment Growth. He is the coauthor ofsix books and more thanfifty scholarly articles on demography, formal organizations, and urban economic developmen t. His current research focuses on Job creation and the spatialredistribution of peopk and industry.

NOTE: This article benefited immeasurably from the input and assistance of John J. Beggs andRobert L. Boyd. Maria T. Cullinane assisted in table preparation.

29 26 URBAN INDUSTRIAL TRANSITION 27

D ESEARCH broadening our under- Congruent processes of social and IX standing of urban oppectimity struc-spatial mobility that characterized earlier tons can be traced back to the earlydisadvantaged residents of citis appar- Chicago school.' Scholars documentedently do not apply to large numbers of how the dynamic economies of our emerg- underprivileged blacks currently residing ing industrial elfin; generated excesses of in our !argot cities. Indeed, the economic low-skilled jobs that attracted waves of and social plight of a substantial segment foreign-born and rural migrants in search of the urban black population is actually of employment and a better life. Their worse now than it was a genention ago as field studies vividly described how each we have witmsssed the formation of an migrant group initially concentrated in immobilized subgroup of spatially iso- highly segregattAl enclaves within deteri- lated, persistently poor ghetto dwellers orating inner-city zones, where tin faced characterized by substandard education suspicion, distrust, discrimination, and and high rates of joblessness, mother- outright hostility from earlier ethniconly households, welfare dependency, arrivals. Y et these studies also showed out-of-wedlock births, and crime. The how, with tlw passage-of time, each group economic and social conditions of this was able to carve out a niche in the subgroup, labeled the urban underclass, economy, adjust to city life, assimilatehave deteriorated despite tarpted infu- into mainstream institutions, climb thesions of public assistance, affirmative socioeconomic ladder, and eventually action, and civil rights legislationpro- move to desegregated housing beyond grams traditionally supported by lib- the core ghettos and slumsonly to beeralsand have persisted in the face of residentially replaced by another wave of national and urban economic recovery, immigrants who replicated this spatial solutions espoused by many conservatives. and temporal process of assimilation and One reason why neither liberal nor mobility. It was these successive move- conservative prescriptions worked, I pro- ments from first-generation settlement in pose, is that both were overwhelmed by the core followed by residential progres- fundamental changes in the structure of sion outward toward the periphery that city economies affecting the employment accompanied the assimilation processes prospects of disadvantaged urban blacks. that were responsible for the reported These structural changes led to a substan- correspondence between (1) length oftial reduction of lower-skilled jobs in residence of the ethnic group in the city, traditional employing institutions that (2) the group's socioeconomic status, (3) attracted and economically upgraded pre- its degree of segregation, and (4) the vious generations of urban blacks. Loss average distance that group members of these employment opportunities, in resided from the urban core. turn, had devastating effects on black families, which further exacerbated the 1. Robert Park, Ernest %mess, and R. D. problems of the economically displaced. McKenne, eds., Tifw City (Chicago: University of In this article I demonstrate the close Chicago Press, 1925); Louis Worth, The Ghetto relationship between urban industrial tran- (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1928); Har- sition and black joblessness, especially vey W. Zorhaugh, The Gold Cowl and the Rum (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1929); among the poorly educated. I begin with Rodaick D. McKenzie, The Metropolitan Commu- a brief overview of urban employment nity (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1933). change during the past two decades. 28 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

Next, data from tlw Census Bureau'sdrammic metamorphosis compared te 1950, 19M, and 19I0 Public Use Micro- the situation in the mid-1950s, when data Sample (PUMS) Files are drawnemployment in these more traditional together to explicate changes in the struc- urban industries outnumbered informs- ture of employment in major Northern tion-processing employment in Boston cities and associated increases in unem- and New York by a 340-1 margin.2 ployment among blacks HI-equipped to Blue-collar anployment declim was work in new urban growth sectors. I dun accelerated by the urban exodus of white consider why recent ethnic immigrants to middle-income residents and the nrighbor- cities, including those with limited educa- hood business este' that once tion, have been less affected by the urban served them. This exodus furtlwr weak- industrial change and have been climbing ened secondary labor markets for lower- tiw socioeconomic ladder while so many skilled consul= and personal services blacks have slipped off. The article con- that, along with goods-processing indus- cludes with a discussion of policies apro- tries, had employed the larspst numbers pos the black underclass. of urban blacks. The implications of urban industrial URBAN EMPLOYMENT IN transition for the changing nature of jobs TRANSITION available in major Northern cities and their suburban rings are illustrated in America's major cities are differentTables 1, 2, and 3. These figures, as- places today from what they were in the sembled from place-of-work data from 1960s, when our assumptions about urban the 1970 and 1980 PUMS Files, show poverty were formed. Advances in trans- changing characteristics of jobs---includ- portation, communication, and industrial ins jobs held by commutersand their technologies interacting with the chaneng occupants by the actual location of structure of the national and international eniployment. economy have transformd these cities Table I reveals that while the suburban from centers of the production and distri- rings of the six largest Northern cities bution of goods to centers of administra- added employment across every occupa- tion, fmance, and information exchange. tional classification, the central cities lost in the process, many blue-collar jobs that substantial numbers of jobs in clerical, once constituted the economic backbone sales, and blue-collar occupations. These of cities and provided employment oppor- losses were responsible for overall central- tunities for their poorly educated residents city employment declines between 1970 have either vanished or moved. These and 1980. At the same time, all cities jobs have been replaced, at least in part, exhibited considerable growth in employ- by knowledge-intensive white-collar jobs ment of managers, professionals, and with educational requirements that ex- employees engaged in higher-level techni- clude many with substandard education. cal and administrative support functions. For example, by 1980, New York City New York City, for instance, added over and Boston each had more employees in 260,000 workers in these two information- information-processing industrieswhere executives, managers, professionals, and 2. John D. Kasarda, "Urban Change and clerical workers dominatethan in their Minority Opportunities," in The New Urban Real- manufacturing, construction, retail, and ity. ed. P. Peterson (Washington, DC: Brookings wholesale industries combined. This is a Institution, I9115), Pp. 33-67. 31 URBAN INDUSTRIAL TRANSITION 29

TABLE1 CHANGE IN NUMBER 0 JOBS IN SELECTED CENTRAL CITIES AND SUBURBAN RINGS, BY OCCUPATIONAL INCTOR, 197040

Managerial Technical and Metro Politon and Administrative Clerical Area Professional Support arl Sales Blue-Collar Total

Boston Central city 26,120 30,300 -40,400 -62,500 -46,480 Suburbs 104,660 75,820 69,460 116,440 366,380 Chicago Central city 51,5640 68,400 -89,760 -118,860 -88,660 Suburbs 156,120 120,860 115,363 237,900 630,040 Cleveland Central city 2,900 14,240 -25,280 -34,580 -42,720 Suburbs 30,140 26,160 16,980 23,800 97,060 Detroit Central city 4,700 15,840 -35,540 -89,880 -104,860 Suburbs 51,860 62,500 43,240 29,320 186,920 New York Central city 90,480 173,780 -187,820 -171,500 -95,080 Suburbs 200,140 210,800 51,060 27,080 489,080 Philadelphia Central city 23,040 35,360 -54,060 -75,200 -70,860 Suburbs 50,280 55.880 36,240 29,560 171,900

SOURCES: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Machine Readable Public Use Microdots Sample File, 5% A Sample,1980: ibid., 15% County Group Sample, 1970. intensive occupational categories whileGoods-producing industries-primarily losing more than 170,000 jobs in blue-manufacturing--accounted for the ma- collar occupations. jority of city blix-collar employment Cross-classification of blue-collar em-declines in each of the six central cities. ployment change by industry, presentedCorresponding to the industrial shifts in Table 2, reveals that central-city blue-initially noted, all central cities also lost collar job losses were heavily coixentrated substantial numbers of blue-cbllar jobs in in traditional urban employment sectors.3retail and wholesale trade and the con- sumer-service sector. The smallest losses 3. The goods-producing sector compriats all were in producer-service industries-pri- those working in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, marily financial and business services- mining, construction, and manufacturin& The trade sector includes those in wholesale and retail trade. and the public sector. In fact, both New The producer-services sector is made up of those in York City and Chicago added blue-collar fmance, insurance, real estate, business services, jobs in their public sectors and producer- and professional services. Those in transportation, service industrks, the latter reflecting communications, other public utilities, repair ser- growth inastodial and maintenance vices, personal services, and entertainment and recreation services are in the consumer service jobs that accompanied the downtown sector. Public sector workers include those employed boom in these office building industries by all levels of government. during the 1970s.

iq 2 30 THE ANNALSOF THEAMERICAN ACADEMY

TABLE 2 CHANGE IN NUMBER OF BLUE-COLLAR JOGS IN SELECTEDCENTRAL CITIE8 ANO SUBURBAN RINGS, BY INDUSTRIAL SECTOR,191640

Metropolitan Goods Producer Consumer Public Services Sector Total Area Prot:hieing Trade Services ..,=Mr11./aaW

Boston Central dty -36,760 -7,780 -2,200 -9,220 -6,540 -62,500 Suburbs 56,220 24,840 13,380 6,720 15,300 116,440 Chicago Central city -84,360 -20,860 4,320 -23,340 5,380 -118,860 Suburbs 112,220 53,960 18,700 30,310 22,640 237,900 Cleveland Central city -20,020 -5,200 -940 -6,500 -1.920 -34,580 Suburbs 6,640 13,460 980 880 1,840 23,800 Detroit Central city -53,560 -15,880 -6,280 -14,680 540 -89,960 Suburbs -13,140 19,420 8,340 8,320 6,380 29,320 New Yor k Central city -108,060 -24,340 6,060 -49,560 4,400 -171,600 Suburbs -33,200 37,980 13,340 -10,300 19,280 27,080 Philadelphia Central city -48,780 -9,980 -1,280 -13,820 -1,340 -75,200 Suburbs 1,700 16,700 7,600 -2,400 5,900 29,500

SOURCES: Bureau of the Census, Machine Readable Public Use Microdata SampleFile, 5% A Sample, 1980; ibid., 15% County Group Sample, 1970.

Whereas the Northeast and Midwest Central-city employment increases in were characterized by markeddeindus-managerial, professional, and high-level trialization between 1970 and 1980, thetechnical and administrative support occu- suburbs of Boston, Chicago, Cleveland,pations that occurred concurrently with and Philadelphia all added blue-collarprecipitous drops in blue-collar and other jobs in their goods-producing industries.jobs requiring lower levels of education Boston and Chicago represent particularlycontributed tu .-najor changes in tlw striking city-suburban contrasts in blue-educational composition of occupants of collar employment change in goods-pro-central-city jobs. Table 3 displays the net ducing industries, with suburban increaseschange and the percentage chanip in the substantially exceeding central-city jobnumber of central-city jobs by education losses. Retail and wholesale trade indus-of the occupants.' For instance, the num- tries also significantly expanded the num-ber of jobs in Boston held by those who ber of their blue-collar employees in thedid not complete high school declined by suburban rings of all metropolitan areas,80,260 between 1970 and 1980, which in sharp contrast to blue-collar employ- 4. The 1980 PUMSFile is a 5 percent sampk ment detline in these same industriesin of the U.S. population. For masons of economy. the the central cities. Census Bureau coded only the informationon ,

URBAN INDUSTRIAL TRANSITION 31

TABLE 3 CHANGE IN NUMBER OF CENTRAL-CITY JOU, BY EDUCATION LEVEL. OF JOBHOLDERS, 1970-80

Less than High School Some College Central City High School Only College Graduate Total

Boston -80,260 -48,880 25,700 58,280 -45,260 (911) (-58.7) (-28.9) (32.9) (71.4) (-9.7) Chicago -211,400 -81,020 91,320 112,500 -88,600 (%) (-41.8) (-18.6) (43.9) (56.7) (-6.5) Cleveland -64,660 -20,220 26,300 15,980 -42,600 (%) (-48.2) (-14.0) (53.5) (31.0) (-11.2) Detroit -107,300 -55,460 35,320 22,320 -106,120 (%) (-55.0) (-28.7) (48.4) (35.3) (-20.0) Nework -443,800 -161,180 237,580 266,360 -101,040 (%) (-40.4) (-15.8) (61.0) (47.3) (-3.2) Philadelphia -144,060 -31,640 48,280 66,540 -71,880 (%) (-47.2) (-11.1) (60.5) (67.4) (-9.3)

SOURCES: Bureau of the Census, Machine Readable Public Use Microdots Sample Files, 5% A Semple, 1980; ibid., 15% County Group Sample, 1970. NOTE: Percentages in parentheses denote percentage change,

represents a 58.7 percent drop. Con-degree and growth in jobs held by those versely, the number of Boston's jobs heldwith higher education reflect improve- by college graduates grew by 58,280, aments in the overall educational attain- 71.4 percent OIL There was also a majorment of the city labor force during the contraction in the number of jobs in all1970s. These improvements, however, cities held by those with only a highwere not nearly as great as the concurrent school degree. Thus, in our industriallyupward shifts in the education levels of transforming cities, there are decliningcity jobholders. As a result, much of the employment prospects not only for work-job increase in the college-graduate cate- ers without a high school degree but alsogory for each city was absorbed by for those with just a high school degree.suburban commuters while many job At the same time, slots being filled bylosses in the less-than-high-school-com- those with formal education beyond highpleted category were absorbed by city school have mushroomed. residents. Portions of the decrease in city jobs The figures in Table 3 strikingly high- occupied by those without a high schoollight the direction that urban labor mar- kets are taking vis-i-vis the hiring of travel to work and workplace for half of the samplepersons with different levels of educa- questionnaires. Thus the information on johhoklerstional attainment. Given that structure is is only a 23 percent sample of the population. Weformed by the relative growth rates of used this 23 percent sample for all analyse& Therecomponent parts, the educational struc- is also a small group for whom occupation is not reported. This causes the totals and differencesture of city employment experiewed a based on occupation to be slightly different frommajor shift between 1970 and 1980. This those based on education only. shift is described in Table 4, which dis- 3 4 t4a_

32 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

TABLE 4 PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF CENTRAL-CITY JOBS, BY EDUCATION LEVEL OF JOBHOLDERS, 1970-80

Less than High School Some College Central City High School Graduate College Graduate

Baltimore 1970 48.3 29.2 10.2 12.2 1980 29.0 32.3 19.4 18.6 Boston 1970 29.4 36.4 16.8 17.5 1980 13.4 28.6 24,7 33.2 Chicago 1970 37.5 32.3 15.4 14.7 1980 23.4 28.2 23.8 24.7 Cleveland 1970 35.4 38.0 13.0 13.6 1980 20.7 36.8 22.5 20.1 Detroit 1970 37.3 36.8 13.9 12.0 1980 21.1 32.8 25.8 20.3 New York 1970 35.8 33.1 12.7 18.4 1980 22.0 28.8 21,2 28.0 Philadelphia 1970 39.9 37.0 10.4 12.6 1980 23.2 36.3 18A 22.0 St. Louis 1970 43.4 33.0 11.2 12.5 1980 25.4 33.5 22.1 19.0 Washington, D.C. 1970 22.7 31.9 17.7 27.8 1980 11.3 24.1 24.0 40.6

SOURCES: Bureau of the Census, Machine Readable Public Use Microdots Sample File, 5% A Sample, 1980; ibid., 15% County Group Sample, 1970. plays the percentage distribution of city hod less than a high school degree dropped jobs by education of their occupants infrom 48.3 percent to 29.6. Roughly ana- the six cities listed in Tables 1, 2, and 3 logous declines occurred in other cities in plus three additional cities-Baltimore,the proportions of jobs occupied by St. Louis, and Washington, D.C.-forpersons with less than a high school which central-city resident data for 1970degree. All but Baltimore and St Louis and 1980 could be assembled from the also experienced declines in the percentage PUMS Files. of jobs held by persons with only a high In just 10 years, the percentage ofschool degree. Both Baltimore and St. Baltimore's jobs occupied by those whoLouis actually had net declines in jobs

:4 5 URBAN INDUSTRIAL TRANSITION 33 occupied by thwe with only a high school the hiring queue. Particularly affected degree but the percentage rose as an were those large nimbus of urban blacks artifact of the precipitous drop in tinwho had not completed high school, number of jobs held by those with las especially younger ones. For city black than a high school degree. At the higher- youth, school drop-out rates ranged from education end of the continuum, job- 30 to 50 percent during the 1970s and holder percentages rose considerably in early 1980s, with case studies of under- all cities. Combining the 'some college" class neighborhoods and schools suggest- and "college graduate" pelcentages, we ing even higher drop-out rates among the find that by 1980, 65 percent of all those most impoverished.5 employed in Washington, D.C. had at Table 5 illustrates the structural di- least sow higher education, 58 percent in lemma facing sizable portions of the Boston, and 49 percent in both Chicago black urban labor force. This table com- and New York. Except for Baltimore, pares the 1980 educational distributions roore than 40 percent of all jobs in the of those employed by city industries, cities shown in Table 4 were, by 1980, including the self-employed, with the occupied by persons with educations be- edwational distributions of all out-of- yond high school. school black males awd 16-64 and out- In sum, Tables 1 through 4 illustrate of-school black males aged 16-64 who are the dramatic changes that haw occurred not working. The contrasts are dramatic. since 1970 in urban economies both in Despite their educational gains, black terms of the types of jobs performed urban labor still remains highly concen- occupational changes--and the educa- trated in the education category where tional qualifications of those occupying city employment has rapidly declined city jobs. As major cities have transformed the category in which people have not industrially from centers of goods process- completed high schooland greatly un- ing to centers of information processing, derrepresented in the educational-attain- knowledge-intensive, white-collar jobs ment categories where city employment is have mushroomed while jobs typically quickly expanding, especially the category filled by those without education beyond of college graduate. As late as 1980, the high school have shrunk considerably. modal education-completed category for The next section assesses the implications out-of-school black male residents in all of these structural changes for employ- cities except Boston was less than 12 ment opportunities for urban blacks. years, Those out-of-school black males who CONSEQUENCES FOR are jobless display an even more disad- URBAN BLACK Eht:LOYMENT vantaging educational distribution. In Baltimore, for exampk, while 54.4 per- While overall educational attainment cent of all black males who were out of of black city residents improved during the 1970s, it was not sufficient to keep school had less than 12 years of education pace with even faster rises in the educa- 5. G. Alfred Hess, Jr., sEdurational Triage in tional attainment of those persons being an Urban School Setting,"Metropolitan EthiCa- employed by city industries. Moreover, Hon,Fall 1986, no. 2, pp. 39-52; William S. general improvements in city residents' Kornblum,"Institution Building in the Urban High School,"in TheChallenge of Social Coiurol, ed.G. education levels meant that lesser-edu- Suites and M. Zald (Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1985), cated jobless blacks fell further behind in pp. 218-29.

3 6 34 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

TABLE 5 EDUCATIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF JOBHOLDERSIN SELECTED CENTRAL CITIES AND EDUCATIONAL DISTRIIKITION OFOUT4/F4CHOOL BLACK MALES AGED 16-64 RESIDING IN THESE CITIES, 18MI

Less than High School Some College Graduate Central CitY High School Only College

Baltimore 18.6 City jobholders 29.6 32.3 19.4 4.4 Black male residents 54.4 26.9 14.2 Stack male residents not working 67.5 20.0 10.4 2.1 Boston 24.7 33.2 City jobholders 13.4 28.6 8.6 Black male residents 354 38.6 17.4 Bieck male residents not working 47.6 34.7 12.0 5.8 Chicago City jobholders 23.4 28.2 23.8 24.7 Mack maie residents 44.7 29.2 19.6 6.6 Black male residents not working 58.1 26.6 12.8 2,5 Cleveland City jobholders 20.7 36.8 22.5 20.1 4.4 Black male residents 46.4 34.1 15.1 Black male residents not working 66.7 30.8 11.0 1.5 Detroit City jobholders 21.1 32.8 25.8 20.3 Black mafe residents 43.3 30.5 20.3 5.9 Slack male residents not working 56.1 28.9 13.6 1.3 New York City jobholders 22.0 28.8 21.2_ 28.0 _ Black male residents 39.3 33.2 18.8 8.7 Black male residents not working 52.5 28.3 14.9 4.4 Philadelphia City jobholders 232 36.3 18 4 22.0 Black male residents 46.0 351 13.3 5.6 Black male residents not working 60.1 285 9.2 1.9 St. Louis City jobholders 25.4 33.5 2..? 1 19.0 5.5 Black male residents 50.9 28 1 1 5 5 Black male residents not working 63,8 24.7 ".?.3 2.2 Washington, D.C. City jobholders 11.3 24.1 24,0 40.6 Black male residents 40.7 29.5 17 .8 12.0 Black male residents not working 555 24.8 13.5 51

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, Machine Readable Public UseMicrodots Sample File, 5% A Sample, 1980.

in 1980, 67.5 percent of black males out of ton, where 47.6 percent of joblessblack school and jobless had not completed males did not complete high school, more high school. With the exception of Bos-than 50 percent of jobless black males in

'17 URBAN INDUSTRIAL TRANSIIION 35 all cities had compkted less than 12 years require knowledge associated with a high of schooling, including a resnarkable 60- school education poses amitha serious plus percent in Philadelphia and St. impediment to lowering their unemploy- Louis, alma; wfth Bakimme. Comparingment rates. As lilue-collar and other less these figures with tlw percentage of city knowledge-We:wive jobs expanded in jobs filled in 1980 by those with kss than the sutarbs, whites were able to relocate a high school degree (top left figure of much mote easily than blacks. Between each iity panel) and with champs in city 1972 and 1982, the U.S. censuses of jobs occupied by the poorly educated manufacturins show that New York City between 1970 and 1980 (Tabks 3 and 4) lost 30 percent of ks manufacturing jobs, exemplifies the substantial educatiteraiDetroit 41 percent, and Chicago 47 per- disparity faced by urban blacks in general cent During approximately the same and those not at work, in particular. period, 197040, the non-Hispanic white This educational disparity between city population cleaned by 1.4 million in jobs and black residents poses a serious New York, by 700,000 in Chicago, and by structural impediment to major improve- 420,000 in Detroit, wbik dm black popula- ments in urban black employman pros- tions of these three cities increased by pects. It may be the case that any 180,000, by 111,000, and by 102,000, individual black male who has not com- respectively.' pleted high school can secure employment Decline in manufacturing jobs, we in the cityso= vacancies almost alwayshave seen, is by no means the only exist, even in declining employment sec- pertinent indicator of losses in traditional tors. But, given the distributions shown blue-collar employment, but it cones- in Table 5, if law portions of out-of- ponds to other indicators of the capacity work urban blacks all sought the jobs of a city to sustain large numbers of available, tlwy would simply overwhelm residents with limited educational attain- vacancies at the lower end of the education ment. This reduced capacity had direct continuum. bearing on the employment status of The disparities between city jobs and undereducated blacks during the three black labor that are displayed at the decades ending in 1980, as is illustrated in higher-education end of the continuum Table 6? Between 1950 and 1970 there help explain why policies based primarily was considerable gowth in all cities in on urban economic development have the number of blaeks employed who had had limited success in reducing urban not completed 12 years of education. black joblessness. Most blacks simply Aside from St. Louis, this growth occurred lack the education to participate in the across all major industrial sectors. After new growth sectors of the urban econ- 1970, the bottom fell out in urban indus- omy. While city jobs taken by colkge trial demand for poorly educated blacks. graduates have mushroomed, the percent- This was particularly the case in goods- age of urban black males who have producing industries. While goods-pro- completed college remains extremelyducing industries in Philadelphia, for small, For those who are out of work, the instance, added over 14,000 blacks who disparity at the higher-education end is 6. Kumla, *Urban Change." even greater, 7.Cities selected are those for which residence Confinement of poorly educated blacks as well as place of work could be deternnixd for all in cities rapidly losing jobs that do not years from the PUMS 36 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY had not completed high school to theiris whether the suburbanization of bhut- payrolls betwom 1950 and 1970, from calar and other lower-ddlled jobs has 1970 to 1980, the number of blacks with-worked to the economic disadvantage of out a high school degree in Philadelphia's blacks who remain resideMially con- goods-producing industries dropped bystraimd to inner-city housing. David over 20,000. Overall, Philadelphia's em- Ellwood's impassive study '? has been ac- p-oyment declines during the 1970s arnom cepted by many as conclusive evithmce blacks who had not completed high that spatial factims--more specifically, school (-57,760) nearly equakd the totaldifferential residential proximity to jobs numbers of poorly educated blacks it account for !ilk to nothing in understand- added to its job rolls between 1950 and ing black unemployment. Ellwood sys- 1970 (63,050). tematically analyzed employment rates Corresponding to these employment of out-of-school youth aged 16-21 in declines between 1970 and 1980 were Chicago in 1970 using three methods: (1) dramatic drops across all cities in the multiple regression analysis of census percentair of poorly educated black malestract and local community employment who worked full-time and a leap in the rates, (2) comparison of unemployment percentage not working. By 1980, fewer rates of blacks in two different sections of than half in each city had full-time jobs. Chicago that purportedly had vastly differ- Conversely, the percentage not working ent degrees of job accessibility, and (3) at all rose in Baltimore from 24.7 to 45.0; comparison of black and white employ- in New York from 28.2 to 43.9; innwnt rates in the same section of the city. Philadelphia from 26.7 to 50.6; in St. Based on these analyses Ellwood con- Louis from 31.8 to 48A; and in Washing-cluded that it is "race, not space," that ton, D.C., from 23.4 to 42.1. Clearly, the accounts for black-white differences in loss of low-education-requisite jobs in employment. traditional city industries had at least an While there is no question that race, accelerating effect on the growth ofjobless- including outright discrimination, plays a ness among their least-educated black potentand probably the most power- residents. 1971); Bennett Harrison, Urban Econornk Develop- ment (Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press, THE ROLE OF SPACE MO Mahlon Strazheim, "Discrimination and the Spatial Characteristks of the Urban Labor Market Since John Kain's seminal article in for Black Workas,"Journa/ of Urban Ecorunnics, 1968 on the effecu of metropolitan job 7(0:119-40 (Jan. 1980); Richard nice and Edwin S. Mills*Race and Residence in Earnings Determina- decentralization and housing segregation tion,"Journal of Urban Economics, 17:1-18 (1985); on black employment, spirited debate has David T. Ellwood,"The Spatial Mismatcb Hypothe- surrounded the question of whether spa- sis: Are There Teenage Jobs Kstring in the Ghetto?* tial factors play a role in the rise of in The sack Youth Employment Crisis, ed. R. B. joblessness among urban blaeks.8 At issue Freeman and H. J. Holzer (Chicago: Univetsity of Chicago Press, 1986), pp. 147-85; Mark Alan 8. John Kain, "Homing Segregation, NegroHughes, 'Moving Up and Moving Out; Confusing Unemployment, and Metropolitan Decentraliza- Ends and Means about Ghetto Dispersal," Urban tion." Quanerly Journal of Economics, 82175-97 Studks, 24503-17 (1987); Jonathan S. Leonard, (May 1968), Paul Offner and Daniel Saks, "A Note "The Interaction of Residential Segregation and on John Rain% Housing Serrgation, Negro EmPkcY- Employment Discrimination," Journal of Urban ment and Metropolitan Decentralization,' Quar- fronomks, 21:323-46(1987). terly Journal of Economics, 85(1)147-60 (Feb. 9. Ellwood, 'Spatial Mismatch Hypothesis."

!I 9 URBAN INDUSTRIAL TRANSITION 37

TABLE 6 CHANGE IN CENTRAL-CITY INIPLOYMENT OF BLACKS WITHOUT A HIGH SCHOOL DEGREE, BY INDUSTRIAL SECTOR, 1000-80, AND IBIWLOYMENT STATUS OF BLACK MALE CITY RESIDENTS AGED 16-64 WHO ARE OUT OF SCHOOL AND DO NOT HAVE A HIGH SCHOOL DEGREE, 1970 AND IWO

Baltimore New York Philadelphia St. Louis Washington, D.C.

Industrial sector Goods producing 1850-70 6,860 34,350 14,200 -1,593 6,080 1970-80 12,540 --29,460 -20,040 -7,440 -8,560 Trade 1950-70 4,160 19,790 6,150 4,660 8,820 1970-80 -3,520 -18.840 -8.560 -2,980 -7.280 Producer services 1 950-70 8,690 30,790 11,440 6,840 10,390 1870-80 -1,280 -6,200 --3,960 -1,780 -.2,660 Consumer services 1950-70 8,020 32,270 14,500 1,530 12,180 1970-80 -8,660 -26,780 -16,340 -5,660 -9,720 Government 1950-70 15,890 30,180 16,760 4,150 23,160 1970-80 2.800 -1,020 8,860 --120 -15,260 All 1950-70 43,620 147,380 63,050 14,600 60,630

1970-80 28,800 82,300 - 57,760 -17,f . 4 3,480

Employment status of out-of-school black males with no high school degree Employed full-time (percentage) 1970 69.1 65.2 86.7 59.2 72.1 1980 47.6 49.2 43.3 43.3 49.6 Not working (percentagel 1970 24.7 28.2 26.7 31.8 23 4 1980 45.0 43,9 50.6 48,4 42.1

SOURCES: Bureau e the Census, Machine Readable Public Use Microdata Sample File, 5% A Semple, 1980; ibid., 15% County Group Flle, 1970; ldem, Machine Readab4e Public Use Micro- data Sample File, 1950.

ful-role in the relatively poor employ-data, the dependent variable was not ment performance of blacks, one shouldblack-white differences in employment be cautious in using the Ellwood study torates NA rather census tract employment dismiss space as a contributing factor. rates with all races aggregated together. Let me briefly elaborate. Inferences drawn must correspond to the It should be recognized that in Ell-measure. Nevertheless, whik percentage wood's regression analysis of census tract black was consistently the most powerful 4 38 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY predictor of the aggregate employmempopulations with reasonably different la- rates, a number of the job-accessibilitybor markets, the labor market results iixlicators had signifkant effects in thewere not measurably different."12 expected direction despite ths* likely low In point of fact, data for Chicago's measurement reliability.K1 These slim&West Side ghettos in 1970 suggest that cant effects remained after controls weretheir labor markets were not different introduced not only for pexcentage blackfrom thaw of tic South Side, at least with but also for percentage Spanish speaking,respect to job access for black youth. percentage of high school graduates, per-Between 1960 and 1970, Chicago lost centage of persons in the t. act over age211,000 jobs, the bulk of them in manu- 25, average family itszonw, percentage offacturing. track, am' bhte-collar savkes.13 persons in poor families, and percentageParticularly hard hit were du West Side of children in single-parent familks (seeghetto areas that prior to the 1960s bad footnote to Ellwood's Table 4.6). Relatedlarge concentrations of manufacturing to this, Ellwood% findings that the inclu-and distribution facilities as well as com- sion of job-proximity variabkm did notmercial establishment& The spatial and alter the regression coeffisient of censuseconomic core of this area was North tract employment rate on percentageLawndale, which lost 75 percent of its black is not evidence that job proximityindustries and businesses between 1960 has no effect on employmnt. It may and 1970.14 simply mean that proximity has some Temporal patterns are important here. effects on census tract employment ratesThe loss of low-skilled jobs accelerated distinct from racial composition. following the West Side ghetto uprising While statistical critique inevitablyin 1966, which markedly raised insurance seems to follow even carefully crafted rates of commercial establishments.15 On aggregate-level analyses such as Ell-4 April 1968, following the assassination wood's,11 what appears far more devastat-of Martin Luther King, Jr., the West Side ing to job-proximity arguments are theghettoe exploded with rioting, burning, results of his comparison of black youthand looting, cutting a nearly two-mile unemployment rates in the South Sideswath of devastation from Madison Ave- ghettos of Chicago with those on thenue to the Homer Homes housing proj- West Side. According to Ellwood, Chi-ect. That night alone, 559 fires were cago's West Side ghettos were flush withreported on the West Side.16 Madison spatially accessible jobs in 1970 while few Avenue, its main commercial strip, was jobs existed on the South Side. Yet, histotally destroyed. results show that black youths on the 12. Ellwood, 'Spatial Mismatch Hypothesis,* West Side had nearly the same high p. 180. unemployment rates as black youths on 13. Pierre DeVise, "The Suburbanization of the South Side, leading him to conclude Jobs and Minority Employment,"Economic Geog- why, 52(4)348-62 (Oct. 1976). that in "what appealed to be the purest of 14. Lok JD. Wacquant and William Julius natural experiments, reasonably identical Wilson, "Poverty, Joblessness and the Social Trans- formation of the Inner City,"in Reform* Wert:re. 10. See JonathanS. Lzonard,"Comment on ed. D. Ellwood and P. Coningham (Cambridp, David Ellwood's `The Spatial Mismatch Hypothe- MA: Harvard University Press, forthcoming). sis," in Black Youth EmNoyment Crtits, ed. Free- 15. David Farber, Chicago 1968 (Chicago: Uni- man and Holzer, pp. 185-93. versity of Chicago Press, 1988). 11. Ibid. 16. Ibid. URBAN INDUSTRIAL TRANSITION 19

Although some large job sites remainedis also consistent with reports that black functioning on the West Side in 1970, themumployment is higher relative to whites dynamics of the area were those of rapidwhere jobs are most suburbanized and blue-collar employnxii decline. This lossblack populations least so.20 at the employment margin would be What Ills imOies is that future tesearch expected to affect new labor force en-on underclass joblessness might prove trantsfor example, teenagersmostmore profitable if it were cast in terms of seventy as, in fact, is revealed in Ellwood'srace and space, imiuding their interac- finding that "fully haff of the schooltions, rather than race versus space. That dropouts in both areas (south and westboth play a role in affecting the economic sides) reported that they were interestedopportunity of urban blacks is suggested in work but unable to fuul it."17 The pointby a number of other studies. On tlw is that the labor markets for new entrantswage front, Price and Mills fmd that were not measurably different on thewhile blacks earn 19 percent less than West Side and South Side ghettos inwhites due to poorer labor qualifications 1970. It is not surprising, then, that blackand 15 percent less due to employment youth unemployment fates in the twodiscrimination, they also lose an addi- areas were similar. tional 6 percent due to their concentration Nevertheless, we are stillleft within the untral city.21 An analogous study Ellwood% third major finding, leadingby Vrooman and Greenfield comludes him to conclude that the problem is notthat 40 percent of the black-white earnings space, but ISCC.18 In the same West Sidegap could be closed by suburbanization area, 79.4 percent of white out-of-schoolof central-city black labor.22 Consistent youths were employed compared to 54.3with both studies, Strazheim reports a percent of black out-of-school youths.positive wage gradient from city to subur- Whereas the small sample size (N = 100)ban employment among lesser-educated could have played a role here, the reasonblacks, in contrast to whites.23 for the discrepancy may well be that Regarding space and employment, residential constraints on whites were lessLeonard's study of census tracts in Los than those oi. blacks, enabling joblessAngeles shows that the ratio of jobs to white youths to flee an area of decliningpopulation is lowest in areas surrounding mployment prospects, thus depressingblack census tracts and that blacks have their rates of unemployment comparedthe highest commuting times,24 the latter to blacks who remained behind. Evidencealso reported by Ellwood. Leonard finds supporting this interpretation is providedthat job accessibility significantly affects by Kain and Zax, who found that when integrated firms relocated from the cen- 20. John E. Farley, 'Disproportionate Black tral city to the suburbs, white employeesand Hispanic Unemployment in U.S. Metropolitan were much more likely to follow in orderAreas,"American Journal of Economia andSo- ciology, 46(2):129-50 (Apr. 1987). to keep their jobs.19 Such an interpretation 21. Price and Mills, "Race and ReaMence." 22. John Vrooman and Stuart Carlini-mid, "Are 17. Ellwood. "Spatial Mismatch Hypothesis,"Blacks Making It in tbe SuburbarJournal of p. 178. Urban Economics,7:15547 (1980). 18. Ibid., p. 181. 23. Strazheim, "Discrimination." 19. John Kain and J. Zax, "Quits, Moves and 24. Jonathan S. Leonard, "Space, Timn and Employer Relocation in Segmated Housing Mar-Unemployment Los Angeles 1980" (Paper, Uni- kets" (Paper, 1983) cited in Leonard, "Interaction."versity of California, Berkeley, 1985).

4 2 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY teenar employment rates after control- When complementary analysis was ling for percentage black and a full rangeconducted using the PUMS Files of Um of census tract socioeconomic variabks,percentages of unemployed black males though, as in Ellwood's study, percent-aged 16-64 who resided in households age black is the most potent predictor.with no private vehicle, and out-of-the- In a detailed study of individual establish-labor-force, out-of-school black males ments, Leonard reports that establish-aged 16-64 who resided in households ment distance from the ghetto is the mostwith no private vehicles, the figures were significant determinant of blacks' employ-remarkabkin New York, for example, ment share.23 The farther the establish-72 percent of the males who were unem- nwnt is from the ghetto, the fewer blacksployed resided in a household with no it employs and the more slowly it addsprivate vehicle, while 78 percent of those black employees over time. Because most who were neither in school nor in the labor new job growth in nxtropolitan areas isforce had no vehicle in their household. toward their peripheries, those concen-The figures for Chicago are 45 percent trated in the urban core are spatiallyand 55 percent, respectively, and for disadvantaged. This disadvantage is re-Philadelphia 54 percent and 60 percent, flected in the longer commuting times ofrespectively. I then analyzed the 1980 blacks to suburban jobs. Census Tract Machine Readable Files to Table 7 extends Ellwood's and Leon-look at automobile availability in Chi- ard's results by looking at black-whitecago's low-income black census tracts. In differences in commuting times amongthe near West Side, the area studied by lesser-educated central-city residentsEllwood, more than three out of four working in the suburbs of nine majorhouseholds did not have an automobile metropolitan areas, in every city, blacksin 1980. In Chicago's South Side ghetto have longer commuting times than whitesof Oakland the figure was the same. In whether one compares those without athose black census tracts with the greatest high school degree or tliose with only ajoblessness, more than 80 percent of the high school education. Additional analy-households did not possess a private sis revealed that racial differences are not vehicle in 1980. Residential confinement accounted for by transit mode, because of disadvantaged blacks in areas of blue- nearly the same percentages of blackscollar job decline together with their who work in the suburbs commute bylimited automobile ownershipthe latter private automobile as do whites. increasingly necessary to obtain employ- The final column of Table 7 reveals thement in a dispersing metropolitan econ- great dependence lesser-educated blackomywould surely seem to contribute to city residents have on private vehicles totheir high rates of unemployment. reach suliorban work. The percentage Finally, that spaceincluding distance relying on private vehicles ranges from 68 from appropriate jobsplays a role is percent in Boston to 91 percent in Detroit. suggested by Table 8, which presents, by On average, across the nine cities, four region, changing jobless rates of black out of five of the least-educated blacksmales who have not completed high depend on a private vehicle to travel to school and who resided in the central their suburban jobs. What about thosecities and suburban rings from 1969 to who are jobless? 1987. Over this entire period, jobless rates 25. Leonard, Interaction." generally climbed in both the central 4 3 URBAN INDUSTRIAL TRANSITION 41

TABLE / MEAN ONE-WAY TRAVEL TIME TO SUBURBAN JOBS BYCENTRAL-CITY MALES AGED 18-84 AND EMPLOYED FULL-T1ME, BY EDUCATION AND RACE,AND PERCENTAGE OF CENTRAL-CITY BLACKS WITHOUT A HIGH SCHOOL DEGREE WHO USE A PRIVATE VEHICLE TO COMIK/TE TO SUBURBAN JOBS, 1980

Blacks without a Mean TravelTime (minutes) High School Degree Less than High school Who Commute high school degree only try Private Vehicle Blacks Whites Blacks Whites (percentage)

Baltimore 41.0 29.4 37.2 34.1 73.3 Boston 36,2 323 39.0 29.3 67.9 Chicago 46.2 35.9 46.3 33.3 85.5 Cleveland 31.6 24.0 32.7 22.9 83.6 Detroit 292 23.9 28.2 235 90.9 New York 54.4 44.1 C32 44.4 81.8 PhilacbalPhia 40.3 36.4 44,8 34.8 86.1 St. Louis 33.4 292 35.9 27.7 79.0 Washington, D.C. 38.8 32.0 35.6 31.3 75.0

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, Machine Readable Public Use Microdots Sample File, 5% A Sample, 1980. cities and the suburban rings, reflecting, overall increase, while losing 125,100 in part, the growing employment handicap manufacturing jobs, a greater than 25 of a limited education. Yet joblessness percent employment decline in this sector. among poorly educated black males Furthermore, employment gxowth in the tended to rise more in the central cities, recovering cities was far overshadowed reaching 50 percent in 1987 for the com- by job increases at all skill levels in the bined regions, compared to 33 percent in suburbs. For instance, while employment the suburban rings. More important, the in Washington, D.C., increased by 49,000 post-1982 economic recovery left poorly between 1980 and 1988, employment educated black males in the city essentially increased in its suburbs by 497,000.26 untouched, while poorly educated blacks What is especially troubling given these residing in the suburbs of each regionrends is that black migration to the experienced declines in joblessness. Why?suburbs apparently slowed during the Despite the economic recovery of ma- 1980s, compared to the 1970s.27 Between jor cities with significant underclass popu- 1970 and 1980, black suburban population lations, employment growth was selective, growth averaged 177,000 annually. Be- with white-collar service industries de- tween 1980 and 1986, black suburban manding greater education levels leading the way, while many traditionally lower- 26. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of education-requisite industries continued Labor Statistics, Drip/omens and Earningt vol. to decline. For example, spurred by a 22, 1975; ibid., vol. 33, 1986. 27. Eunice S. Grier and George Cnier, 245,000 employment gain in its service ties in Suburbia: A Mid-1980's Update" (Report to sector, New York City added 329,100 the Urban Institute Project on Housing Mobility, jobs between 1980 and 1988, a 10 percent Mar. 1988). '74

42 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

TABLE PERCENTAGE NOT AT WORK OF OUT-OF-SCHOOLCENTRAL-CITY AND KNIURRAN BLACK MALE RESIDENTS AGED 15-64 WHO HAVE NOT COMPLETED 12 YEARS OF EDUCATION,1983-87

Region of the United States and MetroPolitan Residence 1969 1977 1982 1987

All regions Centra4 city 18.8 38.3 49.5 49.6 Suburban ring 16.3 31.4 38.2 33.4 Northeast Central city 21.1 422 44.8 44.0 Suburban ring 15.1 27.0 34.4 30,8 Midwest Central city 19.5 42.6 54.3 56.5 Suburban ring 8.0 44.3 43.6 41.3 South Central city 15.4 32.0 47.3 45.8 Suburban ring 15.9 24.9 37.9 32.1

West Central city 27.4 42.3 60.4 60.8 Suburban ring 38.9 44.2 37.7 34.2

SOURCES: Bureau of the Census, Current Population Survey, Ar.n;w1 March Demographic File: Machine Readable, 1969; ibid., 1977; ibid., 1982; ibid., 1987.

growth averaged I 56,000 annually, witheducation and fmancial resources and are over 75 percent of it occurring in thespatially concentrated in inner-city en- South. The slowing suburban black migra-claves. Recent research on ethnic entrepre- tion also continued to be selective, leavingneurism casts light on the reasons and is behind those blacks with the lowest educa-suggestive for reducing underclass prob- tion and the least resources.2s lems.29 These studies show the crifwal importance of ethnic solidarity and kin- HOW HAVE THENEw ETHNIC ship networks in fostering80Cialmobility ImmIGRANTsADAPTED? 29. Ivan Light,Ethnic Enterprise hi America University of California Press, 1972); If spatial confinement and poor educa-(Berkeley: Edna Bonacich and John Modell, TheEconomic tion are such handicaps to gainful employ-Oasis of Etimic Solidarity (Berkeley: Universityof ment in industrially transforming cities,California Press, 1980); Kenneth L. Wilson and why isit that America's new urban Aiejandro Portcs,"Immigrunt Enclaves: An Analy- immigrant groups, especially Asians, have sis of Labor Market Experiences of Cubans in Miami," AmericanJournal of Sociology,86:295- had such high success in carving out 319 (1980); Roger Waldinger,Through the ,Eye of employment niches and climbing thethe Needle: Immigrants and Enterprise in New socioeconomic ladder? Like blacks, manyYorla GarmentThaks (New York: New York Asian immigrants arrived with limited University Press, 1986); Thomas R.Bailey, Muni- grant and Native Workers: Contrasu and Competi- 28. Ibid. tion(Boulder, Ca Westview Press, 1987). 4 5 URBAN INDUSTRIAL TRANSITION 43 in segregated enclaves through self-among Asian Indians-31 In addition to employment serving as a valuabk source of family Unk Ire most urban blacks, many Asian business labor, these extemled-kin mem- immigrants and certain Hispanic groups bers enable immigrant households to have been able to utilize ethnic-basedfunction more dficiently as economic methods to (1) assemble capital, (2) es-units by sharing fixed household costs tablish internal markets, (3) circumvent such as rents or mortgages, furnishing discrimination, awl (4) pnemte employ-child-care services, and woviding eco- ment in their enclaves that is relatively nomk security against loss of emiiloyment insulated from bothswings in the national by otlur household memben.32 In short, economy and urban structural transfonna-by capitalizing on ethnic and family tion. Ethnic businesses are typically family solidarity, many new immigrant busi- owned and operated, often drawing uponnesses, ranging from laundries to restau- unpaid family labor to staff functionsrants to green groceries, have started and durii* start-up periods of scarce resources flourished in once downtrodden urban and upon ethnic contios to obtain credit,neighborhoods, providing employment advice, and patronage. The businessesand mobility options to group members are characterized by thriftiness and long in what in other respects is an unfavorable hours of intense, bard work, with continu-economic environment.33 ous reinvestment of profits. As tiwy ex- Native urban blacks, in contrast, have pand, ethnic-enclave establishments dis-been burdened by conditions that have play strong hiring preferences for theirimpeded their entiy and success in enclave own members, many of whom wouldemployment, including lack of self-help likely face employment discrimination by business associations, limited economic firms outside their enelave. They also do solidarity, and family fragmentation. A business with their own. A San Francisco survey byBlack Enterprisemagazine, for study found that a dollar turns over five example, reported that 70 percent of self- to six times in the Chinese business employed blacks consider lack of commu- community while in most black communi- nity support as one of their most formid- ties dollars leave before they turn overable problems.34 This, together with the even once.30 documental flight of black-earned income Kinship and household structures ofto nonblack establishments, led well- ethnic immigrants have significantly facili- known black journalist Tony Brown to tated their entrepreneurial successes.comment, "The Chinese are helping the Among recently arrived Asian immi-Chinese, the Koreans help the Koreans, grants, for instance, "other relatives,"Cubans help Cubans, but blacks are those beyond tlw immediate family, consti- 31. Peter S. Xenos et al, 'Asian Amerkans: tute a substantial portion of households: Growth and Change in the 1970s," in Pact* 55 percent among Filipinos and Vietnam- Bridges: The New Immigration front Asia and the ese, 49 percent among Koreans, 46 per- Pac* Islands, ed. 1. Fawcett and B. Orrin* cent among the Chinese, and 41 percent (Staten Island, NY: Center for Mkgration Studies, 1987), p. 266. 30. Joel Kotkin, "The Reluctant Entrepre- 32. Ibid. neun," Inc., 8(9);8I-86 (Sept. 1986); Rick Wartz- 33. Robert L. Boyd, "Ethnic Entrepreneurs in man, 'St. Louis Blues: A Blighted Inner City the New Economy" (Paper, University of North Bespeaks the Sad State of Black Commerce," WallCarolina, Chapel Hill. 1988), St. Journal, 10 May 1988. 34. Kotkin, "Reluctant Entrepreneurs," g. 84. t; 6 _r-

44 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

helping everyone else. We have beenparticularly what compared to Asians. conducting the most successful business Among more recent Asian immigrants, boycott in American historyagainst self-employment rates are even higlwr. ourselves.35 Apparently, racial politicalData from the same source show that unity that has led to significant black Korean immigrant self-employment rates electoral successes in major Northern range from a low of 19 percent in Chicago cities during the past two decades has not to a high of 35 percent in New York.39 carried over to the economic sphere. Just as striking are Asian-black con- Given the demonstrated importancetrasts from the most recent census survey of family cohesiveness and kinship net-of minority-owned businesses. Between works in pooling resources to start busi- 1977 and 1982 the number of Asian- nesses, provide day-care assistance, and Anwican-owned firms with paid employ- contribute labor to family business ven-ment expanded by 160 percent. Dining tures, the black underclass is at a distinctthe same period, the number of black- disadvantage. As Wilson found, approxi- owned firms with employees actually mately two-thirds of black families livingdeclined by 3 perivnt.0 With 1=811 busi- in Chicago's ghettos are mother-only ness formation becoming the backbone households.36 These households are the of job creation in America's new econ- poorest segment of our society, with omy, blacks are falling further behind in female householders earning only a third this critical arena. as much as married male householders.37 Financial weakness and family fragmen- In short, it takes discretionary resources tation among the black underclass not to start a small business and it requiresonly preclude capital mobilization for patrons with money to sustain that busi- self-employment but also create barriers ness, both of which are in limited supply to their children's social mobility. Living in underclass neighborhoods. in a mother-only household was found to All the factors previously mentioned increase the tisk of young blacks' dropping have converged to depress black self-out of school by 70 percent." The link employment rates during the past two between female headship and welfare decades, especially in the inner eity.38dependency in the urban underclass is Table 9, computed from the 1980 PUMS also well established, leading to legitimate Files, shows for major cities the con- concerns about the intergewrational trans- sistency with which lesser-educated blacks fer of poverty. At the root of this cowern are underrepresented in self-employment, is the paucity of employment among welfare mothers and how this affects M. Ibid. attitudes of their children toward work. 36. William Julius Wilson, The Truly Disad- vantaged (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Of those receiving welfare benefits, 85 1987). percent have no sou= of income other 37, Sara McLanahan, Irwin Garfmkel, and 39. Roger Waldinger et aL, "Spatial Approaches Dorothy Watson, "Family Structure, Poverty, and to Ethnic Business," in Ethnic Entrepreneurs: the Underciass,"in Urban Change and Poverty, ed. Immigrant Business in Industrial Societies, by M. McGeaty and L. Lynn (Washington, DC: R. Waldinger et al. (Newbuiy Park, CA: Sage, National Academy Press), pp. 102-47. forthcoming). 38. Eugene H. Becker, "Self-Employed Work- 40. Boyd, "Ethnic Entrepreneurs." ers: An Update to 1983," Monthly Labor Review, 41. Sara Mcl-allithall, "Fet. 11y Structure and 107(7):14-18; Kotkin, "Reluctant"; Wartzrnan, "St. the Reproduction of Poverty," American Journal Louis Blues." of Sociology, 90:873-901 (1985). 4 7 URBAN INDUSTRIAL TRANSMON 45

TABLE 9 PERCENTAGE SELF-EMPLOYED OF ALL EAWLOYED MALES, AGED 10-84, WITH LESS THAN HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION AND RESIDING IN SELECTED CENTRAL arms, RY RACE OR ETHNICITY, 1980

Non.Hispanic Asians and Non.Hispanie Central Oty blacks Hispanics others whites

Baltimore 3.5 14.3 9.1 5.5 Boston 3.1 4.4 6.7 8.1 Chicago 3.4 2.5 15.2 6.2 Cleveland* 2.3 NA 15.4 3.9 Detroit 3.3 5.9 NA 6.0 New York 3.1 3.6 8.5 11.1 Philadelphia 3.4 4.2 17.3 7.4 St. Louis 2.4 10.0 25.0 16.7 Washington, D.C. 3.2 NA 18.2 16.4

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, Machine Readable Public Use Microdate Sample File, 5% A Sample, IMO "Incluckls those with high school degree only.

than public assistance.42 Furthermore, 65family and reducing the exceptionally percent of the recipients of Aid to Familieshigh percentage of impoverished motlx-r- with Dependent Children at any oneonly households must be key focuses of point in time are in an interval of depen-policies to rekindle social mobility among dency that has lasted for at least eighttoday's urban underclass. These policies yean.43 One does not require a deepshould be complemnted with prom= sociological imagination to sense the atti-that improve opportunities for ghetto tudinal and behavioral consequences ofyouths to be reared in household and igowing up in an impoverished householdneighborhood environments where adult where there is no activity associated withwork is the norm and to attend public the world of work and a household that,schools that will provide them with neces- in turn, is spatially embedded in a commer-sary skills and social networks for employ- cially abandoned locality where pimps,ment in a rapidly transforming economy. drug pushers, and unemployed streetIn this regard, it has been shown that people have replaced working fathers aslow-income black youths who moved predominant socializing agents. from inner-city Chicago to predominantly white suburbs as part of a subsidized REKINDLING UNDERCLASS housing experiment performed remark- MOBILITY ably well, both academkally and socially.44 It is clear from a substantial amount of It was also shown herein that, as cities research that strengthening the blackhave functionally changed from centers of goods processing to centers of informa- 41 Irwin Garfinkel and Sara S. McLanahan, tion processing, there has been a signifi- Single Mothers and Their Children(Washington, DC: Urban Institute Puss, 1956). 44. James Rosenbaum et al., "Loy Income 43. David T. Ellwood, "Targeting the Would- Black Children in White SubuThan Schools: A Be Long-Term Recipients of AFDC: Who Should Study of School and Student Responses,"Journal Be Served?" (Report, Harvard University, 1985). of Negro Education,56(I):35-43 (1987). 46 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY cant rise in the education required forjobs nationwide. For exampk, between urban emidoymenL If greater portions of1975 and 1985, more than 2.1 million disadvaMard black youths do not ao- nonadministrative jobs were added in quire the formal education to be hired bycuing and drinking estahthdtments, which the white-collar service industries begin- is more than um total number of produc- ning to dominate urban employment tion jobs that existed in 1985 in America's bases, their jobless rates will remain high. automobile, primary metals, aml text& For this reason and because demographic industries CCULItilled.46 Unfortunately, es- forces portend potential shatters ofsentially ail of the net national growth in educationally qualified resicken labor forjobs with low educational requisites has the white-collar industries expanding in occurred in the suburbs, exurbs, and the cities, there have been appropriatenonmetropolitan areas, which are far calls from both the public aml privateremoved from large concentrations of sectors to upgrade city schools, reduce poorly educated minorities. It seems both black youth drop-out rates, and increase an irony and a trardy that we havesugh the proportion who continue on forsurpluses of unemployed lower-skilkd higher education. labor in the inner cities at tix same time Such policies, howevtr, are unlikely to that suburban businesses are facing seri- alleviate the unemployment problems ous shortages in lower-skilled labor. currently facing large numbers of econom- The inability of disadvantard urban ically displaced older blacks and yet-to-blacks to follow decentralizing lower- be-placed younger ones with serious ed- skilled jobs has increasingly isolated them ucational deficiencksthose caught in from shifting loci of employment oppor- the web of urban chanr. Their unem- tunity and has contributed to their high ployment will persist because the educa- rates of joblessness. To reduce this isola- tional qualifications demanded by mosttion, a number of strategies should be of today's urban growth industries are considered, including (1) a computerized difficult to impart through short-term,job-opportturity network providing up- nontraditional programs.43 to-date information on available jobs The implausibility of rebuilding urban throughout the particular metropolitan blue-collar job bases or of providingarea, the region, and the nation; (2) sufficient education to large numbers ofpartial underwriting of more distant job displaced black laborers so that they may searches by the urwmployed; (3) need- be reemployed in expanding white-collar based temporary relocation assistance, industries necessitates a remwed look at once a job has been secured; (4) housing the traditional means by which Americans vouchers for those whose income levels have adapted to economic displace- require such assistance, as opposed to mentthat is, spatial mobility. Despite additional spatially fixed public housing the mass loss of lower-skilled jobs in complexes; (5) stricter enforcement of many cities during the past decade, there existing fair-housing and fair-hiring laws; have been substantial increases in these(6) public-private cooperative efforts to van-pool unemployed inner-city residents 45. John D. Kasarda, "Jobs, Millration and to suburban busimsses facing labor short- Emerging Urban Mismatches,' in Urban Chow and Powny, ed. M.G.H. McCleary and L. E. Lynn, 46. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Ir. (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, Labor Statistics, Establishment Data 1939-1986 1988), pp. 148-98. Machine Readable Files, Washington, DC. 4,9 URBAN INDUSTRIAL TRANSITION 47 arc and (7) a thorough review of alllabor, but aho to facilitate the means by spatially targeted low-income public as-which disadvantwd Americans have his- sistame programs to ensure that they aretorically obtained eamomic opportunity not inadvertently anchoring those withand a better life. In this regard, it is not limited resounzes to distressed areas infortuitous that the three peat symbols of which there are few prospects for per-social and economic opportunity for manent or meaningful employment. America's disadvantaged all relate to The aim of these people-to-jobs strate-spatial mobilitythe Statue of Liberty, gies is not only to bring a better balancethe Underground Railway, and the cov- between local supplies and demands forered wagon. ANNALS,AAPSS,501, Januar)! 1989

Absent Fathers in the Inner City

By MERCER L. SULLIVAN

ABSTRACT. The influences ofstructural economic factors, SOCial ecology, and culture on producing young absentfathers in the inner city and on del-tail's their relationships to theirchildren are examined. Ethnographic data on three low-income urbanneighborhoods are reported and compared with respect to the careers of young males, patternsof sexual activity and contraception, and responses to early pregnancy.

Mercer L Sullivan received his Ph.D. inanthropology from Cohanbia University. He has conducted studies of school cksegregation, youth crimeand employment, and the male role in teenage pregnancy and parenting. He Ls asenior research associate at the Vera Instituteof Justice in New York City.

NOTE: The research reported here could not havebeen carried out without the sensitive and dedicated work of three field research assistant& QuiCesvette, for Projectville; Richard Curtis, for Hamihon Park; and Adalberto Mauras, for La Barriada. Our research onthe role of young malts in teenage pregnancy and parenting has been supported by the Ford Foundation andthe W. T. Grant Foundation.

51 48 ASSENT FATHERS IN THE INNER CITY 49

Fr HE long-standim and increasing re- culture-of-poverty theories of the late I lationship between officially female- 1960s drew harsh criticism because day headed households and poverty hasseemed to imply that cultural values prompted much recent speculation that concerning the control of sexual activity threat fathers are a major cause of and the value ci marriage were the calms concentrated and persistent poverty in rather than the results et poverty. the inner cities. Child support enforce- These theories provoked Ruth heated mem is now widely touted as a major reactions that research on family patterns solution to the emerging formation of aamong the poor was virtually suspended so-called underclass. As part of this during the 1970s. During that decade, strateg for reducing poverty, many pro- however, the proportions of female- ponents of reform do recognize the needheaded households increased across so- for addressing the employment, educa- ciety and soared among minority resklents tion, and training difficulties of young of inner-city areas. The associations be- men. Yet current welfare-reform pro-tween female headship of households, posals are more emphatic about the need welfare dependency, awl concentrated to collect child support payments from and persistent poverty became stronger young men than they are about the need than ever, eventually prompting social to improve their economic opportunities. scientists and leaders of minority groups Meanwhile, knowledge of the economic to pay renewed attention to family pat- circumstances of young, unmarried, of- terns among the poor. Fortunately, much ficially absent fathers and of their relation- of the recent research on these questions ships to the households in which their has maintained a steady focus on struc- children live is sadly lacking. Official tural causes of both poverty and family statistics do not convey an accurate pic- disruption. Recent work tv, William Ju- ture of the extent to which officially lius Wilson has sharpened this focus on absent fathers are really absent from the structural factors by linking economic households and lives of their children or changes to powerful demographic shifts of the extent to which these men arethat have concentrated poor blacks in actually able to support families. certain central-city areas while upwardly Explanations of the relationship be- mobile blacks have left these areas.' tween family form and poverty have long Unfortunately, the role of culture in been controversial in social science and in these social changes remains as neglected discussions of public policy. Although as it has been since the days when overly the association between poverty and fe- vague notions of the culture of poverty male headship of households has been brought disrepute to the culture concept apparent for some time, the direction of as a tool for understanding the effects of causal relationships between the two has the concentration of poverty among cul- been hotly debated. Because poverty and tural minorities. This neglect of culture is female-headed households both occur at unfortunate because it leaves us in the high rates among members of cultural dark as to how people deal collectively minority groups in the United States, with economic disadvantage, prejudice, there has also been much controversy 1. William Julius Wilson,The Duly Disad- about the role that culture plays in the vantage& The Inner City, the Underclass, aid processes that produce both female- Public Palky (Chicago: University of Chicago headed households and poverty. The Press, 1987). 50 THE ANNAIS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY and the dilemmas of procreating and tive to structure,2 their tendency to portray raising families under such conditions.pathology and not adaptation led to the Lacking such an understanding, we areunfortunate current terklency either to kft with two sorts of explanatory from-dismiss culture or to reify it as a set of work, structural and individual, both ofmysterious and immutabk values. By which beg crucial question of how peoplefocusing on social ecology, the present in real communities devise collective re-comparison of dm adaptive strategies of sponses to their problems. Too extremeyoung people in three different innercity an emphasis on individual causation ig-communkies attempts to portray cultural nores growing evidence of the prolifera-process in a more complex way, as the tion of low-wage jobs and increasingcollective adaptations of different groups joblessness in inner-city labor markets. of people with different group histories to Too much emphasis on structural causa-similar yet distinctive difficulties in ob- tion ignores evidence that postponingtaining a living income, procreatin& and childbearing leads to greater occupa-supporting and raising children. tional success even within inner-city populations. THREE NEIGHBORHOODS AND A The neglect of culture stems both from RESEARCH PROJECT a lack of ethnographic research, which The three neighborhoods we have stud- alone can portray culture, and fromied are in Brooklyn, New York. In order theoretical confzion concerning the ways to maintain the confidentiality of the very in which indivklual action, culture, anddetailed and personal data we have gath- social structure are interrelated. The com-ered, we refer to these places using tin parative ethnographic research on youngpseudonyms Hamilton Park, Projectiille, fathers in three inner-city neighborhoodsand La Barriada. The three neighbor- reported here attempts to resolve some ofhoods are all relatively low income, yet these issues, fust by providing data onthey differ in class and in culture. Hamil- cultural processes and, second, by relatington Park is a predominantly white, Cath- these cultural processes both upward toolic area many of whose adult residents the structural constraints of the political are third- and fourth-generation descen- economy and downward to the choices anddants of immigrants from Italy and Po- strategies of particular individuals, whichland. Though census figures show this vary even within these neieiborhoods. neighborhood to have some of the lowest A key to the theoretical approachincome levels among predominantly employed here is the concept of socialwhite, non-Hispanic neighborhoods in ecology, the idea that each neighborhoodNew York City, median income levels are we studied is distinctive not just bemusestill significantly higher than those in the of primordial cultural values that may two minority neighborhoods. Less than have been retained from a distant past12 percent of families are below the but, perhaps more important, becausepoverty level and less than 10 percent of each neighborhood occupies a distinctivehouseholds receive Aid to Families with ecological niche in relation to the regionalDepondent auldren (AFDC). Projectville economy, the educational system, and 2. Oscar !Avis, La Vida: A Puerto Rican other institutions of the larger society. Family in the Culture of PowrtySan Juan and Though even the early culture-of-poverty Ne,.. York (New York: Vintage Books, 1965), p. theorists maintained that culture is adap- ABSENT FATHERS IN THE INNER CITY 51 is a predominantly black neighborhood wighborhoods are answered in terms of whose adult resirknts art first- or second- (1) the careers of young males; (2) patterns generation immigrants from the southanof teenage sexual activity; and (3) re- United States. La Baniada is a pre-spouses to pregnancy, imiuding whether dominantly Hispanic area in which all ofabortions are sought, whether marriage tk families we have contacted are headed and coresidence an, catered into, tuul by fist- or second-generation immigrantshow the children of young mothas are from Puerto Rico. Family poverty levelssupported. Tlw data are reported for 16 awl household AFDC enrollment levelsyoung maks from Projectvale, 17 from. are around 50 parent in both these areas.La Barriada, and 15 from Hamilton We began research in these areas in Park. These are not random samples but 1979 in a study of the relationshipswere reentited by ethnographic snowball- between schooling, employment, anding technklues. In addition, there is con- crinw in the careers of young males. Insiderabk variation within each sample. that study, we described distinctive careerEach includes about a third who are patterns in each neighborhood and relatednonfathers and each includes fathers who thew patterns to the distinctive socialhave been more and less effective in ecology of each neighborhood.3 In 1984, providing support for that &Wren. None- we began to look at young men who had theless, variation within each neighbor- become fathers at an early age and howhood sample falls within a distinctive their responses with respect to marriage, range that reflects both community values child support, and household and family and the resources available within that formation related to the career patternscommunity. we had already been studying.4 At that All of those referred to as fathers time, wc recontac'-1 go= of the youngfathered chikken by teenaie mothers. males who had bewme fathers during Many of the fathers, however, were one our study a few years earlier; we also were to two years older and not themselves introduced by them to younger maks inteenagers at the time they became fathers. their neighborhoods whose sexual part- ners had become pregnant. Some of the similarities and differences within and THE CAREERS OF YOUNG MALES between these Intighborhood-based groups The higher employment rates and of young men in how they became fathers median family incomes of Hamilton Park and what they did about these critical residents are associated with more employ- life-cycle transitions are reported andment for young males and better wages compared here. when they arc employed. Although work In order to assess the influences ofcan also be scarce for them, they enjoy both culture and economic opportunitymuch better access to jobs, both while on the ways in which young men becomethey are still of school age and subse- fathers and how they react, the threequently, than their minority counterparts. 3. Mercer L. Sullivan,Getting Paid: Economy, The jobs that they do find are located Culture, and Youth Crime in the Inner Cirty(Ithaca, almost entirely through neighborhood- NY: Cornell University Press, forthcoming). based and family-bawd personal net- 4. Mercer L. Sullivan, 'Teen Fathers in the Inner City An Exploratory Ethnographic Study," works. While they are still of school age, mimeographed (New York: Vera Institute ofJustice, this work is almost entirely off the books, 1983). yet it usually pays better than minimum 52 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY wage. As they get older, somefind theiryouths leads to more sustained and preva- way into relatively well-payingand securelent involvement in intetnive criminal unionized blue-collar jobs. Educationactivities and to periods of probation =I plays very little rok in their access toincarceration. Census and police statistics work. Most have attended a public voca-generally support our fnulings concerning tional high school, but only about athe relative involvemmts of those in the third of them have obtained any sort ofthree mighborhoods in schooling, work, diploma. and crime. Young males from the two minority These career patterns are described as neighborhoods fare much worse. Theybackground for understanding the dif- suffer more from lack of employment,ferent ranges of responses to early preg- and they earn very low wages when theynancy within each of theneighborhoods. do work, both as teenagen and as young adults. Yet the career patterns differ SEXUAL ACTIVITY between *hese two minority neighbor- Before looking at bow young males in hoods in distinctive ways that are related the threc neighborhoods respond to early to the neighborhoods' social ecology. La pregnancy rnd whether or not theybe- Barriada's young males leave school come absent fathers, it is necessary to earlier than their peers in the other two compare their patterns of early sexual neighborhoods. They tend to work in activity and contraceptive use. If we had unskilled manual jobs in nearby factories and warehouses when they do work. found substantial differences, we might conclude that differences in becoming Projectville's young males stay in school longer than their counterparts in Lafathers at an early age were due to later or less frequent sexual activity or, alter- Barriada or in Hamilton Park. Nearly natively, to greater use of contraceptives. half of our sample from Projectville had either completed a diploma or were stillIn fact, our data show relatively few such differences between the neighborhood working toward one. As a result of their groups, although we do find suchdiffer- prolonged participation in schooling, they ences within each group. Almost all those tend to enter the labor market somewhat in each group had experienced intercourse later than the others. They then tend to jobsby the age of 15, and few had used mow into clerical and service-sector contraceptives in their first acts of in downtown business districts. Many of intercourse. these jobs require a high school diploma. These findings differ somewhat frcm As a result, though they enter the labor survey findings that indicate a greater market somewhat later than young males likelihood of early intercourse among in La Barriada, they have better prospects blacks than among whites,5 although for upward mobility. Yet they still tend to Hamilton Park's whites are much poorer earn less than their less educated counter- than the middle-class whites often sampled parts in Hamilton Park. In our earlier study of crime andin these surveys. In fact, we found in each neighborhood that, from their early teens employment, we found that, although many young males in eachof these 5. Freya L. Sonenstein, "Risking Paternity Sex and Contraception among Adolescent Males," neighborhcods are involved in explora- in Adokscau Fotherhoo4 ed. Arthur B. Elstcr and tory economic crimes, the blocked access Michael E. Lamb (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erl- to employment among the minority baum, 1986), pp. 31-54. ABSENT FATHERS IN THE INNER CITY 53 on, males are almost entirely outside of usually involved not just the conceiving adult supervision, except wlam tin are young couple but also their parents and in school, as they freqiwntly are not. They even extended familks. In this way, indi- also are encouraged to prove their man- vidual choices became embedded in the hood by sexual adventures and receive context of the wider neighborhood com- little consistent encourarment or instruc- munity and its values and resources. tion in the use of contraceptives. In all thaw choices, we found distinctive What our data do suggest, however, is neighborhood patterns, although a range variations within each neighborhood in of choices was apparent within each the use of contraceptives. We rust sought neighborhood group. Time patterns are out young fathers in each place anddescribed separately for each raighbor- subsequently interviewed four or five hood. We begin with Projectville, which friends of the fathers who weir not fits many of the stereotypes of underclass themselves fathers. The nonfathers gener- neighborhoods with high rates of out-of- ally began sexual activity as early and wedlock childbeming by teenage maims heedlessly as the fathers. Some seemed to and related high rates of absent father- have avoided becoming fathers through hood. We then compare these patterns chance, but others reported developing with Hamilton Park in order to assess the contraceptive practices that prevented effects of different levels of economic their becoming fatheis. These practices opportunity. Finally, we examine La included some use of condoms but more Barriada, an area that is similar to Project- often involved careful use of withdrawal ville in class but different in culture and or a long-term relationship with a partner c( ,cial ecology. who used birth-control pills. In_ Projectville, we found very am- bivalent attitudes and behavior concern- ing the decision to seek abortions or not. RESPONSES TO PREGNANCY Most of the young males reported extreme In contrast to this relative lack ofdisapproval of abortion, often calling it difference between the neighborhoods in murder and saying that they had urged patterns of early sexual activity and contra- their partners not to abort. Yet the same ception, the ranges of response to early individuals would often say that their pregnancy differed between the neighbor- mothers might support abortions for hoods in quite distinctive ways that cantheir sisters. Three of them reported that be related to differences in culture, class, they had been involved in pregnancies and social ecology. After the discoverythat terminated in abortions. In two of that the partners of these young males these cases, the decision was made by the had become pregnant, those involved in female and her family, and the males each community faced a number of were not involved. In the other case, the choices. The first choice was whether or abortion was of a second pregnancy. not the young female should seek anHealth statistics, which cover a fairly abortion. If not, then it had to be decided homogeneous area in this neighborhood, whether the young couple should getindicate that more than half of all teen married and / or establish coresidence and pregnancies in Projectville end in abortion. what extent and manner of support and Attitudes toward marriage as a re- care the young father should be expected sponse to early pregnancy, however, were to provide for his child. These choices more uniform. Projectville residents gener- 54 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY ally did not enwurar immediate mar-were those who became heavily involved riage or coresidtmce for young parents. in crime or drug use and underwent in- Two coupks eventually did marry, thoughcarceration, including 6 of the 16 at not until over a year after the birth,some point Even these were involved during which time the father's employ-with their children before or after mint status had improved, in one case incarceration. because the father had joined tin mili- These data were, of course, colketed tary and had completed basic training.from a self-selected sample of young Another marriar occurred when a youngfathers who were willing to talk with mother married another male, not theresearchers. All also reported that they father of hex first child. The other fathers knew of fathers who had 'stepped off," as would be classified officially as absent. they put it, from their children. They They neither married, nor, in most cases,attributed stepping off in some of these did they establish coresidence. cases to the young fathers' inability to Yet tlx absence of maniage and coresi-make contributions. Despite the self- dence did not mean that they had noselected nature of our sample, however, further relationships with the mothers participation by young, unmarried fathers and children. Although romantic commit-in informal systems of care and support ments to the mothers tended to be volatile, for their children does seem to be quite most of the fatheis reported strong com-common in this neighborhood. Other mitments to their children. Their paternity studies have shown that poor, black, was recognized within the neighborhood. officially absent fathers actually have Most eventually also established legalmore contact with and provide more paternity. Further, most provided someinformal support for their children than measure of cares and support, to the middle-class, white absent fathers.6 extent that they were able. They con- In Hamilton Park, we found quite tributed money, some from employment, different patterns of abortion, marriage, usually part-time and / or low-wage, others coresidence, and support None of the from criminal activities. Some continued young males we interviewed expressed with education and training for a timestrong condemnations of abortion, and after the birth, unlike their counterparts several openly supported abortions in in the other neighborhoods. In these cases where the couple was not ready to cases, the mothers' families saw the young get married. One of those who had not fathers' continued education as being in become a father as a teenager had avoided the best long-term interests of the chil-doing so by encouraging an abortion. dren. These unmarried young fathers also Another nonfather said he would "slip visited regularly and frequently took the her the two hundred dollars" if his partner children to their own homes, for weekends or even longer periods of time. Many 6. Ron Haskins et al., "Estimates of National reported providing direct child care when Chiki Support Collections Potential a- d Income they were with their children, to a greater Security of Female-Headed Families: Fmal Report extent than fathers in either of the other to the Off= of Child Support Administration, Social Security Administration" (Bush Institute for two neighborhoods. Child and Family Policy, Frank Porter Graham The only ones who provided no care Child Development Center, University of North or support at all for some period of time Carolina, 1985). ABSENT FATHERS IN THE INNER CITY 55 became pregnant. Even one of the young irregularly. The differences in career and fathers and his part= had aborted a firstfamily-formation patterns between the pregnancy and then married after a secomineighborhoods are not absolute but mat- pregnancy and before the birth. ters of degree. Two of the nonmarrying Marriage was also more common infathers in Hamilton Park, for example, this group. Over half the fathers in thisresembled some of their peers in Project- group married after conception and bdoreville, working irregularly and making the birth. One married before conception, regular contributions and visits but not he being the only one whose child was marrying. The other nonmarrying fathers planned. Marriage also entailed setting were all heavy drug users who made poor up coresidence in apartments of theirmarriage prospects. One of them did not own. This pattern of family formationlearn that he had beconx a father until has deep roots in working-class tradition. two yews later. Their children and the Early sexual activity is a recognized form motkrs of their children were among the of risk taking that is often understood to AFDC recipients who, though kits heavily kad to marriage if a pregnancy occurs. concentrated than in the minority neigh- This pattern of family formation isborhoods, still accounted for about 10 also strongly linked to the traditionalpercent of the households in Hamrton working-class career patterns that are still Park. maintaftwd in this neighborhood, despite In La Raniada, young males whose the recent pressures of economic changepartners became pregnant also faced dis- that threaten this way of life. Decent jobsappointing economic opportunities. like are available, through neighborhood and their peers in Projectville and unlike family contacts, that do not depend onsome of their peers in Hamilton Park, educational credentials and that allow they had relatively poor chances of being young males to establish independent able to find jobs that would allow them to households and support their families. marry and provide full support for their Those who got married found both work children. Yet culture and social ecology and housing through these local channels. led them to a different set of responses to These early unions were often troubled,their predicament. and household arrangements did shift Their attitudes toward abortion were over time. Significantly, the only case ofeven more negative than theme we dis- court-ordered child support we encount- covered in Projectville, yet some of them ered in any of the three neighborhoods also had been involved in abortions. One was among this group of relatively eco-of the nonfathers reported an abortion. nomically advantaged youths. In addition, three of the fathers reported The relatively well-paying, blue-collar abortions of second pregnancies. They jobs that have sustained this neighborhood said that they still disapproved of abor- are disappearing from the regional econ- tions but simply could not afford a omy, however, and the effects of this second child right away. Health statistics economic erosion are evident throughoutfor La Barriada and Hamilton Park were the neighborhood. Many young peoplenot readily comparable to those for Pro- leave the area for the suburbs or westernjectville, but statistics for the city as a states. Others become heavily involved in whole did show the same patterns that we drugs and hang out on the streets, working found: among pregnant teens, whites had itOOPFtk.1701:r. f.

56 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

the highest rate of abortions, followed byattending school after they became fa- bliwks and then by flispanks.7 thers, though some later retunxid to Though even less likely than those in school or training programs. None of Prokaville to see abortions as a solution, them remained in school continuously, as the young males in La Barriikla were far did some of the Projectville fathers. more likely to pursm marrisge and co- Structural circumstances also discour- residence, despite formidable obstacles in aged marriage for some in La Barriada. the way of their being able to support The mothers and children in the common- families. Only 5 of 11 fathers did not law marriages, for example, all received marry legally, but 3 of time describedAFDC. Refraining from marriage con- themselves as being in common-law mar- cealed their unions from scrutiny by the riages and had established coresideme. AFDC program. Common-law partners openly referred to Even though the young fathers from themselves as "husband" and "wife," un- La Barriada were more likely to marry, like the unmarried but still involved their own family backgrounds suggested couples in Projectville. that the future of these marriages was One father, a highly religious Pen- highly doubtful. Most of them came from tecostal, married as a virgin at 18, indi- families in which the parents had been cating the relatively young age at which married, by ceremony or common-law even so-called normal marriage and par- arrangement, yet almost all their own enting can occur in this group. The others fathers had left the households when they married after conception, either before or were young children. The departure of after the birth. Marriage entailed co-their own fathers was usually related to residence, though usually in the household employment difficulties and led to house- of one of the young couple's parents. hold AFDC enrollment. Most coresident couples lived with the Crime and drugs also were involved in father's parents, a distinctive pattern not the inability of some of these young found in the other neighborhoods andfathers to support their families. Two tied to cultural expectations that the were incarcerated at some point and five father and his family are responsible for others had some history of heavy drug the child and mother. use. Despite their willingness to many and None of the officially absent fathers establish coresidence, however, these from La Barnacle or Projectville had ever fathers' prospects for finding jobs that been involved in legal child support pro- paid enough and were steady enough to ceedings. Local child support agencies allow them to support families remained assigned a low priority to young fathers poor. As a result, they entered the laborand especially to young, unemployed market somewhat earlier than those infathers. Young fathers who themselves Projectville, yet with fewer prospects for lived with families on AFDC were auto- advancement. All the young fathers ceased matically excluded from child support actions. 7. Adolescent Pregnancy InteragencY Council, A Coordinated Strategy on the Issues of Adolescent CONCLUSION Pregnamy and Parenting (New York: Mayor's Office of Adolescent Pregnancy and Parenting These comparisons of young males in Services, 1986), g. 10. three neighborhoods demonstrate the in-

119 ABSENT FATHERS IN THE INNER CITY 57 terrelated influences of structural eco-children in kin-based networks.8 Young nomic factors, culture, and social ecologymales play important roles in these net- in shaping processes of family and house. works, which are highly fh:xible and hold formal:ion. The high rates ot female- adaptive to shifting circumstances.. headed and AFDC-rec6ving households La Barriada's residents are the most in the two minority neighborhoods arerecent immigrants and cling tenaciously ckarly related not only to an overall lack to a traditional culture even as its assump- in this region of jobs paying wages thattions about a male's role in the family could allow men to assume traditionalclash harshly with the realities of du low- breadwinning roles but also to social-wage labor market and the welfare ecological factors that link the different system. neighborhoods to the regional labor The influences of structural economic market in quite different ways. TIN dis- factors, culture, and social ecology on the tinctive range of responses to early preg-actions of young mar demonstrated in nancy in each community depends heavilythis analysis are not intended as dis- on the resources that are available withinavowals of individual potential; nor are that community. they intended as claims for an absolute Culture also plays a role in shapingcultural relativism, which would imply local responses to teenage pregnancy. that processes of family formation in When cultural values are seen in relation these neighborhoods, though different to social ecology, however, they appearfrom those in the mainstream, are entirely not as unchanging primordial entitiessatisfactory for local residents. To the but rather as collective responses of people contrary, the relationships between early with distinctive group histories to differ- pregnancy, absent fatherhood, and per- ent and changing structural positions insistent poverty are quite evident to the society. Hamilton Park's residents mostresidents of these communities. Some closely adhere to a long-standing working- individuals in these communities do man- class tradition, in which teenage sexualage to escape these and other hazards of activity is understood to be a risk-taking life in the inner cities. These struggles are enterprise that should lead to marriageparticularly evident among Projectville when pregnancy results. The erosion of residents, for example, as seen in their well-paying entry-level jobs that haveperseverance with education and their made this way of life possible, however, ambivalence toward abortion. threatens these understandings as more In none of these communities is any young men, unable to find such jobs, turn honor given to fathers who do not at least to drugs and away from marriage. try to support their children. All the Projectville's residents have known the accounts we have heard indicate that link between lack of jobs and lack of failure to support one's children is experi- marriage longer and live with much enced as a loss of manhood. The standards greater concentrations of joblessness and for judging individual fathers are clear dependency, yet they have well-defined within each neighborhood but differ some- attitudes toward how to cope with these what between the neighborhoods in terms problems. They put great faith in educa- of relative emphasis on immediate cash tion, despite its frequently disappointing S. Carol B. Stack, All Our Kin: Strategies for payoffs in the job market, and they have Survival in a Black Community (New York: Harper developed complex ways of supporting & Row, 1974).

G 58 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY contributions, continued education, mar-system. Males must be reckfined as im- riage, and the provision of child care. Theportant parts of the solution and not higher rate at which young men in themerely as the sources of the problem. two minority neighborhoods fail to meetSome recent innovative efforts have been such standards is a function mitha of the undertaken. Programs for the prevention randmn occurrence of high rates of patho-of unwanted early pregnancy have begun logical individuals in these areas nor ofto include maks in their services. Some the content of ethnic culture but rather ofdiscussion has also begun concerning blocked access to decent jobs. ways to alter the child support enforce- Social policy that hopes to deal effec-ment system to provide incentives for tively with persistent poverty must moveyoung fathers to acknowledr paternity. beyond assumptions that uncontrolled Such incentives coukl include contwcting sexuality and an uraleveloped work ethic them to job-training and employment are at the root of the problem. Policies programs, encouraging continued educa- and programs must recognize not only tion, recognizing in-kind contributions the powerful structural economic factors and not just cash payments, and expaml- that concentrate poverty and dependency ing the amount they could contribute to in the inner cities but also the unique AFDC households without having their ways in which imlividual communities contributions deducted from that house- attempt to reconcile their lack of access to hold's AFDC budget In order to be jobs and their universal, human desire to effective, these efforts will need to be part reproduce. of an overall program of intensive and At present, young males in these areas comprehensive services for inner-city chil- are particularly ill served by the job dren and adolescents. market, the schools, and the social welfare

Eu ANNALS, AAPSS,591, January 1989

Sex Codes and Family Life among Poor Inner-City Youths

By ELIJAH ANDERSON

ABSTRACT: SeXUai conduct among poor black inner-city adolescents is resulting in growing numbers of unwed parents. At the same time, many young fathers are strongly committed to their peer groups. They congregate, often boasting of their sexual exploits and deriding conventional family life. These two interconnected realities are born oF the extremely difficult socioeconomic situation prevailing in ghetto communities. The lack of family-sustaining jobs or job prospects denies young men the possibility of forming economically self-reliant families, the traditional American mark of manhood. Partially in response, the young men's peer group emphasizes sexual prowess as a mark of manhood, at times including babies as its evidence. A sexual game emerges and becomes elaborated, with girls becoming lured by the boys' often vague but convincing promises of love and marriage. As the girls submit, they often =I up pregnant and abandoned, but eligible for a limited but sometimes steady income in the form of welfare, which may allow them to establish their own households and, at times, attract other men, in need of money.

Elijah Anderson i s professor of sociology and associate director of the Center for Urban Ethnography at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of A Place on the Corner and other urban ethnographic studies.

NOTE: The author acknowledges the support of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Minority Health.

59 r 60 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

EXUAL Minims and out-ci-wedlock ever, tends to be fragmentedand has led S1.3 pregnancy among poor black inner- to differing, even contnulictory, assess- city adolescents is a major social probkm, ments of the state of such relations. My yet we know little and understand less purpose in this article is to prewnt a about these phenomena. To be sure, holistic account of the situation in the many studies deal in whok or in partwith form of an informal ethnographk essay the subject, and tlky offer valuabk in- that focuses on actual behavior and the sights into the dynamic of sexual interac- motivation behind it tion between youths in the ghetto and To this end, I interviewed sonk forty other socioeconomically circumscribed people who are personally involved with settings.' The wealth of information, how- this issue, including teenage motluas, pregnant teenagers, teenage fathers, and prospective teenage fathers, and grand- 1. This literature includes Lee Rainwater, And mothers, grandfathers, sisters, brothers, the Poor Get Children (Chicago: Quadrangle fathers, and mothers of youthful parents. Books, 1460); idem, "Crucible of Identity: The I.ower-Class Negro Farnily,"Daedahu, 45:172-216 I conducted those interviews in what (1966); idem, *Sex in the Culture of Poverty," in could be described as natural settings: on The Individual, Sex. and Society, ed. Carlfred B. stoops, on trolleys, in respondents' homes, Broderick and Jessie Bernard (Baltimm, MD: in restaurants, and in other neighborhood Johns Hopkins University Press, 1969), PP. 129-40; places. Through these conversations, my idem, Behind Ghetto Walls (Chicago: Aldine de Gruyter, 1970); Elliot Liebow, Tall34 Corner: A goal was to generate a conceptual essay Study of Negro Street Corner Men (Boston: Little, on the general subject of sex and preg- Brown, 1967); Ulf Hannerz, Souhiek (New York: nancy among poor inner-city black young Columbia University Press, 1969); Frank Funten- people ranging in age from 15 to 23. berg, Unplanned Parenthood (New York: Free Sexual conduct among poor inner-city Press, 1976); Boone E. Hammond and Joyce A. Ladner, "Socialization into Sexual Behavior in a black youths is to a large extent the result Negro Slum Ghetto," in Individual, Sex, and of the meshing of two opposing drives, Society, ed. Broderick and Bernard, pp. 41-51; that of the boys and that of the girls. For a Arnold W. Green, "The Cult of Personality and variety of reasons tied to the socio- Sexual Relations," Psychiatry, 4343-48 (1941); economic ituation in which they find Conrad M. Arensberg, The Irish Coururyman (New York: Macmillan, 1937); William Foote themselves, their goals are often dia- Whyte, "A Slum Sex Code," American Journal of metrically opposed, and sex becomes a Sociology, 49:24-31 (1943 ); Terry M. Williams and contest between them. To many boys, sex William Kornblum, Growing up Poor (Lexington, is an important symbol of local social MA: D. C. Heath, 1985); David A. Schulz, Coming status; sexual conquests become so many sgr Black: Patterns of Ghetto Socialization(Engle. wood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1969); Ruth Horo- notches on one's belt. Many of the girls witz, Honor and the American Dream (New Bruns- offer sex as a gift in their bargaining for wick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 1983); Carol B. the attentions of a young man. As boys Stack, All Our Kin (New York: Harper & Row, and girls try to use each other to achieve 1974); Robert Staples, ed., The Black Family their respective ends, the reality that (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1971 ); idem, The Black Woman in America (Chicago: Nelson Hall, 1973); emerges in the eyes of the participants Marian Wright Edelman, Families in Peril: An sometimes approximates their goals, but Agenda for Social Change (Cambridge, MA: it often results in frustration and disillu- Harvard University Press, 1987); Allen R. Walter, sionment and the perpetuation or even "The Search for Applicable Theories of Black worsening of their original situation. Family Life,"lownrd of Marriage and the Family, 40:117-29 (1978); Joyce Ladner, Tomorrow Tomor- In each sexual encounter, there is row (New York: Doubleday, 1973). generally a winner and a loser. The girls 3 SEX CODES AND FAMILY LIFE 61 have a dream, the boys a desire. The girlscasual in terms of commitment to the dream of being taken off by a Princepartner, it is usually taken quite seriously Charming who will love them, provideas a measure of the boy's worth. Thus a for them, and give them a family. Theprimaiy goal of the young man is to fmd boys often desire sex without commit-as many willing females as possible. Tlw mint or, if they do impregnate a girl,more "pussy" he gets, the more esteem tables without responsibility for them. Itaccrues to him. But the young man must becomes extremely difficult for the boysnot only get "some"; he must also prove to see themselves enacting the roles andhe is getting it. Consequently, he usually taking on the responsibilities of conven-talks about girls and sex with every other tional fathers and husbands on the basisyoung man who will listen. Because ofthe of the limited employment opportunitiesimplications sex has for local social status available to them. Yet the boy knowsand esteem for the young men, there are what the girl wants and plays the role inmany of them willing and ready to be order to get I= to give him sex. Receptiveregaled by tales of one another's sexual to his advances, she may think that she isexploits. The conversations inchmle gra- maneuvering him toward a commitmentphic descriptions of the sex act. or, even better, that getting pregnant is The lore of the streets says there is the nudge the boy needs to marry her andsomething of a contest going on between give her the life she wants. What she doesthe boy and the girl even before they not see is that the boy, despite his claims,meet. To the young man, the woman be- is often incapable of giving her that life.comes, in the most profouml sense, a For, in reality, he has little money, fewsexual object Her body and mind become prospects for gainful employment, and,the object of a sexual game, to be won furthermore, no wish to be tied to aover for the personal aggrandizement of woman who will have any say in what hethe young man. Status goes to the winner, does, for his loyalty is to his peer groupand sex becomes prized not so much as a and its norms. Consistent with this, whentestament of love but as testimony of the girl becomes pregnant, the boy tendscontrol of another human being. Sex is to retreat from her, although she, with thethe prize and sexual conquests are a help of local social pressure from familygame, the object of which is to make a and peers, may ultimately succeed infool of the other person, particularly the getting him to take some responsibilityyoung woman. for the child. The young men variously describe their successful campaigns as "getting over [the young woman's sexual de- SEX: THE GAME AND fenses]." In order to get over, the young THE DREAM man must devise and develop a "gam," To an inner-city black male youth, thewhose success is gauged by its acceptance most important people in his life areby his peers and especially by women. members of his peer group. They set the Relying heavily on gaining the confidence standards for his conduct, and it is im-of the girl, the game consists of the boy's portant for him to live up to thosefull presentation of self, including his standards, to look good in their eyes. Thedress, grooming, looks, dancing ability, peer group places a high value on sex,and conversation, or "rap." especially what many middle-class people The rap is the verbal element of the call casual sex. Although the sex may begame, whose object is to inspire sexual 4 'avAl

62 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY intereg in the boy. It embodies the wholeplete wkh the nuckar family. It is nurtmed pawn and is thus extremely importantby a daily invotiement wkh afternoon to dm success of the game. Among peer-television soap operas, or "stories," as the group membess, raps are assessed, evalu-women call them. The heroes or heroines ated, and divided into weak and strong.of these stories may be white and upper The assessment of the young man's rap is,middle dass, but kw many, tine characta- in effect, the evaluation of his wholeistics only make them MOM attractive as game. Convincing proof of the effective-role model& Many girls dream of the role ness of one's game is in the "booty'. theof the comfortabk middle-class housewife amount of pussy the young man appearsportrayed on television, even though they to be getting. Young men who are knownsee that their peers can only approximate to fail with women aka face ridicule atthat role. the hands of the group, thus having their When approached by a boy, the girl's raps labeled "tissue paper," their gamesfaith in the dream helps to cloud or seen as inferior, and their identitiesobscure her view of the situation. A discredited. romantically successful boy has the knack After developing a game over time,for knowing just what is on a girl's mind, through trial and error, a young man iswhat she wants from life, and how she ever on the lookout for players, youngwants to go about obtaining it In this women with whom to try it out andregard, he is inclined and may be able to perhaps to perfect it. To find willingplay the character the script calls for. players is to gain a certain affirmation ofThrough his actions, he is able to shape self, though the boy's status in the peerthe interaction, calling up those resources group may go up if he is able to seduce aneeded to play the game successfully. He girl considered to be "choice,""down," orfits himself to be the man she wants him streetwise. When encountering a girl, theto be, but this identity may be exagprated boy usually sees a challenge; he attemptsand only temporary, until he gets what he to "run his game." Here the girl usually iswants. He shows her the side of himself fully aware that a game is being at-that he knows she wants to see, that tempted; however, if the young man'srepresents what she wants in aman. For game is sophisticated, or "smooth," or ifinstance, the young man will sometimes the girl is very young and inexperienced,"walk through the woods" with the girl: she may be easily duped. he might visit at her home and go to In many instances, the game plays on church with her family, showing that he is the dream that many inner-city girlsan "upstanding young man." But all of evolve from early teenaw years. Thethis may only be part of his game, and popular love songs they have listened to,after he gets what he wants, he may cast usually from the age of seven or eight, aredown this part of his presentation and filled with a wistful air, promising lovereveal something of his true self, as he and ecstasy to someone "just like you."reverts to those actions and behavior This dream involves having a boyfriend,more characteristic of his everyday life, a fianc6, a husband, and the fairy-talethose centered aromul his peer group. prospect of living happily ever after in a In these circumstances, the girl may nice house in a neighborhood with one'ssee but refuse to accept evidence of the childrenessentially the dream of theboy's duplicity. She may find herself at middle-class American life-style, corn-times defending the young man to her 6 5 SEX CODES AND FAMILY LIFE 63 friends and family who question hermarrying her and living happily ever dxsice of a boyfrimd. In those cases inafter, according to thei wale= cimildle- whkh the mak is successful, the youngclass norms of propriety. But the reality woman may know iratte is being played,of the poor employment siltation for but, given the effectivenets of his game,young black maks tithe inner city makes his rap, his presentation of self, his looks,it extremely difficult for many to follow hi wit, his dancing ability, and his gamralthrough on suit intentions? popularity in the peer group, infatuation Unable to realize himself as the young often rules. Many a girl fervently hopes woman% pmvider in the American middle- that her boy is the one that is different,class tradition, which the peer group whik some boys are very good actors andoften labels 'square:the young man may can be exttemely persuasive. become ever more committed to his In addition, the girl's peer group sup-game. With ambivalence, many young ports her pursuit of the dream, implicitly men will go so far as to °make plans" with upholding her belief in the young man'sthe wonxn, including house shopping good faith. But it is clear that the goalsand window shoptAng for items for the and interests of tin girl and the boy often prospective household. A 23-year-old fe- diverge. While many girls want to purmemak informant who at 17 became a the dream, the boy, for the immediatesingle parent of a baby &r1 said the future, is generally not interested in "play-followinx ing home," as his peer-group members Yeah, they'll [boys will] take you out. Walk derisively refer to domestic life. you down to Center City, movies, window While pursuing his game, the boyshop (laughs). They point in the window, often feigns love and caring, pretending "Yeah, rip gonna get this. Wouldn't you like to be a dream man and acting toward the this? Look at that nice livin' room set." Then girl as though he has the best intentions. they want to take you to his house, go to his Ironically, in many cases, the young man room: "Let's go over to my house, watch some does indeed have the best intentions. He TY." Next thing you know your clothes is off may experience profound ambivalem and you in bed havin' sex, you know. on this score, mainly because of the way Such shopping trips carry with them such intentions appear to relate to or important psychological implications for conflict with the values of the peer group. the relationship, at times serving as a kind At tints, these values are placed in sharpof salve that heals wounds and erases focus by his own deviance from them, as doubt about the young man's intentions. he incurs sanctions for allowing a girl toThe young woman may report to her "rule" him or gains positive reinforcement for keeping her in line. The peer group 2.. See Elijah Anderson, A Place on the Corner sanctions its members with demeaning (Chicago: University of Chieago Press, 1978); William Julius Wilson, The Det**8 Significance labels such as "pussy," "pussy-whipped," of Race (Chicago: Unhersity of Chicago Press, or "househusband," causing them to pos- 19714; Bernard E. Anderson and Isabel V. Sawhill, ture in manners that clearly distance eds., Youth Ihnployment wrd Public Pokey (Engle- themselves from such characterizations. wood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, WM); Elijah Ander- At times, however, some boys earnestly son, "Some Observations of Black Youth Employ- ment," in ibid.; William Julius Wilson, The Thdy attempt to enact the role of the "dream Disadvantaged: The Inner Chy, the Underclass, man," one with honorable intentions of end Public Polky (Chicago: Unisersity of Chicago "doing right" by the young woman, of Press, 1987). 64 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY parents or to her friends on her latest datefair. The girl may become manicalative or shopping trip, indkating the type ofand aggressive, or the boy may lie, cheat, furniture looked at arnt priced and theor otherwise misrepresent himself to ob- supposed terms of payment. She contin-tain or retain the sexual favors of the girl. ues to have hope, which he supports byIn many of the sexual encounters related "going" with her, letting her and othersby informants, one person is seen as a know that she is his "steady," though inwinner, the other as a loser. As one order for him to maintain a certain statusinformant said: within his pea group, she should not be his only known girl. They triekin' them good. Either the woman is trickin' the man, or the man is trickin' the Such actions indicate a certain level of woman. Good! They got a trick. She's thinkin` involvement on the part of the couple,it% [the relationship is] one thing, he *eying particularly the young man. For him, theanother game, you know. He thinkin' she making of plans and the successive shop-alright, and she doing something else. ping trips may simply be elements of his game and often nothing more than aIn the social atmosphere of the peer stalling device he uses to keep the girlgroup, the quality of the boy's game tends banging on so that he may continue toto emerge as a central issue. In addition, have the benefit of her sexual favors. whatever lingering ambivalence he has In many cases, the more he seems toabout his commitment to the role of exploit the young woman, the higher hishusband and provider may be resolved in status within the peer group. But tofavor of peer-group status, which becomes consolidate this status, be feels moved atmore clearly at stake in his m;nd. times to show others that he is in control. In pursuing his game, the young man There may be a contest of wills betweenoften uses a supporting cast of other the two, with arguments and fights develop-women, at times playing one off against ing in public places over what may appearthe other. For example, he may orches- to be the most trivial of issues. In order totrate a situation in whkh he is seen with prove his dominance in the relationshipanother woman. Alternatively, secure in unequivocally, he may 'break her down"the knowledge that he has other women in front of her friends and his, "showingto fall back on, he might start a fight with the world who is boss." If the younghis steady in order to upset her sense of woman wants him badly enough, she willcomplacency, thus creating a certain meekly go along with the performanceamount of dynamic tension within the for the implicit promise of his continuedrelationship, which he tries to use for his attentions, if not love. Again, a moreown advantage. The result is that the permanent relationship approximatingyoung woman can begin to doubt her the woman's dream of matrimony andhold on the man, which can in turn bring domestic tranquility is often what is atabout a precipitous drop in her self-esteem. stake in her mind. In these circumstances, the boy may As the contest continues, and the girltake pride in the fool be thinks he is hangs on, she may be believed to havemaking of the girl, and, when he is been taken in by the boy's game butconfident of his dominance, he may work particularly by his convincing rap, histo "play" the young woman, "running his claims of commitment to her and hergame," making her "love" him. Some well-being. In this contest, anything isyoung men, in such instances, will brag

6 7 SEX CODES AND FAMILY LIFE 65 that they are "playing her like a fiddle,"beautiful baby. Moreover, for the young meaning that they are in full control ofWOrtian, becoming pregnant can become the situation. The object here, for tlwan important part of the competition for young man, is to prove he "hm the girl'stlw attentions or even delayed affection nose open," that she is sick with love forof a young man, a profound if socially him. Wis goal is to maneuver her into ashortsighted way of making claim on state of blissful emotionality with regard him. to himself, showing that she, and not he, is clearly the 'weak" member in the Mations*. THE ISSUE OF PREGNANCY Strikingly, it is in these circumstances Up to the point of pregnancy, given that the young girl may well becomethe norms of his peer group with regard careless about birth control, which is seento male and female relations, the young by the community, especially the males,man could be characterized as simply as being her responsibility. Dependingmessing around. The frul of pregnancy upon the effectiveness of the boy% game,brings a sudden sense of realism to the she may believe his rap, becoming con relationship between the young man and vinced that he means what he has saidthe young woman. Life-altering events about taking care of lwr, that her weffarehave occurred. The situation is usually is his primary concern. Moreover, sheperceived as utterly serious. She is preg- wants desperately to believe that if shenant, and he could be held legally re- becomes pregnant, he will marry her or atsponsible for the long-term financial sup- least be obligmed to her in a way he is notport of the child. In addition, if the young to others he has been "mooing with."couple were unclear about their intentions Perhaps all tw needs is a little nudip. before, things now may crystallize. She In these circumstances, however, themay now consider him seriously as a girl thinks little of the job market and jobmate. Priorities may now begin to emerge prospects for the boy. She underestimatesin the boy's mind. He has to make a peer-group influences and the effect ofdecision whether to claim the child as his other "ladies" she knows or at leastor to shun the woman who for so long has strongly suspects are in his life. She is inbeen the object of his affections, often for love, and she is sure that a child and thereasons of peer-group concerns. profound obligation a child implies will To own up to such a pregnancy is to go make such a strong bond that all theagainst the peer-group ethic of "hit and other issues will go away. Her thinking isrun." Other values at risk of being flouted clouded by the prospect of winning at theby such an action include the subordina- game of love. Becoming pregnant can betion of women and freedom from formal a way to fulfill an old but persistentconjugal ties, and in this environment, dream of happiness and bliss. Moreover,where hard economic times are a fact of for numerous women, when the man isdaily life for many, some young men are determined to be unobtainable, justnot interested in "taking care of somebody having his baby is enough. Often a popu-else," when to do so means having less. In lar and "fine," or physically attractive,this social context of persistent poverty, young man is sought out by a woman inyoung men have come to devalue the hopes that his physical attractiveness willconventional marital relationship, easily grace her child, resulting in a "prize," or aviewing women as a burden and children

S '""ti

THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY as even more so. Moreover,with regardapprehension over his impending father- to such relationships, a young man wantshood. ff he admks patanity and "does "to come as I want and go as I please,"right" hY the girl, his Peer gromtP likelY will thus meeting important peer-group valuesnegatively label him a chump, a square, of freedom and inAlependerm. Accord-or a fool. If he does not, however,there ingly, from the perspective of the peerare few social sanctionsapplied, and lw group, any such male-femalerelationshipmay even be given points forhis stand, should be on the man's terms. Thus inwith his peers viewing him as fooling the coining to an understanding of the borsmother and "getting over," or avoiding relationship with the girl, his attitudesthe trick bag. But here there may also be towanl his limited financial ability andsome ambivalence, for there is acertain his need for personal imlependence andregard to be obtaimd by those of the freedom should not be underestimated. group who father children oat ofwedlock, Another important attitude of theas long as they are norcaught" andmade male peer group is that most girls arefmancially responsible to support a family whores: "If she was fucking you, then sheon something other than their own terms. was flicking everybodyelse." WhetherHence, the boy, in these circumstances, there is truth to this with respect to amay give, and benefit socially from,mixed particular case, a common working con-messages: one to the girl and perhaps the ception says it is true about young womenauthorities, amd another to his peer group. in general. It is a view with which so manyGenerally, to resolve his ambivalence and young men approach females,relegatingapprehension, the boy might at this point them to a situation of social and moralattempt to discontinue his relationship deficit. The proverbial double standard iswith the expectant mother, particularly , k, and for any amount of sexualas she begins to show clear physicalsigns tArti- women are more easily dis-of pregnancy. ,. ma the men. Upon giving birth, the young woman among the young men andwants badly to identify the father of her tni nert is a fair amount of sexualchild, if primarily at the insistence of her activity, in this nosphere, am-family and for her own peace of mind. biguity 0' paternity c,:plicsies manyWhen the baby is born, she may, out of pregnancies. Moreovet , in self-defense,desperation, arbitrarily designate a likely the young man often chooses to denyyoung man as the father. As mentioned, fatherhood; few are willing to "own up"there may be genuine ambiguity surround- tc, a pregnancy they can reasonably ques-ing the identity of the father. In this tion. Among their peers, the young menatmosphere, there are often charges and gain ready support. Peer-group normscountercharges, with the appointed young say that a man who is"tagged" withman usually easing himselffrom the fatherhood has been caught up in thepicture over time. There is at times an "trick bag." The boy's first desire, thoughincentive for the young woman not to he may know better, is often to attributeidentify the father even though slw and the pregnancy to someone else. the local community know whose baby it In these general circumstances, theis. Given that job prospects for young boy may be genuinely confused andblack men are so limited as to be effectively uncertain about his role in the pregnancy,nil, the woman may be better off denying feeling a great deal of ambivalence andthat she knows the father, for a check ;) 47*

SEX CODES AND FAMILY LIFE 67 from the welfare office is much more An important factor in determining dependable than the irregular supportwhether the boy does right by the girl is payments of a sporadica4 employedthe presence of the girl's father in tlw youth. home.3 When a couple first begins to To be sure, there are many young mendate, some fathers will "sit the boy down" who are determined to do right by theand have a ritual tang some single mothers young woman, to try out the role of hus-will play this role as well, at times more band and father, often acceding to theaggressively than fathers. Certain males woman's view of the matter and workingwith domineering dispositions will, "as a to establish a family. Such young menman," make unmistakable territorial tend to be those who are only marginallyclaim on the dwelling, informing or related to their peer groups. They tend toreminding the boy that "this is my house, emerge from nurturing families, andI pay the bills here," and that all activities religious observance plays an importantoccurring =ler its roof are his singular role in their lives. Strikingly, these menbusiness. In such a household, the home are usually gainfully employed and tend tohas a certain defense. At issue here enjoy a deep and abiding relationship withessentially are male turf rights, a principle the young woman that is able to withstandintuitively understood by the young suitor the trauma of youthful pregnancy. and the father of the girl. The boy may Barring such a resolution, a youngfeel a certain frustration due unfelt need man may rationalize his marital situationto balance his desire to run his game as something of a "trap" into which theagainst his fear of the girl's father. Yet, woman tricked him. This viewpoint maythe boy is often able to identify respectfully be seen as his attempt to make simul-with the father, thinking of how he taneous claims on values of the peerhimself might behave if the shoe were on group as well as those of the morethe other foot. conventional society. As another young Upon encountering each other, both man said in an interview: "know something," that is, they know that each has a position to defend, The My wife done that to me. Before we got young boy knows in advance of a preg- married, when we had our fust baby, slue thought, well, hey, if she had the baby, thennancy that he will have to answer to the she got me, you know. And that's the way she girl's father and the family unit more done me. [She] thought that's goo' trap me. generally. If the girl becomes pregnant, That I'm all hers after she done have this baby. the boy will be less likely to treat the So, a lot of women, they think like that. Now, situation summarily and leave her. Fur- I was the type of guy, if I know it was my baby, ther, if the girl has brothers at home who rm taking care of my baby. My °lady [wife], are her approximate age or older, they, she knowed that. She knowed that anythingtoo, may serve to influence the behavior that. was mim, rin taking care of mine. This is of the boy effectively. Such men, as well why she probably wouldn't mess around or as uncles and male cousins, possess not nothing, 'cause six wanted to lock me up. only a certain degree of moral amhority In general, however, persuading thein these circumstances but often the be- youth to become "an honest man" is notlievable threat of violence and mayhem in at all simple. It is often a very complicated social affair involving cajoling, social 3, See Williams and Kornblum, Growing sip pressure, and, at times, physical threats. Poor.

7 0 68 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY many cases.As one boy said in an ents scrutinize their children's friends and interview associates carefully, rejecting those who seem to be "no good" and encouraging The boys kinds watch theyself more [when a others who seem to be on their way to father is present]. Yeah, there's a lot of that "amount to something." going on. The daddy, they'll clown [act out In contrast, in those domestic situa- violence] about them young girls. They'll hurt somebody about they daughters. 00= rela- tions in which there is but one adultsay, tives, too. They'll all get into it. The boy know a woman with two or three teenage tIwy don't want him messing over they sister. daughters and with no male presence That guy will probably take care of that girl the dwelling may be viewed by young better than the average one out there in the boys, superficially at least, as essentially stieet. an unprotected nest. The local boyswill sometimes become attracted to the home In such circumstances, not only does the as a challenge, just to test it out, to seeif boy think twice about running his game, but the girl often thinks twice about they can "get over," or be successful in charming or seducing the women who allowing him to do so. A related important defense againstreside there. In such settings, a man, the youthful pregnancy is the conventional figure the boys are prepared to respect, is inner-city family unit. Two parents, to-not there to keep them in line. The girls pther with the extended network of residing in these unprotected situations cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, may become pregnant more quickly than nieces, and nephews, can form a durable those fiving in situations more closely resembling nuclear families. A young team, a viable supportive unit engaged to fight in a most committed rummer the male informant had the following various problems confronting so many comment: inner-city teenagers, including drugs, 1 done seen where four girls grow up under crime, pregnancy, and social mobility.4 their mama. The mama turn around and she This unit, when it does survive, tends to got a job between 3 p.m. and 11 p.m. These be equipped with a survivor's mentality. little kids, now they grow up like this. Mama It has weathered a good many storms, working 3 to 11 o'clock at night They kinds which have given it wisdom and a certain raise theyself. What they know? By the time strength. The parents are known in the they get 13 or 14, they trying everything under the sun. And they ain't got nobody to stop community as "strict" with their children; 'cm. Mama gone. Can't nobody else tell 'cm they impose curfews and tight supervi- what to do. Hey, all of 'em pregnant by age 16. sion, demanding to know their children's And they do it 'cause they wanta get out on whereabouts at all times. Determined they own. They then can get their own baby, that their children not become casualties they get their awn [welfare] check, they get of the inner-city environment, these par- their own apartment. They went to get away from mama. They really want to be grown. 4. See Schub, Coming up Black; Charles V. Willie and Janet Weinandy, "'De Stud= and As indicated in the foregoing state- Composition of 'Problem' and 'Stable' Families in a ment, a woman may have an overwhelm- Low-Income Population," in The Family life of ing desire to grow up, a passage best Black People. ed. Charles V. Willie (Columbus, expressed by her ability to "get out on her OH: Charles E. Merrill, 1970); Eugene Perkins, Home Is a Pretty Dirty Street (Chicago: Third own." In terms of traditional inner-city World Press, 1975). poverty experience, this means setting up

71 SEX CODES AND FAMILY LIFE 69 one's own household, preferabty with a The reality of pregnancy, howewn, is "good man" through marriar and family. often a bitter pill. As previously indicated, As indicated previously, some single as the girl begins to show signs of preg- young women may attempt to accomplish narwy, becoming physically bigger, she this by purposely becoming pregnant, often loses the connection with her mate, perhaps hoping du baby's father willalthough she may gain tlw affirmation marry kr and kip to realize her dreamand support of other women who have of domestic respectability. At the same followed the same path as slu. time, there are an undetermined number In their small, intimate social groups, of young women, unimpressed with the women discuss tlwir afternoon stories, or lot of young single men, who wish tosoap operas, men, children, and social establish their househokis on their own,life, =I they welcome prospective man- without the help or the burden of a man.5 bers to their gerwrally supportive gather- It has become increasingly socially accept- ings. Interestingly, although the women able for a young woman to have children tend to deride the men for their behavior, out of wedlocksignificantly, with theespecially their lack of commitment to help of a regular welfare check. their girlfriends, at the same time they Because the woman emerges from may accommodate such behavior, viewing such poor fmancial circumstances, the it as characteristic of men in their environ- prospect of a regular welfare check can ment. Yet, in their conversations, the seem like an improvement. In this way, women may draw distinctions between the social situation of persistent poverty "the nothin" and the "good man." The affects norms of the ghetto culture such nothin' is "a man who is out to use every as the high value placed on children, thus woman he can for himself. He's somethin' having a significant impact on decisions like a pimp. Don't care 'bout nobody but to bear children.6 Hence, among many himself." As one older single mother, young poor ghetto women, babies have who now considers herself wiser, said in become a sought-after symbol of status, an interview: of passage to adulthood, of being a I know the difference now between a nothin' "grown" woman. In such circumstances, and a good man. I can see. I can smell him. I babies can become valued emblems of can tell nothings from the real thingi can just womanhood. Moreover, it is not always a look at a guy sometimes, you know, the way question of whether the young girl is he dresses, you know. The way he carries going to have children, but when. Thus, himself. The way he acts, the way he talks. I given the young woman's limited social can tell the bullshitter. Like, you know, and financial outlook, she may see herself "What's up, baby?" You know. "What's you as having little to lose by becoming want to do?" A nice guy wouldn't say, *What's pregnant and, coinciding with the cul- up, baby? What's goin' on?" Actin' all familiar, turally reinforced peruption, as havingtryin' to give me that line. Saying, "You something to gain. wanna joint? You wan' some blow? You wan' some 'caine?" Hollerin' in the street, you 5. See the discussion of the male marriageabk know. I can tell 'em. I can just smell 'cm. pool in Wilson, Thdy Disadvantaged. The good man is one who is considerate 6. See Diane K. Lewis, "The Black Family: Socialization and Sex Roles," Phylon, 36221-37 of his mate and provides for her and her (1975); Warren Tenbouten, "The Black Family: children, but at the same time he may run Myth andReality," Psychiatry, 2:145-73 (1970). the risk of being seen as a pussy in the eyes

7,re 70 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY of the won= as well as his peer group. what to do." This is usually a time when This inversion in the idea cl the good other family members ist) through a learn- man underscores the ambivalent position ing process as tlxy become used to the of the girls squeezed bow= their middle- young woman% new status, which she class dreams and the ghetto reality. As tries on with a varkt3r of stops awl starts. Cnie WoMart said with a laugh, "There are In fact, she really is involved in the so many sides to the bad man. We see process of growing up. that, especially in this community. We see Frustrated by the continued curtail- MOM bad men than we do good. I see ment of her social activities, tspecially as them finner-city black girls] nmning over she becomes physically straight again, the that man if he's a wimp, ha-ha." girl may develop an intense desire to get Family support is often available for back into the dating game. Accordingly, the young pregnant woman, though mem- she may foist I= child-care responsi- bers of her family are likely to remind her bilities onto her mother and female sib- from time to time that she is "Mestcd up." lings, people who initially are eager to She looks forward to the day when she is take on stEh roles. In time, however, they "straight" again, meaning az time when tire, and otherwise extremely supportive she has given birth to the baby and has relations can become strained In an regaimd her figure. Her comments to effort to see her daughter get straight others who are not pregnant tend to again, the young woman% mother, often center wistfully on better days when she in her mid-thirties or early fortks, may was not messed up. As her boyfriend simply informally adopt the baby as stops seeing her so regularly, she may another one of her own, in some cases readily attribute this to the family's nega- completely usurping the role of mothei tive comments about the boy, but also to from her daughter. In this way, the young her pregnant state, saying time and again parent% mother may attempt to minimize that when "I get straight, he'll be sorry; the deviance the girl displayed by getting he'll be jealous then? She knows in a pregnant while simultaneously taking gen- sense that her pregnant status is devalued uine pride in her new grandchild. by her family as well as her single peers, who have the freedom to date and other- OF MEN AND WOMEN, wise consort with men. She may long for MOTHERS AND SONS the day when she will be able to do that The relationship between the young When the baby arrives, however, the man and woman undergoes a basic change girl fmds that her social activities continue during pregnancy; once the baby is born, to be significantly curtailed. She is often he or she draws in other social forces, surptised by how much time being a most notably the families of the couple. mother actually takes. In realizing her The role of the girl's family has been new identity, she may very consciously discussed. The role of the boy's family is assume the demeanor and manner of a also important, but in a different way. grown woman, emphasizing her freedom There is often a special bond between a in social relations, her independence. At mother and her grown son in the commu- times, during what is really a period of nity that effectively competes with the adjust= it to a new status, she has to set claims of his girlfriend. The way in which her mother straight about "telling me this situation is resolved has important

7 3 SEX CODES AND FAMILY UFE 71 consequences for the family and its rela- their roles part-time. These consideintions tionship to the social structure of the help to place in some context the signifi- community. cance of tin mother% role in determining In numinous cases of teenage preg- how successful the girl will be in having nancy among the poor, the moil= of the the boy claim and take some responsibility boy plays a Agnificant role, while the role for lur child. of the father, if he is pivsent at all, is often For in this role, the mother is usually understated. Depending on the personal- constrained, at least initially, because she ity a the woman, her gactkal experience is often unsure whether I= sou has in such matters, and the girl's family actually fathered the child. She may, situation, the mother's role may be under- however, be careful about showing her stated or explicit. At times she becomes doubt, thinking that when the baby ar- quite involved with Ahe young woman, rives, she will be able to tell "in a minute" forming a fenule bond that becomes whether her son is the father. Thus during truly motherly, involving guidance, pro- the pregnancy, the mother of the young tection, and control of the young wonan. man nervously waits, wondering whether From the moment the mother finds her son will be blamed for a pregnancy out that the young woman is pregnant, an not of his doing or whether she will really important issue is whether she knows the be a grandmother. In fact, the whole girl or not. If the young woman "means family, both the boy's and the girl's, is something" to her son, she is likely to often an extended family-in-waiting, know her or at least know about her; her socially organized around the idea that son has spoken of the girl. On hearing the the "truth" will be told when the baby news (4 the prepancy, the motiwr's arrives. Unless the parties are very sure, reaction might be anything from disbelief marriage, if agreed to at all, may be held that her son could be responsible to off until after the birth of the baby. certainty, even before seeing the child, When the baby arrives, real plans may that her son is the father. If she knows be carried out, but often on the condition something about the girl's character, she that the child passes familial inspection. is in a position to make a judgment for The young man himself, the presumed herself. Here her relationship with the girl father, generally lays low in the weeks before *all this" happened comeg into after the baby's birth. He usually does not play, for if she liked her, there great visit the baby's mother in tlw hospital on chance the boy's mother will side with a regular basis; he may come only once, if her. The mother may even go so far as to at all. In an effort to make a paternal engage in playful collusion against her connection between the child and father, son, a man, to get him to do right by the some mothers name the baby after the girl. Here, it must be remembered that in father, but, by itself, this strategy is this economically circumscribed social seldom effective. context, particularly from a woman's In a number of cases of doubtful point of view, many men are known not paternity, the boy's mother, sister, aunt, to do right by their women and children. or other female relatives or close family To visit such inner-city settings is to friends may form informal visiting com- observe what appears to be a proliferation mittees, charged with going to see the of small children and women, with fathers baby, although sometimes the baby is and husbands largely absent or playing brought to them. This kind of familial

74 72 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY inspection is often surreptitious and usu-child and approach the attendant re- ally takes place without the acknowledg-sponsibilities. This may take a year or ment of the girl es' her own family. Themore, as the resemblance may not be visiting committee may even go by theinitially so apparent. But when others girl% house in shifts, with a sister goingbegin to make comments such as, "Lir now, the mother another time, and aTommy look like Maurice just spit him friend still another. Social pleasantriesout [is his spitting image]," the boy's notwithstanding, the object is always themother may informally adopt the child se= to see if the baby "belongs" to theinto her =taxied family Nal signal for all bey it is said to. 'PRically, after suchother family members to do the same. visits, these women will compare notes,She may see the child on a regular basis commenting on the baby's featuns, sayingand develop a special relationship with whom the baby favors. Some will blurtthe chiWs mother. Because of the social right out, *Ain't no way that's John'sacknowledgment by the boy's mother of baby." People may disagree, and a disputeher son's paternity, the boy himself is may ensue. In tlw community, the klentitybound to accept the child as his own. of the baby's father becomes a hot topic Even if he does not claim the child legally, of conversation. The viewpoints havein the face of the evidetsze Ix will often much to do with who the girl is, whetherclaim the child in the serum of "having she is a "good girl" or "bat girl" orsonwthing to do with him." As one whether she has been accepted and takeninformant said: in by the boy's family. If the girl is well integrated into the family, doubts aboutIf the baby look just like him, he should admit to hisself that that's his. Some guys have to paternity may even be slowly put to rest wait the baby grow up a little to see if the with nothing more being said about it. baby gon' look like him 'fore they finally As previously indicated, the word carry-realize that was his's. Because youts should ing the most weight in this situation,look like you, you know, should have your however, is often that of the boy's mother.features and image. The following account of a young man is relevant: Here the young man informally iwknowl- edging paternity may feel that pressure to I had a lady telling me that she had to check"take care of his own." out a baby that was supposed to be her But due to his limited employment and grandbaby. She said she had a young girl that was tying to put a baby on her son, so she saidgeneral lack of money, he "can only do she focing to take the baby and see what bloodwhat he can" for his child. In such type the baby is to match it with her son to seecircumstances, many young men will if he the daddy. 'Cause she said she know heenact the role of the part-time father. In wasn't the daddy. And she told the girl that,self-consciously attempting to fulfill this but the &I was steady trying to stick the baby role, the young man may be spied on on her son. She had checked out the baby'sstreets of the inner-city community with a features and everything. She knowed that thebox of "Pampers," the name used as a blood type wasn't gon' match or nothing. So,generic term to refer to all disposable the young girl just left 'cm alone. diapers, or cans of Similac, liquid baby If the child very clearly physicallyformula, in his arms, on his way to see his favors the alleged father, there may bechild and its mother. As the child ages, a strong pressure for the boy to claim thebond may develop, as the young man 75 SEX CODES AND FAMILY LIFE 73 may take dm child, if it is a boy, for aMost important is that there be no am- haircut or shopping for shoes or clothes. biguity in the group members' own minds He may give the woman token amountsas to the baby's father. This is established of money. Such support symbolizes aon the basis of tlw baby's features. When father providing for his child. In fact,it is clear that the baby resembles a peer- however, the support often comes onlygroup member, the others may strongly sporadically and, importantly, in ex- urge him to claim it and go on to help the clump for the woman's favors, be theymother financially. lithe young man fails social or sexual. The woman's supportto claim the blby, group members may may thus depend upon the largess of thedo it thernsehtes publicly associating young man and may function as a means hiin with the child, at times teasing him of her control. about his connection with the mother When and if the woman "gets papers"and his failure "to take care of what is on the man, or legalizes his relationshiphis." As one informant said: to the child, she may sue for regular support, what people of the communityMy partner's [friend's] girlfriend came up call "going downtown on him." If her pregnant. And she say it's his, but he not sure. case is successful, the young man's per- He waitin' on the baby, waitin' to see if the baby look like him. I tell him, "Man, if that sonal involvement in the maldng of sup- baby look just like you, then it was yours! port payments to the child may be elim- Ha-ha." He just kimla like just waitin'. He inated: his child support payments mayain't claimin' naw, saying t;ie baby ain't his. I be simply deducted from his salary, if hekeep tellin' hint, "If that baby come out has one. Sometimes the incentive forlooking just like you, then it gon be yours, getting papers may emerge in the young partner." And there [on the corner] all of 'em woman's mind when and if the young will tell him, "Man, that's yo' baby." They'll man obtains a "good job," particularly tell him. one with a major institution that includes family benefits. While sporadically em- While the peer group may urge its ployed, the youth may have had no members to take care of their babies, they probkm with papers, but wlwn he obtains stop short of urging them to marry the a good job, he may be served with amothers. In general, young men are as- summons. In some cases, particularly ifsumed not to care about raising a family the young man has two or three children or being a part of one. Some of this lack out of wedlock by two or three different of support for marriage is due to the poor women, young men lose the incentive toemployment prospects, but it also may work at such good jobs when to do sohave to do with the general distrust only ensures that much of their pay will they have of women. As my informant go to someone else. In the case of one of continued: my informants, after the mothers of his four children rot papers on him and he They don't even trust her that they were the only one she was dealing with. That's a lot of began to see less and less of his money, he it. But the boys just be gettin' away from it [the quit his job and returned to the street value of a family] a whole lot. They don't want corner. to get tied down by rand& about playing There are conditions under which the house, ha-ha, what they call it nowadays, ha- male peer group will exert pressure on ha. Yeah, ha-ha, they saying they ain't playing one of its members to admit paternity. house. 7 6 74 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

In a great number of cases, peer group seeing and even less to say about their or no, the boy will send the girl on her mak frenuls. The young man has grown way even if she is carrying a baby beaccustomed to the good home-cooked knows is his own. The young man very meals, the secure company of his family often lacks a deep feeling for a female and in which his father was largely absent and children as a family unit. He often doesthus unable to tell him what to do. He not want to put up with married life,was his own boss, essentially raising which he sees as life with a woman who himself, with the help ci his peer group will have something to say about how he and perhaps any adult who would listen spends his time. This emphasis on "free- but not interfere. Many of tlw young men dom" is generated and supported in larp have very fond memorks of the situation part by the peer group itself. Even if ain which they grew up. For an utak- man agrees to marriage, itis usually terinimd number, such a life is too much considered to be only a trial. After a few to give up in exchange for the "problems month, many young husbands have had of being tied down to one lady, kids, bills, enough. aml all that." In this sense, the young This desire for freedom, which theman% home situation with his mother peer group so successfully nurtures, is competes quite effectively with tin house- deeply rooted in the boys. It is, in fact, hold he envisions with a woman whom he often nothing less than the desire todoes not fully trust and whom his peer perpetuate the situation they had in theirgroup is fully prepared to discredit mothers' homes. A son is generally well Now that he is grown, the young Man bonded to his mother, something thewants what he had growing up plus a mother tends to encourage from birth. It number of ladies on the side. At the same may beat sons, particularly the eldest, time, he wants his male friends, whom he are groomed in this way to function as is required to impress in ways that may be surrogate husbands because of the com-inconsistent with being a good family monly high rate of family dissolutionman. As the young men from the start among poor blacks.7 have little faith in marriage, little things With respect to family life, so many can inspire them to retreat to their moth- young boys really want what they consider ers or other families they may have left an optimal social situation. In the words behind. Some men spend their time going le of peer-group members, they want it all: back and forth between two families; if they want a "main squeeze," or a steadytheir marriage seems not to be working, and reliable female partner who mimicsthey may easily ditch it and their wife, the role played by their mothers in their although perhaps keeping up with the original families, a woman who will cook, children. At all times, they must show clean, and generally serve them with few others that they run the family, that they questions about the "ladies" they may be "wear the pants." This is the cause of many of the domestic fights in the ghetto. 7. See Schulz,Coming if Black;Jerold Heiss,When there is a question of authority, the 77teCase of the Black Family(NewYork: Columbia domestic situation may run into serious University Press. 1975); Perkins,Home is a Pretty trouble, often resulting in the young Dirty Street;Garth L. Mangum and Stephen F. Seninger, "Ghetto Life Styles and Youth Employ- man's abandoning the idea of marriage ment," inComing of Age in the Ghetto(Baltimore, or of "dealing" with only one woman. To MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978). "hook up" with a to marry her, is

'7 7 SEX CODES AND FAMILY LIFE 75 to give her license to have something tocertain control and say in tlx domestic say about what "you're doing, or wheresituation. Without money or jobs, many you're going, or where you hem" Formen are increasingly unable to "play many young men, such involvement on house" to their own satisfaction. It is the woman's part is simply unacceptable.much easier and more fun, some say, to In endeavoring to have it ail, manystay home and "take care of mama," men become, in Wag, part-time fatherswhen taking care consists of "giving her and part-time husbsixls, seeing womensome change for room and board," eat6ig and dutch= on their own terms, whengood food when possible, and being able they have the time, and making symbolic"to come as I want to and to go as I purdiases for the children. In theory, theplease." Given the present state of the part-time father is able to retain hiseconomy and the way in which the freedom while having limited commit-economy affects the employment situation ment to the woman and the little onesof young black men, such an assessment *calling me daddy." In many instances,of their domestic outlook appeana in the man does not mind putting up withmany respects adaptive. The peer group, the children, given his generally limitedlargely with poor employmem prospects, role in child rearing, but he does mindhas nurtured and supported the idea of putting up with the woman, who is seenfreedom and indepemlence from family as a significant threat to his freedom., aslife, in which one would have to face bills someone with a say in how he runs hisand a woman having a say in one's life. As one informant commented about affairs. From an economic and social marriage: standpoint, it seems very attractive for the young man to stay home with mama, Naw, they [young men] getting away from that. They ain't going in tor that 'cause they to maintain his freedom, and to have a want to be free. Now, see, I ended up getting string of ladies, some of whom contribute married. I got a whole lot of boys duckingto his financial support. that. Unless this is managed, it ain't no good. My wife deana, takes care o' the house. You got a lot of guys, they don't want to be elvanin' CONCLUSION: SEX, POVERTY, no house, and do the things you got to do in AND FAMILY LIFE the house. You need a girl there to do it. If you In conclusion, the basic factors at get one, she'll slow you down. The guys don't work here are youth, ignorance, the want it receptivity of the culture to babies, and Unless a man would be able to handle his the young male's resort to proving his wife so that she would put few constraints manhood through sexual conquests that on him, he may reason that he had betteroften result in pregnancies. These factors stay away from marriage. But as indicated are exacerbated by the impact of present earlier, with a generalized sense of increas- economic conditions and persistent pov- ing independence from men, financial erty on the inner-city community. and other, there may be fewer women In the present hard economic times, a who allow themselves to be so handled. primary concern of many inner-city resi- M jobs become increasingly scarce for dents is to get along financially as best young black men, their roles as bread- they can. In the poorest communities, the winners and traditional husbands decline. primary sources of money include low- The notion is that with money comes a paying jobs, crime, including drugs, and 76 76 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY public assistance. Some of the most des-Their bodies are mantle, but they are perate people devise a variety of con-emotionally immature. These girls and fidence gams, the object of which is toboys often do not have a very clear notion separate others from their money. Aof the long-term consequences ri their number of men, married and single, behavior, and they have few trustworthy incorporate their sexual lives into theirrole models who might instruct them. more pneralired efforts at economic The basic sexual cocks of inner-city survival. Many will seek to "pull" ayouths may not differ fundamentally woman with children on welfare mainlyfrom thcwe expressed by young peotie of because she usually has a special need for other social settings. But tlu social, e4:0- male company, time on her hands, and anomic, and personal consequences of steady hum= As they work to establishadolescent sexual conduct vary pro- their relationships, they play roles not foundly for different social classes. Like unlike the roles played in the young adolescents of ails:lasses, inntw-city youths male's ganw to get over sexually with aare subject to intense, hard-to-control female. There is simply a more clearurges and impulsiveness. Sexual relations, economic nexus in many of these cases,exploitative and otherwise, are common for when the woman receives her check among middle.class teenagers as well, but from the welfare department or money middle-class youths take a strong interest from other sources, she may find herselfin their future and know what a pregnaiwy giving up a part of it just to obtain orcan do to derail that future. In contrast, retain male company and interest. the ghetto adolescent sees no future to Tlw economic noose constricting soderail, no hope for a tomorrow very much of ghetto life encourages both mendifferent from today, hence, little to lose and women to attempt to extract maxi-by having an out-of-wedlock child. mum personal benefit from sexual relation- Another difference between middle- ships. The dreams of the middle-class life-class and poor youths is their level of styk nurtured by young inner-city womenpractical education. The ignorance of become thwarted in the face of the harsh inner-city girls about their bodies is star- socioeconomic realities of the ghetto. tling to the middle-class observer. Many Young men without job prospe-ts clinghave only an abstract notion of where to the support offered by their peerbabies come from and generally know groups and their mothers and shy fromnothing about birth control until after the lasting relationships with girlfriends. Inbirth of their first child, and sometimes this situation, girls and boys alike scram- not even then. Parents in this culture are ble to take what they can from eachextremely reticent about discussing sex other, trusting not in each other but oftenand birth control with their children. in their own ability to trick the other intoMany mothers are ashamed to "talk giving them something that will establishabout it" or feel they art in no position to or perpetuate their version of the good do so, as they behaved like their daughters life, the best life they feel they can putwhen they were young. Education thus together for themselves in the inner-citybecomes a community health problem, social environment. but most girls come in contact with It is important to remember the age ofcommunity health services only when the people we are talking about; these arethey become pregnant, sometimes many kidsmainly 15, 16, and 17 years old.months into their pregnancies. 7 9 SEX CODES AND FAMILY LIFE 77

Many won= in the underclass blackthus prove tluir manhood in other ways. culture emerge from a fundamentalistCasual sex with as many women as religious orientation and practice a pro-possible, impregnating one or more, and life philoso0y. Abortion is theieforegetting them to "have your baby" brings a usually not an option.8 New life is some-boy the ultimate in esteem from his peers times characterized as a "heavenly gift,"and makes him a "man." Casual sex is an infant is very sacred to tlw young therefore not so casual but is fraught with women, and the extended inner-city familysocial significance for the boy who has appears always able to make do somehowlittle or no hope of achieving financial with another baby. In the community, astability and so can have no sense of birth is usually met with great praise,himself as caring for a family. regardless of its circumstances, and the The meshing of time forces can be child is genuinely valued. Such ready clearly seen. Adolescents, trapped in pov- social approval works against many ef-erty, ignorant of the knkg-term conse- forts to avoid an out-of-wedlock birth. quences of their behavior but aware of In fact, in cold economie terms, a babythe immediate benefits, engage in a mating can be an asset. The severe economicgame. The girl has her dream of a family situation in the inner city is without aand a home, of a good man who will doubt the single most important factorprovide for her and her future children. behind exploitative sex and out-of-wed-The boy, knowing he cannot be that lock babies. With the dearth of well-family man because he has no job and no paying jobs, public assistance is one ofprospects yet needing to have sex with the the few reliable sources of money in thegirl in order to achieve manhood in the community, and, for many, drugs iseyes of his peer group, pretends to be the another. The most desperate people thusgood man and convinces her to give him feed on one another. In these circum-sex and perhaps a baby. He may then stances, babies and sex are used by someabandon her, and she realizes that he was for income; women receive money fromnot the good man after all, but a nothing welfare for having babies, and men some-out to exploit Ixr. The boy has received times act as prostitutes to pry the moneywhat he wanted, but the girl learns that from the women. The community seemsshe has received something, too. The to feed on itself. baby may enable her to receive a certain The lack of gainful employment oppor-amount of praise, a steady welfare check, tunities not only keeps the entire com-and a measure of independence. Her munity in a pit of poverty, but it alsofamily often helps out as best they can. As deprives young men of the tree'one'she becomes older and wiser, she can use American way of proving their mamood,her income to turn the tables, attracting namely, supporting a family. They mustthe interest o: her original man or other men. S. See William Gibson. "The Question of Legiti- In this inner-city culture, people gen- macy," inFamily Lffe and Morality (Lanham,MD: erally get married for "love" and "to have University Press of America, 1980), pp. 41-54; idem. something." This mind-set presupposes a *The Alleged Weakness in the Black Family Struc- job, the work ethic, and, perhaps most of ture," in ibid., pp. 55-73; Hallowell Pope, "Negro- White Differences in Decisions Regarding Illegit- all, a persistent sense of hope for, if not a imate Children,"journal of Marriage and themodicum of belief in, an economic future. Family.31:756-64 (1969). When these social factors are present, the c'tu 78 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY mon wretched elements of the portrait smb of persistent urbanpotaly and presented here begin to lose their force, becomeunwedmothemandfathersMere slowly becoming neutralized. But for sois little hope for a good job aml even less many of those who are caught up in the for a future of conventional family life. ANNALS, AA PSS, 501, January 1989

Employment and Marriageamong Inner-City Fathers

By MARK TESTA, NAN MARIE ASTONE, MARILYN KROGH, and KATHRYN M. NECKERMAN

ABSTRACT: This artick uses data from the Urban Poverty and Family

Structure Survey of inner-city residents in 4 le' to examine the effect of employment on the likelihood that single f. .Our results show that employed fathers are twice as likely as nonemp -fathers to marry the motler of their first child. These resultsrun con r'.to Charles Murray's argument that was= discourages employed, low-imome men frommarry- ing. They are consistent with William Julius Wilson's hypothesis that therise in mak joblessness is linked fo the rise in never-married parenthoodin the inner city. Our analysis also shows that couplesare more likely to many when the woman is a high school graduate. In this population, the enhanced earnings potential of a woman increases, not decreases, the likehloodof marriage. This result is inconsistent with the hypothesis thatthe closer a woman's earrings potential is to a man's, the less likely the couple isto marry. Neither empayment nor education fully accounts for the racialand ethnic differences we observe in the marriage rates of fathers in inner-cityChicago.

Mark Testa, Ph.D. in sociology, is an assistant professor in the Schoolof Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. Nan Marie Astone, Ph.D. in sociology, ita postdoctoralfellow at the Instinae on Aging and the Center for Demography and Ecology at the University ofWisconsin at Madison. Marilyrt Krogh Isa Ph.D. student in the Socblogy Departmentat the University ofChicago. Kathryn M. Nerkerman is a Ph.D. student in the Sociology Departmentat the University of Chicago.

NOTE: Ftnancial support is gratefully acknowledged from the Ford Foundation,the Carnegie Corporation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Institutefor Rematch on Poverty, the Jen= Foundation, the Lloyd A. Fty Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation,the Spencer Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, and the Woods Charitable Fund. Supportwas provided to Nan Astone by the National Institute for Aging under grantno. AGC1129-01

79 80 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

SINGLE-MOTHER families are residents. We examine the influence of among the most economically vuhier- economic variables and race or ethnicity able groups in the United States. They are on whether men legitimatepremaritally more likely than other families to be conceived births or marry the mother of poor, to be depoglent on welfare, and to their first child after the child's birth. live in inner-city neighborhoods. Their Following a review of the literature, we numbers have grown dramatically duringdescribe our data, dependent variables, the past two decades. Concern over the and sample-wlection effects. Next, we association between poverty and family describe the statistical models and meth- structure has led policymakers and re- ods used in our analysis, and then report searchers to examine the economic and the findings. Our discussion draws out social changes related to the growth in the the implications of these fmdings for number of single-mother families. several recent theories of poverty and Of course, for every child of a single family formation and suggests directions mother there is also a father. Yet we for future analyses. know little about the factors leading to single fatherhood in the inner city. A lack LITERATURE REVIEW of appropriate data has hampered our Ethnic variation in levels of single understanding in several ways. First, there parenthood has become a central issue in is little detailed fertility and marital data most discussions of the underclass. Even about men. Consequently, fathers are though the percentage of mother-only often left out of analyses of on-parent families has risen as sharply for whites as families. Second, researchers often lack for blacks, there are significant racial sufficient numbers of respondents for differences both in the absolute levels and whom parenthood precedes marriage. in the processes of becoming single par- This leads to their focusing on marital ents. Most whites become single parents separation and divorcethe more typical through marital breakup, while most middle-class experiencerather than on blacks become single parents by having the decisions leading to an out-of-wedlock children before they marry.' In 1985, for birth. Third, proportionately fewer whites example, 60 percent of black births were than blacks have low incomes anti live in poor neighborhoods. As a result, it is to unmarried mothers compared to 15 percent of white births.2 Most of these difficult to distinguish the effects of race out-of-wedlock births were to never-mar- from those of class or neighborhood. Fourth, although Hispanics are a sig- rikAl mothers. nificant and growing presence in the Blacks are more likely than whites to become never-married parents for several inner city, surveys rarely sample Hispanics reasons. Among them are a younger age by national origin. Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and other Hispanic groups are 1. Irwin Garfinkel and Sara S. McLanahan, lumped together even though their experi- Singk Mothers and Their Children: A New Ameri- ences and characteristics are distinctive. can Dilemma (Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press, 1986). Our purpme in this article is to redress 2. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of these gaps in research on single fathers by the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United examining the fertility and marital experi- Slates: 1988 (Washington, DC: Government Print- ences of a sample of inner-city Chicago ing Office, 1987).

e.;3 EMPLOYMENT AND MARRIAGE 81 at sexual initiation,3 lower levels of contra- that since the mid-1960s, when the Great ceptive use," and lower rates of legitima- Society welfare policies were instituted, tion.' Blacks are also less likely thanlow-income parents have intentionally whites to marry after *Ix child's birth.6 avoided marriage so that the mother Although some attention has beencould continue to collect Aid to Families paid to cultural differences,lexplanationswith Dependent Children even if the for racial disparities in marriage tend tofather were employed. As long as the emphasize economic variables." Research- couple lives together without marriage, en have focused on three key factors:the wage earnings of the father are not welfare, the joblessness of males, and theincluded in the calculation of the family's economic independence of women. eligibility for Aid to Families with De- Charles Murray's book,Losing Growid pendent Children. Thus in the absence of contends that the proportion of out-of-vigorous paternity determination and wedlock births has risen because welfare child support enforcement, the rational rewards low-income parents for avoidingchoice for a low-income couple is to live marriage.' Arguing within a "rationaltogether unmarried. choice" framework, he asserts that low- InThe Duly Dkusdvantage4William income parents have abandowd the tradi-Julius Wilson dismisses Murray's argu- tional norms of family formation in orderment as inconsistent with welfare and to maximize their joint income underillegitimacy trends after 1972.10 Instead, existing welfare eligibility rules. He argues he argues that recent trends and racial differences in levels of never-married 3. Sandra L Hofferth, Joan R. Kahn, and parenthood reflect more traditional con- Wendy Baldwin, "Premarital Sexual Activity among U.S. Teenage Women over the Past Three Dec- cerns over whether a potential husband ades," Family flaming Pmpectives, 19(2):46-53 can provide a steady income. If the father (1987). is stably employed, Wilson argues, then a 4. Christine A. Bachrach,"Contraceptive Prac- couple with a child or expecting a child tice among American Women, 1973-1982," Family view marriage as financially viable; other- Planning Perspectiws, 16(6):253-59 (1978). wise, they are likely to remain unmarried. 5. Martin O'Connell and Maurice J. Moore, "The Lettimaey Status of First Births to U.S. According to figures compiled by Wil- Women Aged 15-24, 1939-1978," Family Planning son and Neckerman, black women face a Perspectives, 12(1):16-25 (1980). shrinking pool of stably employed, or 6. Martin O'Connell and Carolyn C. Rogers. "marriageable," t " Trends in jobless- "Out-of-Wedlock Births, Premarital Pregnancies ness, incarceraticn, and mortality show and Their Effect on Family Formation and Dissolu- tion," Family Plannim Perspectives, 16(41:157-62 that the number of employed black men (1984). per 100 black women of the same age has 7. Nicholas Lemann, "The Origins of the decreased over the past twenty years. Underclass," Atlantic Mom*, 257:31-61 (1986). Trends in employment and family struc- 8. Charles Murray, Losing Ground:American Social Policy, 1950-1980 (New 'fork: Basic Books, 10. Wilson, Truly I)Lsadvantaged.

1984); William Julius Wilsor, The Thily Disad- 11. William Julius Wilson and Kathryn M. vantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Neckerman, "Poverty and Family Structure: The Public Policy (Chicago: University of Chicago Widening Gap between Evidence and Public Policy Press, 1987): Reynolds Farley, "After the Starting Issues," in Fighting Poverty: What Works and Line: Blacks and Women in an Uphill Race," What Doesn't, ed. Sheldon H. Danziger and Daniel Demography, 25(41: 477-495 (1988). H. Weinberg (Cambridge, M A: Harvard University 9. Murray, Losing Ground. Press, 1986). 82 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY ture, they argue, support the hypothesisboom, however, ended in the 1970s. that the rise of twver-married parent-Consequently, black women who have hood among blacks is directly related toreached marriageable age in the 1980s increasing black male jobkaness. Fur-have faced a larger pool of prospective ther, indirect empirical support for anhusbands than did their predecessors of economic argument can be found in botha decade ago. historical and demographic research. His- Because this marriage squeeze ended torically, out-of-wedlock births becomein the 1970s, Reynolds Farley disputa more common during periods of eco-that the rise in black single-moth= fam- nomic dislocation.12 Demographers alsoilies is linked to a shortage of black men report that unfavorable economic condi-for black women to many.16 He also cites tions lead to marital delay13 anti that highthe rising rates of never-married parent- unemployment and low wages are associ-hood among more educated blacks to ated at the aggregate level with the in-question the importance of male jobless- cidence of singht-parent families.14 ness as the key determinant of family In some respects, Wilson and Necker-structure among blacks. man's male-marriageable-pool hypothesis Instead, Farley suggests, tlw narrowing resembles the demographic hypothesis ofearnings differential between men and the marriage squeeze. This hypothesiswomen opens up alternative familylife- links variation in women's marital be-styles to all women by lessening their havior to sex-ratio imbat nces caused bydependence on marriage for economic changes in birthrates. 1 !cause womensupport. Because black women are ap- tend to marry slightly older men, increasesproaching economic parity with black in the birthrate create larger cohorts ofmen far more rapidly than white women younger women who are attempting toare approaching parity with white men, find spouses among smaller cohorts ofFarley reasons that trends toward never- older men. 15 The marriage squeeze result-married parenthood should be more pro- ing from the post-World War II babynounced among blacks than whites. If white women continue to approach eco- 12. Cissie Fairchilds. "Female Sexual Attitudes nomic parity with white men, he suggests, and the Rise of Illegitimacy." Journal of Socialthe trends in family structure that we Ifittory, 8(4):627-67 (1978); Louise A. Tilly and observe among blacks may be leading Joan W. Scott, Women. Work, and Family (New indicators of what may happen among York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1978). whites in the near future. 13. Richard Fasterlin, Birt ht and Fortune (New York: Basic Books, 1980). Whether trends in never-married par- 14. See Sara McLanahan, Invin Garfinkel, and enthood are being driven by greater Dorothy Watson, -Family Structure. Poverty. and economic parity between the genders, the U nderclass" (Paper prepared for the Committee male joblessness, welfare incentives, or a on National Urban Policy of thc National Research mixture of economic and cultural factors Council, Washington, DC. 1986). for an overview of these studies. Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr., Un- has important implications for the develop- planned Parenthood, the Social Consequences of ment of policies to deal with the problems Teenage Childbearing (New York: Fire Press, of persistent family poverty. Yet for the 1976), is one of the few individual-level studies of reasons mentioned earlier, veryfew the effect of economic stat us on entry into marriage. studies have used individual-level data to 15. Noreen Goldman, Charles F. Westoff, and Charles Hammerslough, "Demography of the Mar- examine the impact of economic status riage Market in the United States." Population Index, SD(' ;.:5-25 (1984). 16, Farley, "After the starting Line." 5 EMPLOYMENT AND MARRIAGE 83 on whether a father marries the mother of was dated as seven months before the his child. birth of the child. The data show substan- tial racial or ethnic differences in the DATA percentage of men who fathered their first child aftku. marriap. While 22 percent Data for our analysis come from the of black fathers and 42 percent of Puerto Urban Poverty and Family Structure Rican fathers conceived their first child (UFFS) Survey of 2490 inner-city resi- after marriage, 64 percent of the Mexicans dents in Chicago. The UPFS Survey was and 62 percent of the non-Hispanic whites developed under the direction of William did. The= are also group differences in Julius Wilson and fielded by NORC, a the legitimation of fust births. Both Puerto social science research center. It contains Ricans and blacks were less likely than extensive retrospective data on fertility, Mexicans to marry the mother of their marriage, and employment for parents 18 first child between the time of conception to 44 years old who lived in Chicago and the child's birth. The figures in the poverty tracts in 1986. A poverty tract is second to last column of Table I show defined as a census tract in which 20 that about 8 percent of black and Puerto percent or more of the residents enu- Rican premaritally conceived births were merated in the 1980 census had family legitimated, compared to about a third of incomes b,tlow the federal poverty line. Mexican and non-Hispanic white pre- At last census count, 1,283,000 persons, maritally conceived births. or 40 percent of the Chicago population, Most studies of never-married parent- resided in poverty tracts. hood end at this pointan out-of-wedlock The sample was stratified by parental birth. With our data, however, we can status and raee or ethnicity. There were consider whether unwed parents even- 784 completed interviews with fathers, tually marry each other after the child's 1506 interviews with mothers, and 190 birth. The estimates in Table 2 show the interviews with a subsample of blacks cumulative proportion of fathers who without children. The overall survey com- married the mother of their first child by pletion rate was 79 percent, which com- that child's first, second, and third birth- pares favorably to completion rates for day. The percentage "censored" refers to other surveys of similar populations. The the proportion of fathers who were still highest completion rate was for black single at the date of the survey or had parents, 83 percent; followed by black married other women. nonparents, 78 percent; Mexican par- The group differences in postpartum ents, 78 percent; Puerto Rican parents, marriage parallel those observed for legiti- 75 percent; and non-Hispanic white par- mation. Both Puerto Rican and black ents, 74 percent. single fathers were much less likely than Mexican and non-Hispanic white single fathers to marry the mother of their first Dependent variables: Legitimation child. By the child's third birtiiday, about and postpartwn marriages 20 percent of the Puerto Ricans and Table I shows the percentage of fathers blacks had married the mother, compared in our sample whose first child was to 43 percent of Mexicans and 60 percent conceived after marriage, conceived be- of non-Hispanic whites. The cumulative fore marriage and legitimated, or born effect of ethnic differences in the prob- out of wedlock. The time of conception abilities of marriage before parenthood, 6 ACADEMY 84 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN

TABLE 1 FIRST BIRTHS BY ETHNICITY AND MARITALSTATUS OF FATHER AT CONCEPTION AND BIRTH

Conceive0 before Mer nage

Conceived Married Smgle Tow Births Legitimati &TOT Marriage at birth at birth (percentage) Percentage Odds' Etetntett V Number Percentage lbeccentege) lbercernage) 71.9 9 4 0,092 Steck 290 100.0 21.5 6.6 12.1 23.9 33 ti 0.506 Mexican 216 100.0 64.0 4.4 53.5 7 6 0.082 Puerto Rican 137 100.0 42.1 23.9 371 0.607 Non.H pm:avow white 123 100.0 61.6 14.5

SOURCE: Urban Poverty and Family Structure Survey, 1986. NOTE: Fathers were aged 18-44 and lived in Chicago povertytracts, 1986. Percentages calcu- lated from weighted sample. 'Legitimation oddsmarried at birthsingle at birth.

TABLE 2 CUMULATIVE PERCENTAGE OF FATHERSMARRYING MOTHER OF FIRST CHILD AT SELECTED AGES OF THECHILD

Cumulative Percentage of Father5 Pr emarital Ma rryi ng Mothers When Child Is Aged Births Censored' (percentage) Ethnicity (number ) 6 months12 months 24months 36 months 23.1 69,0 -Black 206 5.8 8.8 17.8 43.4 43.1 Mexican 51 9 8 17.7 26 9 20 4 68.2 Puerto Rican 66 5.3 8.4 14 9 34.5 Non.Hispanic white 29 21 3 41.9 54.2 60.2 SOURCE: Urban Poverty and Family Structure Survey, 1986. NOTE: Fathers were aged 18-44 arid lived in Chicago poverty tracts,1986. Fathers still not married at date of surveyandfathers who married other than the mother of the first child.

during pregnancy, and after the child'sis more economically homogeneous than birth is such that by age 3, an estimateda sample of the entirepopulation; most one-half, or 54 percent: of the first childrenpoverty-area residents are low-income if born to black fathers in Chicago povertynot poor. Therefore, any race orethnic tracts had parents who had never beendifferences in family structure that are married to one another, comnated to anrelated to class are attenuated in our data. estimated 42 percent of Puerto Ricans, 13 In order to set how restricted the race percent of Mexicans, and under 10 per-or ethnic differences might be, we com- cent of non-Hispanic whites. pared UPFS Survey statistics on the legitimacy status of first children born Sample-selection effects between 1960 and 1981 to similar statistics computed from the June 1980 and June The race and ethnic differences in1982 Current Population Surveys.17 In marriage that we observe in a poverty-the Current Population Surveys, 10 per- tract population are smaller than thosein

the general population. These differences 17.O'Connell and Rogers. "Out-of-Wodlook are smaller because a poverty-traatsample Births." EMPLOYMENT AND MARRIAGE 85 cent of white infants and 50 percent ofeffect on the probability of legitimating black infants were born out of wedlock. a premarital pregnancy. In Murray's In the UPFS Survey sample, by contrast,thought experiment, the couple with the 33 percent of white infants and 68 percentlargest incentive to avoid marriar is the of black infants were born out of wedlock. one in which the man is employed. This Thus the racial difference in the legitimacycouple should be less likely tolegitimate a status of first births is smaller in ourpremarital pregnancy compared to the poverty-tract sample. couple in which the man is unemployed. Although the higher levels of out-of-According to Wilson, on the other hand, wedlock births in our data are not sur-couples are more likely to marry if the prising, we also expect that the statisticsman has a steady income. Finally, Farky's we pnerate from the UPFS Survey willargument suggests that coupks tend to tend to understate the actual rates ofmarry when the woman is most dependent legitimation and postpartum marriageson the man's earnings. Because earnings in poverty-tract neighborhoods. Because tend to rise with years of school com- our sample is a cross section of poverty pleted,18 the gap in potential earnings is areas, it includes recent immigrants and agreater when the man's education exceeds residual population of persons who overthe woman's. Therefore, one would infer the years have stayed in these neighbor- from Farley's argument that for similarly hoods. To the extent that marriage is educated men, couples in which the man's related to geographical mobility, the mar-education is greater than the woman's are riage rates that we calculate from themore likely to marry than couples in retrospective data will tend to be lowerwhich the man's education is equal to or than if we had data on all persons wholess than the woman's. ever lived in poverty tracts. In this sense, We will test these predictions by fitting our estimates will be biased because they a set of logistic and hazards regression are weighted toward the experiences of models to our data. The logistic regression never-married residents of poverty tracts. model relates individual characteristics to While the effects of this sample selectivitythe odds of legitimation, that is, marriage on our analysis need to be evaluated in after conception but before birth. The greater detail, our guess is that the nature hazards regression model relates in- of the statistical bias works against ourdividual characteristics to rates of mar- finding significant employment effects on riage after childbirth. marriage. Our approach will be to fit four sep- arate models to the data. Model I includes only the effects of race or ethnicity. A MODELS AND significant race or ethnicity effect means METHODS OF ANALYSIS that the odds of legitimation or the rate of While Murray, Wilson, and Farley postpartum marriagediffers between ra- stress economic variables, they arrive at 18. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of different conclusions about the intensity the Census, Current Population Reports, series P- and, in some cases, the direction of 60, no. 146. Money Income of Households. Fam- particular economic effects. One of the ilies, and Persons in the flailed Stases: 1983 (Wash- ington. DC: Government Printing Office, 1985), more intriping implications of Murray's tab. 12, "Years of School CompletedHouseholds argument is that father's employment with Householder 25 Years and Older. by Total ought to lower or at best have a neutral Money Income in 1983." st,,,It....-xv,k-urAWAPOMANft "4.

86 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY cial and ethnic groups. Model 2 includessis. These statistics are calculated sep- race or ethnicity and paternal employ-arately for emit of three groups of fathers: ment status. This analysis will test Mur-those who legitimated the birth of their ray% and Wilson% predictions about thefirst child, those who marrkd after the effect of father's employment on thebirth, and those who had not married the likelihood of marriagq Murray's workmother of their child at the time of the suggests a negative effect, while Wilson'ssurvey. predicts a positive effect. Model 3 adds the effects of the man's FINDINGS and the woman's educational status. Like Farley, we are using educational attain- In this section, we present the findings ment as a proxy for lifetime earnings. Iffrom our multivariate analysis of ethnic Farley's hypothesis is correct, the couplesvariation in both the odds of legitimating in which the man's education exceeds thea premarital pregnancy, and in rates of woman's should be the most likely tomarriage after the first birth, among marry, and the couples in which the fathers in Chicago poverty tracts. woman's education exceeds the man's should be the least Nicety to marry. Racial and ethnic differences Finally, in addition to the independent Model 1, in Tables 4 and 5, includes variables whose effeets are the mainonly race or ethnicity. The estimated concern of this article, we control for aeffects for all models are expressed as number of other variables reported in the chaages in the expected odds of legitima- literature as affecting the likelihood oftion or rate of postpartum marriaip marriage in the general population.19 relative to a baseline group, non-Hispanic Although these studies usually do notwhites. For instance, Table 4 shows that distinguish between potential spouses who the relative odds of legitimation for Mex- are childless and those who have children, icans are 0.775; in other words, Mexicans we included these variables in our finalare three-quarters as likely as non-His- model to see if they would predict fathers'panic whites to legitimate a premaritally first marriages. These variables include conceived birth. By contrast, the relative socioeconomic characteristics of the fam-odds for Puerto Ricans, 0.146, arKI blacks, ily of origin, religion, cohort, and age0.156, are only one-sixth the odds for effects. non-Hispanic whites.20 In both tables, Table 3 shows the means of the inde- estimates marked with an asterisk are not pendent variables to be used in the analy- statistically significant. The results of Model 1 in Table 5 show 19. See Robert T. Michael and Nancy Brandon that the relative rate of marriage to the Tuma, "Entry into Marriage and Parenthood by mother after the first child's birth among Young Men and Women: The influence of Family Mexicans, 0.554, is slightly above one- Background,"Demography, 22(5).315-44(1985), for a theoretical explication at these effects. See half the marriage rate among non-His- Ronald R. Rindfuss, S. Phillip Morgan, andC. panic whites. Puerto Ricans, with 0.272, GaxySwicegood, "The Transition to Motherhood: The Intersection of Structural and Temporal Dinien- sions,"AmerkanSociological Review, 49(3):359-72 20. Theserelative odds are approximately the (1984), for a good critical summary of the research results one obtains from Table 1 by dividing each on the effects of age, cohort, and period on family group's legitimation odds by the odds for non- formation. Hispanic whites, the reference group. NogOtalismithame.7

EMPLOYMENT AND MARRIAGE 87

TABLE 3 MEANS OF INDEPENDENT VARIABLES FOR FATHERS WHOSE FIRST CHILD WAS CONCEIVED BEFORE MARRIAGE

Fathers Who Fathers Who Fathers Who Married Married Never Married Variable before Birth after Birth Mother of Child

Black .290 .489 .645 Mexican .362 .219 .101 Puerto Rican .087 .153 .207 Non-Hispanic white .261 .139 .046 Employed* .725 .518 .424 Is a high school graduatet .397 .295 .308 Partner is a high school graduatet .538 .554 .468 Mother graduated from eighth grade .541 .488 $45 Sibship greater than four .478 .625 .604 Catholic .536 .409 .304 Family of origin ever received welfare .102 .241 .295 Mother-only family of origin at age 14 .377 .314 .438 Mother and stepfather at age 14 .043 .087 .064 Year of birth 52.8 52.6 56.0 (510 (6.0) (6.6) Age at conception of first child 22.3 21,4 21.1 (3.5) (4.3) (4.01 Partner's age at conception of first child 20.5 18.8 19.6 (4.5) (3.2) (4.3) Year of child's birth 75.8 74.6 77,7 (6.7) (6.1) (6.3)

Number of observations 69 137 217

SOURCE: Urban Poverty and Family Structure Survey, 1986. NOTE: Stsndard deviations In parentheses, *Any employment reported for the period from seven months before the birth of the first child to that child's birth. tStatus at conception of first child.

and blacks, with 0.251, have postpartumment status. Our results show that pa- marriage rates that are one-quarter theternal employment is positively related non-Hispanic white rate.2i both to the odds of a father's legitimating a premarital pregnancy and to his likeli- Father's employment hood of marrying the mother after the first child's birth. Model 2 extends our analysis by es- More specifically, Model 2 in Table 4 timating the effects of father's employ-shows that fathers who were employed at 21. Again, du= relative rates art approximately the time of pregnancy are over two and a etwh group's log complement of the cumulative half times more likely to legitimate the proportion of fathers marrying divided by the log birth than men who were not employed: complement of the cumulative proportion of non- the relative odds of legitimation among Hispanic while fathers marrying. The hazards regres- sion model simplifies the comparison by assuming employed fathers was 2.557. In Table 5, that the proportional differences between groups the relative rate of marriage for employed are constant at each duration after the child's birth. fathers at each period after the first child's _

88 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

TABLE 4 RELATIVE ODDS OF LEGITIMATION OF A PREMARITALCONCEPTION BY MALES 18-44 YEARS OLO IN CHICAGO POVERTY TRACTS, HMS

Relative Odds Characteristic Model 1 Model 2 Model 3

Race or Ethnicity Slack 0.156 0.177 0.169 Mexican 0.775 0.744 0.914* Puerto Rican 0.146 0.146 0.154 Non-Hispanic white 1.000 1.000 1.000 Employment Male employed 2.557 2.945 Male not employed 1.000 1.000 Education of partnerst Male < HS, female < HS 1.000 Male < HS, female HS+ 1.448* Male HS+, female < HS 1.740 Male HS+, female HS+ 2.414

Number of observations 423 423 366 Goodness-of-fitpvalue .927 .236

SOURCE: Urban Poverty and Family Structure Survey, 1986. NOTE: Baseline levels are indicated by relative odds of 1. *Estimates not statistically significant at the .05 level. t" HS" stands for less than high school education; "HS+" stands for high school education or more.

birth, 1.87, is nearly twice as large as theEducation of the man and woman rate for unemployed fathers.22 Both sets Model 3 provides a partial test of of findings are inconsistent with Murray'sFarley's hypothesis that the shift away hypothesis that employed fathers have afrom marriage, particularly among blacks, disincentive to marry, and they are con-is caused by the narrowing of the earnings sistent with Wilson and Neckerman'sdifferential between men and women. male-marriageable-pool hypothesis. Still,Although we have no direct measure of father's employment does not explain thethe man's and woman's potential earn- large racial and ethnic differences weings, we use the joint educational attain- observe between inner-city fathers in Chi-ment of the man and woman, which cago in levels of never-married parent-indexes lifetime earnings, as a proxy for hood: the race or ethnicity estimatespotential earnings differential. We find in change only slightly from Model 1 toTable 4 that the likelihood of legitimation Model 2. increases as the man and woman's joint 22. In this analysis, we allowed paternal employ- education level increases. The increased ment status to change in value over time using the likelihood is statistically significant only retrospective data on stable employment recordedfor high-school-educated couples. Model ontbclife-history calendar. Stable employment Ives 3 in Table 5 shows a similar pattern for defined as any full- or part-time job that lasted six months or longer. postpartum marriage, with one anomaly.

_LI EMPLOYMENT AND MARRIAGE 89

TABLE 5 RELATIVE RISKS OF MARRIAGE TO MOTHER CW FIRST BORN AFTER CHILDBIRTH FOR MALES 18-414 YEARS OLD IN CHICAGO POVERTY TRACTS, ISM

Relative Risks Characteristic Model 1 Model 2 Model 3

RaceOfEthnicity Black 0,251 0.265 0.268 Mexican 0.554 0.506 0.679* Puerto Rican 0.272 0.267 0.315 Non-Hispanic white 1.000 1 .000 1.000 Employment Male employed 1.870 1,790 Male not employed 1 .000 1 .000 Education of partnerst Male < HS, female < HS 1.000 Male < HS, female HS+ 1.907 Male HS+, female < HS 1.323" Male HS+, female HS+ 1.639 Number of observations 301 301 301

SOURCE: Urban Poverty and Family Structure Survey, 1988. NOTE: Baseline levels are indicated by a relative risk of 1. "Estimates not statistically significant at the .05 level. tn< HS" stands for less then high school education; "HS+" stands for high school education Ormore,

Couples in which the mother is a high statistical insignificance, Puerto Ricans school graduate but the father is not are and blacks still show lower rates of more likely to many after the child's birth marriage compared to whites. than other couples. Two of these effects are statistically significant at the .05 level. Interaction effects These effects are net of the effect of male employment status on marriage, which In separate analyses not shown, we changes little with the introduction of theexamined whether the effects of male education variable (compare Models 2employment and education of the part- and 3 in both tables). ners on marriage differed significantly by These education findings run counter race or ethnicity. There are plausible to Farley's expectation that marriage reasons for believing this might be true. occurs less among couples when the For instance, employment could increase woman's earning potential equals or ex-marriage more fzr whites than for blacks ceeds the man's. In our data, higher maleif whites have less tolerance for unem- and female education generally improves ployed husbands than blacks do. In addi- the probability of legitimation and post- tion, the female independence effect might partum marriage, and significantly so in be especially strong among blacks, given the latter case. Although controlling forthat, of all women, black women are education reduces the difference between closest to parity earnings with men of the N xicans and non-Hispanic whites to same education.

9 2 90 THE ANNAIS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

We tested the rust hypothesis by addingcoefficients of the ethnic, employment, or a term for the interaction of race orjoint-education variables. ethnicity and employment to Model 2 in Tables 4 and 5. We found thst the DISCUSSION interaction term Via3 statistically insignifi- Our analysis provides direct evidence cant and that the coefficients for the other that employed men are more likely than terms changed very little. This means that jobless men to marry after the conception the effect of male employment on mar-of tlwir first child. These results axe riage is equally strong among white, consistent with Wilson's mak-marriage- black, Waken, and Pwrto Rivan fathers. able-pool interpretation of changes in Similarly, we tested the second hypoth- family structure; iadirectly, they contra- esis by adding a term for the interaction dict Murray's argument about tlw impact of race or ethnicity and joint education to of welfare incentives on the marriage of Model 3 in Tables 4 and 5. In this case, low-income couples. The effect of male the interaction term did not significantly employment on marriage is equally strong improve the model's fit to the data. Thus among white, black, Mexican, and PUOIC) we found no evidence that allowingfor Rican intxr-city men. High school gradu- different female independence effects by ates are also more likely to many than ethnic group improves our explanation high school dropouts, suggesting that of marriage rates among inner-eity par- both short-term economic realities and ents. Finally, we found no strong interac- long-term prospects shape the marriage tion between male employment status decision.; of inner-city couples. and the joint education of the partners. Regardless of their own education level, men whose partners are high school Other explanatory variables graduates are also more likely to marry In our final model, also not shown, wethan those whose partners are high school added the other explanatory variablesdrormts. With the exceptim of one stepwise and as a group into the logisticgroui., the higher a man and a woman's regression predicting the likelihood ofjoint earnings potential, the more likely legitimation. Only one variable, the fa-they are to many. For this population, at ther's year of birth, had a statisticallyleast, the economic viability of the couple significant effect: the younger the father,is more important than any independence the less likely he was to marry. This effect,effect a woman may derive from having however, was modest and did not changeher own source of income. These fmdings the coefficients of the ethnic, employ-are inconsistent with Farley's interpreta- ment, or joint-education variables. tion of changing family structure. But, We also entered these variables as aunder the joint pressures of poverty and group into the hazards regression predict-family responsibilities, it is not surprnr--- ing the likelihood of marriage after thethat inner-city parents would marry if the birth of the child. We found significantmatch were economically viable. Farley's effects of the father's year of birth, his ageexplanation remains a highly plausible at conception of his first child, and hisaccount of marriage patterns in the rest of partner's age at that time. These effects,the population. however, did not substantially change the These results leave some questions '00:474;r::

EMPLOYMENT AND MARRIAGE 91

=muttered. Substantial differences re- racial or ethnic differenees in the net- main in the marriage rates of racial orworks of family support available to ethnic groups. We used very simple mea- unmarried parents influence the propen- smes ofeconomic status--currimt employ- sity to many. ment and high school graduation. It is Nevertheless, these initial findings show possible that a more refined measure ofthat employed men are more likely than economic status of men and women mightjobkss men to marry the mothers of their decrease the size of racial or ethnic differ- children. We also can tentatively conchxle ences. In addition, itis possible that that men are more likely to many women neighborhood characteristics influence with good economic prospects. Although marriage behavior over and above theirone needs to be cautious about drawing correlation with individual character- policy prescriptions from observational istics. Although our poverty-area sample findings, one message for policymakers is greatly reduces the variation betweenclear: improvements in the economic racial or ethnic groups in neighborhood status of both low-income men and status, blacks and, to a lesser extent,women promise to enable more parents Puerto Ricans tend to live in muchto marry and thus provide a financially poorer areas than Mexicans or whites, and, it is hoped, socially better environ- and these differences are not controlled inment for themselves and their children. our analysis. Fmally, it is possible that

9 .1 ANNALS, AAPSS, 501, January 1989

Single Mothers, the Underclass, and Social Policy

By SARA McLANAHAN and IRWIN GARFINKEL

ABSTRACT: This article focuses on the question of whether mother-only families are part of an emerging urban underclass. An underclass is defmed as a population exhibiting the following characteristics: weak laborforce attachment, persistence of weak attachment, and residential isolation U. neighborhoods with high concentrations of poverty and unemployment. We find that only a small minority of single mothers fit the description of an underclass: less than 5 percent. But a small and growing minority of black, never-married mothers meet all three criteria. We argue that welfare programs are necessary but that too heavy a reliance on welfare can facilitate the growth of an underclass. In contrast, universal prograws such as child support assurance, child care, health care, children's allowances, and full employment would discourage such a trend and promote economic inde- pendence among single mothers.

Sara M c I anahan is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and theInstitute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her research focuses on the intergenerational consequences of family disruption. Irwin Garfinkel is tne Edwin Witte Professor in the School of Social Work and the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His major interest is in income transfer policy most recently child support. Professors Garfinkel and McLanahan are coauthors of the book Single Mothers and Their Children: A New American Dilemma.

NOTE: Support for this research was provided try thc National institute for Child Health and I rvelopment under grant HD19375-03 and by the Ford Foundation.

92 itaiwoolopakaara,..E4...- -

SINGLE MOTHERS AND SOCIAL POLICY 93

AMILIES headed by nonmarried In our book, &nee Mothers and women have increased dramatically Their Children, we &scribe in detail the during the past three decades. Whereas in first two problems: poverty and inter- 1960 about 7 percent of all children weregenerational dependeme.4 In this article, living with a singk mother, in 1987 the we focus on the last question, whether proportion was more than 21 percent.' mother-only families represent the crys- Over half of all children born today willtallization of an urban underclass. We spend some time in a mother-only family begin by discussing various defmitions of before reaching age 18, about 45 percent the underclass and by presenting our own of all white children will do so, and about views on the subject. Next we ask whether 85 percent of black children will? Clearly, there are mother-only families who fit the the mother-only family will have a pro- description of an underclass, and, if so, found effect on the next generation ofwhat proportion might belong in this Americans. group. Finally, we review domestic social Increases in marital disruption andpolicy from the perspective of whether single parenthood have stimulated con- the current system and recent proposals siderable debate during the past few years for reform serve to perpetuate or break and there is much disagreement overdown the boundaries that isolate mother- whether recent trends are a sign ofonly families from the rest of society. progress or decline. On the one hand, the growth of mother-only families is viewed DEFINITIONAL ISSUES as evidence of women's increasing eco- The underclass has been the focus of nomic independence and greater freedomconsiderable diseussion during recent of choice with respect to marriage.3 On years, beginning with the publication of a the other, it is often treated as a proxy for series of articles in the New Yorker social disorganization. With respect to magazine in the early 1980s.5 While there the latter, three re peels of divorce and is no general consensus on whether the single motherhood are seen as especially underclass is a place or a goup of people, problematic: (1) the high rate of poverty most analysts agree that it is more than :King families headed by women , vari- just another name for those at the bottom vusly referred to as the "feminization ofof the income distribution. Auletta defines poverty" and the "pauperization of wom- the underclass as a group of people who en"; (2) the lower rates of socioeconomic suffer from "behavioral as well as income attainment among children from mother-deficiencies" and who "operate outside only families as compared with children the mainstream of commonly accepted from intact families; and (3) the potential values."6 He includes street criminals, role of mother-only families in the growth hustlers and drug addicts, welfare moth- and perpetuation of an urban underclass ers, and the chronically mentally ill in his in American cities. characterization of the underclass. 1. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of 4. Irwin Garfmkel and Sara S. McLanahan, the Census,CurrentPopulation Reports, series P- Single Mothers and Their Children: A New .4 meri- 20, nos. 105, 106, and 423 (Washington, DC: can Dilemma (Washington, DC: Urban Institute. Government Printing Office, 1960, 1961, and 1988). 1986). 2. Larry L. Bumpass, "Children and Marital 5. Ken Auletta,"The U nderelass: Pun I," New Disruption: A Replication and Update,"Demog- Yorker, 16 Nov. 1981; idern, "The Underclass: Part raphy,21(0:71-82 (Feb. 1984). 11," ibid., 13 Nov. 1981; idem, "The Underclass: 3. Barbara Bergmann, The Economic Emer- Part a" ibid., 30 Nov. 1981. gence of Women (New York: Basic Books, 1986). 6. Auletta, "The Underclass: Part 111," p. 105.

9 6 94 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

Whereas Auletta bases his definitionmarginally attached to tlx labor force of the underclass on individual behavior, themselves. Weak attachment is viewed others have used the word to describeas problematic for several reasons. Hot, particular geographical or residential nonemployment clearly has costs for the areas. Sawhill and her colleaguisi at theindividual, given that in a market society Urban Institute speak of "people who livesuch as ours wages art the primary source in neighborhoods where welfare depen-of income for all nonelderly adults. Those dency, femaie-headed families, male job- who are not attached to the labor force, lessness, and dropping out of high school either directly or indirectly, are very likely are all common occurrences."7 to be poor or to be involved in some form Finally, Wilson speaks of the under-of criminal activity. Moreover, their class as poor people, mostly black, whechances of gaining access to valued re- live in urban ghettos in the north-central sources mai/ or power in the future are and northeastern regions of the countzysignificantly lower than are the chances and who are "outside the mainstream ofof those who are part of tic labor force. the American occupational system."8 He Weak attachment to the labor force contends that changes in these communi-also has costs for the rest of society, ties during the 1970s, including deindus-whose members ultUnately must pay for trialization and the exodus of middle-high levels of nonemployment either class blacks, greatly altered the conditions through direct income transfets such as of families left behind. Ghetto residents Aid to Families with Dependent Children are worse off today than they were in the(AFDC) or indirectly through the crime 1960s, not only because their environment and social disorganization that accom- is more dangerous but also because they pany unemployment and a large under- have fewer opportunities for social mobil-ground economy. In addition, conserva- ity and fewer positive role models. tives and liberals express concern that weak attachment undermines the work Weak attachment to the ethic and thereby reduces productivity, labor force whereas Marxists worry that it under- mines the solidarity of the work force and A common thread running through all thereby reduces the likelihood of success- of these definitions is an emphasis on ful collective action. weak labor force attachment. Underclass Disabled workers, widows, and married people are generally described either as homemakers may be indirectly attached living in neighborhoods with high rates of to the labor force either through their unemployment or nonemployment, or as personal work history or through the current orpastemployment history of 7. Isabel V. Saw hill, Challenge to Leadership: their spouse. In the case of disabled Economic and Social Issues for the Next Decade workers and widows, the primary source (Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 1988); Robert D. Reischauer, "The Size and Charsiseristics of the of household income comes from social Underclass" (Paper delivend at the conference or insurance, which is linked to the past the Association for Public Policy Analysis and work history of the individual and the Management Research, Washington, DC, 1987). individual's spouse, respectively. In the 8. William Julius Wilson, The llruly &Pad- vantwed: The Inner City, the Underclass, and awe of married homemakers, the primary Public h,ficy (Chicago: University of Chicago source of income is the partner's current Press, 1987), p. 8. earnings. 9 7 7;1!

SINGLE MOTHERS AND SOCIAL POLICY 95

Persistence of weak attachment among poverty researchers during the 1970s was that nonemployment and depen- Weak attachment to the labor force is deuce on public assistance %we relatively a necessary but not sufficknt condition short-term phenomena. According to re- for defining an underclass. Individuals searchers at Ow University of Michigan, who are temporarily out of work or ill or nearly 25 percent of the population was dependent on welfare are usually not poor at least1 year duriim the 1970s viewed as part ofthe underclass, even whereas less than 3 percent were poor for though tIwy may be living below the at least 8 of 10 years."1 This perspective, poverty line. Rather,it is the persistence which emphasized the fluidity of the of weak attachment that distinguishes poverty population, was seriously chal- unchaclass behavior and wliks-class neigh- lenged in the early 1980s by Bane and borhoods from poverty areas and the Ellwood, who noted that a nontrivial poor in gerwral. Persistence may occur proportion of those who became depen- either over tiit.,as when a person is dent on welfare were dependent for 10 or unemployed and/ or dependent on welfare more years. u Bane and Ellwood's fmdings for a long period, or it may occur across coincided with a new interest in the pnerations, as when a child of a welfare underclass and fueled concern that certain recipknt also becomes dependent on wel- fare. We argin that persistence acro.4 forms of poverty, especially those associ- ated with weak labor force attachment, generations is a necessary condition for might be self-perpetuating. Mother-only establishing the existence of an underclass. The emphasis on persistence for in-families have been a particular concern, dividuals and across generations high- because they appear to experience longer periods of economic dependence than lights the factthat the underclass does not other poor groups and because the inter- simply signify a particular structural posi- generational implications of their pro- tion or group at the bottom of the income longed dependence may be of greater distribution. Rather,it means that certain individuals and their offspring occupy co nseq uence. this position over a period of time. Thus theproblem isnot merely inequalitytheSocial isolation fact that some locations or statuses in A final characteristic essential to our society carry with them fewer rewardsdefinition and common to most discus- than othersbut anabsence of social mobilitythe fact that some personsdo in the United States, ed. Fred R. Harris and Roger not have the chance to improve their W. Wilkins (New York: Pantheon, 19431* Lok Wacquant and William Julius Wilson, "Poverty, situation. When Wilson and his colleagues Joblessness and the Social Transformation of the talk about those leftbehind in the ghettos Inner City,* in Reforming Werare, ed. David of the central cities, they are expressing Ellwood and Phoebe Cottingham (Cambridge, concern forwhat they view as declining MA: Harvard University Press, forthcoming). opportunity and increasing immobility.9 10. Gregi. Duncan and Richard D. Coe, Years ofPoverty, YearsofPlenty: The Changing &a- Concern about the persistence of weak nomie Fortunes ofAmeriean Worhers and Families attachment to the labor force hasre- (Ann Arbor University of Michigan, Institute for surfaced recently. The predominant view Social Research, Survey Research Center, 1984). I I. Mary Jo Bane and David T. Ellwood, 9. Ibid.; William Julius Wilson et al., *MIC "Slipping into and out of Poverty: The Dynamics of Ghetto Underclass and the Changing Structure ofSpells," JournalofHuman Resources, 21(I):1-23 Urban Povetiy,- in Quiet Riots: Race and Poverty (Winter 1956). 96 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

sions of the underclass is tlx notion thattions are viewed as the driving force its members are isolated from the rest ofbehind cultural differences. society in terms of both their connection to mainstream social institutions and THE SPECIAL CASE OF their values. Isolation, be it in urban SINGLE MOTHERS ghettos or rural areas of tlw South, is of Some would argue that single mothers concern because it reduces knowkdge of are engaged in household production and opportunities. Isolation combined with therefore cannot be part of an underclass, spatial concentration, as occurs in urban even if they are not working in the paid ghettos, is especially worrisome in that it labor force. Certainly, raising children is may lead to the development of a deviant a valued activity that contributes to the subculture. Isolation is a mechanism by public good by producing the next iwnera- which weak labor force attachment per- don of young workers. A large proportion sists over time and across generations. of married women devote full time to Not all analysts agree that the under- child care, at least while their children are class has a unique culture, that is, its own very young, and many experts believe set of norms and values. In fart, since the that this is the best use of their time. late 1960s, liberal scholars have tended to Furthermore, most industrialized coun- avoid discussions that attribute a different tries provide children% allowances and set of attitudes to those at the bottom of various forms of parental leave, which the income distribution. Most recall that make explicit the social value of children in the 1960s schckars who expressed as well as the value of parental time spent concern over the so-called culture of on infant care. Yet in the United States, poverty, even those who cited unemploy- only those single motlwrs who are widows ment as the fundamental cause of deviant are provided sufficient public benefits to attitudes and behavior, were accused of allow them to invest in full-time child blaming the victim.12 Thus recent discus- care without paying the penalty of stigma sions of social isolation have tended to and poverty. The fact that widowed emphasize macroeconomic conditions and mothers are treated differently from other the institutional aspects of isolation as single mothers suggests that something opposed to its norms and culture. Forother than the mother's lack of paid example, Wilson and his colleagues de- employment and the cost of public trans- scribe urban ghettos as communities with fers underlies the recent concern over few employment opportunities and lack- welfare mothers. ing in the leadership and interorganiza- One explanation for the negative atti- tional networks that facilitate job search tudes toward welfare mothers is that they and sustain community morale during serve as p.oxies for nonemployed men, tin= of high unemployment. Weak institu- w14:, the primary concern of many 12. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, The Negro Fam- analysts. According to this view, for ily: The Cate for National Action (Washington, every welfare mother, there is potentially DC: Department of Labor, Office of Policy Planning a nonworking father who is part of the and Research, 1965); Lee Rainwater and William L underclass. For critics of the welfare Yancey, eds., 77w Moynihan Report and the Polities of Controversy: A Thansaction Social Science and ,ystem, such as Murray, the AFDC moth- Public Polky Report (Cambridge: MIT Press, er is not only a proxy for the nonem- 1967). ployed father; she and the system that

;) SINGLE MOTHERS AND SOCIAL POLICY 97 supports her are a cause of his unemploy-ment to the labor force increases welfare mento According to Murray, single moth-costs, although for unix this is the major erhood encourages male irresponsibility,problem, but whether full-time mothering which in turn undermines the work ethichas personal costs for women and children and social productivity. In stark contrast,and social costs for the rest of society Wilson argues that the welfare mother isbeyond tlw immediate transfer payments. an indicator of a failing economic systemRecent trends in the labor force participa- in which low-skilled men can no longertion of married mothers suggest that support their families. According to thissocial norms about women's employment view, unemployment and low-payingare changing, and this in turn affects how jobs lead to family dissolution andpolicymakers and the general public view nonmarriage, which give rise to singlenonemployment among single mothers. motherhood. When Mothers' Pensions programs were Although the causal relationship be-instituted in the beginning of the century tween single motherhood and male employ-and when SI and AFDC were instituted ment is opposite in these two views, bothin the 1930s, the prevailing view was that Murray and Wilson focus on male employ-mothers should stay home and care for ment as the primary problem. Concerntheir children.14 Today, this view is chang- for male employmem also explains whying to reflect the fact that a majority of widowed mothers are treated differentlymarried mothers spend at least part of from other single mothers, even thoughtheir time working in the paid labor force. they work fewer hours and receive higherThe fact that over half of married mothers public benefits. First, widowhood iswith young children work outside the caused by the death of a spouse and home suggests that policies that encourage therefore is not a voluntary event. Provid-long-term economic dependency are not ing for widows does not encourage male likely to be tolerated by the public. The irresponsibility or reduce the motivationwelfare mother is increasingly isolated to work. Second, Survivors Insurance from mainstream society by virtue of the (SI), like all aspects of social insurance, isfact that she is not in the labor force. closely tied to the previous work attach- ment of the spousein the case of EXTENT OF PERSISTENT widows, the deceased spouseand thus WEAK ATTACHMENT it enhances rather than undermines the Are single motheni weakly attached to work ethic. In sum, widowed mothers the labor force, and if so does weak who are eligible for SI are indirectly attachment persist over time and across attached to the labor force even though generations? Both the absence of earnings they are not currently employed. Quite apad from what it suggestsand the presence of welfare are indicators of weak attachment. Although the former about male employment, nonemployment is the better measure in that it measures among single mothers appears to be a attachment directly, research on the dura- growing concern in and of itself. The tion of welfare dependence is more readily issue is not simply whether weak attach- available. In 1987, 69 percent of single mothers reported earnings whereas 33 13. Charles Murray, Losing Ground: American Social Policy. 1930-1980 (New York: Basic Books, 14. Garfinkel and McLanahan, Single Mothers 1984). and Their Children. iOU 98 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY percent reported receipt of some welfare.15on the rest of society, their comern is Both the earnings and welfare figuresdifferent from that of winther welfare suggest that about one-third of singlemothers are socially productive. mothers could be classified as weakly To address the question of intergen- attached to the labor force. Of this group,erational welfare dependence, detailed 56 percent will be dependent on welfarefamily histories over at least two genera- for 10 years or more.16 Multiplying the 33tions are required. Such data are only percent of single mothers who reportnow becoming available from longi- weak attachment by the 56 percent whotudinal studies such as the Panel Study of are destined for long-term depewlenceIncome Dynamics and the National Lon- yields an estimate of 18 percent of currentgitudinal Survey of Youth, both of which single mothers who are potentially at riskfollow families and their offspring over a for being in the underclass. long period of time. Based on research by As discussed previously, nonemploy-Gottschalk, we estimate that about 60 ment and economic dependency alow dopercent of the daughters from families not constitute sufficient evidence for classi-who experience long-term welfare depen- fying single mothers as part of the under-dence will receive welfare themselves for class, because these women are engagedat leastIyear.17 Based on Ellwood's in socially productive setivitytakingresearch, we estimate that about 40 per- care of children. Hence the more im-cent of these daughters will receive welfare portant question is, what happens to thefor 10 or more years.16 children in these families? If the offspring To combi= and summarize these crude of nonemployed single mothers becomeestimates; about 18 percent of single productive, independent citizens, the un-mothers in 1987 were dependent on wel- derclass characterization is inappropriate. fare for a long period of time, and about Thus although some people may com-24 percent of their daughters will be plain that the cost of supporting these 17. Peter Gottschalk, "A Proposal to Study families is too high or unfairly imposed Intergenerational Correlation of Welfare Depen- dence," mimeographed (Madison: University of 15. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau ofWisconsin, Institute for Research on Poverty, May the Census. 1987 Current Population Surwy (Wash- 1988). Using the National Longitudinal Survey, ington. DC: Government Printing Office, 1987). Gottschalk finds that 50 percent of white and 70 Although there is underreportin of weffsre receipt percent of black daughters of mothers who experi- in the Current Population Survey data, for ourence any welfare dependence will themselves ex- purposes this is not likely to be a problem. There is peiience at least one year of welfare dependence also underreporting in the data that Ellwood uses to within seven years of leavinghome. Greg J. Duncan, determine what proportion of those who receive Martha S. Hill, and Saul D. Hoffman =port much AFDC receive it for a long period of time. See smaller intergenerational dependence. Only 36 per- David T. Ellwood, Targeting 'Would-lire" Long- cent of do:Otters whose mothers received welfare Term Recipients of A FDC (Princeton. NJ: Mathe- mceived welfare themselves between ages 21 and 23. matica Policy Research, 1986). So long as those By limiting their examination to these three years of who fail to report receipt of AFDC are not long- age, however, they severely underestimate welfare term recipients- a reasonable assumptionmul- receipt of daughters. Duncan, Hill, and Hoffman, tiplying the proportion of single mothers reporting "Welfare Dependence within and across Genera- receipt of some werare by the estimated proportion tions," Science, 239:469 (Jan. of long-termers gives an accurate estimate of the 1 IL Ellwood, "Waukilte- Long-Term Recipi- proportion of single mothers who arc dependent on ents of AFDC. We use the figure for unmarried welfare for an extended period. mothers, which is 38 percent. We also assume that 16. Ellwood, "Would-Be" Long-Term Recipi- the estimates for daughters would apply as well to ems of AFDC. sons.

1 I *CT-

SINGLE MOTHERS AND SOCIAL POLICY 99

dependent on welfare for 10 more years.Similarly, Gottschalk finds that wlwreas We comlude, therefore, that about 4half of white daughtets of welfare-depen- percent (0.24 X 0.18) of single mothersdent mothers become recipients them- can be classified as members of an emerg- selves, the figure for blacks is 70 percent. ing undaclass. Even more striking, whereas only 14 On tin one hand, the figure of 4percent of divorced mothers who ever percent is an overestimate of the associa- receive welfare will be dependent for 10 tion between single motherhood and un-or more years, the figure for unmarried derclass status, given that only a portionmod= is nearly 40 percent. Thus among of those women who ever experiencesome subgroups of single mothersin single motherhood are single mothers in particular, young unwed black mothers any partkular year. Half of all women the risk of being in the underclass is high. who divorce remarry within five years, and presumably most of these are not at EXTENT OF SOCIAL ISOLATION risk for being part of an underclass." On the other hand, 4 percent is an Are mother-only families more socially underestimate for some groups.20 Per-isolated than other families, and does sistence of welfare dependence amongtheir isolation lower their mobility? As single mothers varies substantially. EU- noted earlier, social isolation may occur wood finds, for example, that whereas 20 because the community no longer func- percent of whites who ever receive welfare tions as a resource base for its members, will be dependent for 10 or more years,as when a neighborhood has no jobs, no the figure for blacks is 32 percent.21 networks for helping to locate jobs, poor schools, and a youth culture that is 19. Amtrew Cherlin, Marriage. Divorce, Remar- subject to minimal social control. Cul- riage (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, tural isolation, on the other hand, refers 1981). to deviations from normative standards, 20. Mon generally, the figure in the text should such as the absence of a work ethic or a be considered a lower bound. To WC this. suppose devaluation of family commitments. each mother has only one daughter who either does or does not become dependent on welfare for a long One way to measure social isolation is period of time. If the daughters do not become to ask what proportion of mother-only long-term dependents, we classify the mothers as families live in urban neighborhoods with outside the underclass because they have raised a high proportions of poor people. Table I productive child, which is in itself productive. But in presents information on the proportion reality, many mothers have more than one daughter. In some cases, one or more of the daughters will of different types of families in the United become long-term dependents while one or wore States who live in neighborhoods in will not. By multiplying the 36 percent of daughters which 20 percent or more of the popula- of long-term welfare-dependent mothers who them- tion is poor or in which 40 percent or selves become long-term dependents by the IS more is poor. Poverty areas are restricted percent who are long-term &Tandems, we are implicitly assigning a portion of each mother with to neighborhoods in the 100 largest cities. multiple children to underclass or nonunderclass Several fmdings in Table 1 merit atten- status. An argument can be made, however, that tion. First, families headed by single even if only one of several daughters of a mother mothers are more likely to live in poor with long-term nonattachment to the labor force urban neighborhoods than other families. exhibited the same behavior, that family would be appropriately included as part of an underclass. Second, only a small proportionabout 21. Ellwood, "Would-Se" Long-Term Recipi- 5.6 percentof mother-only families live ents of AFDC. in extremely poor neighborhoods. Final- I2 100 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

TABLE 1 PROPORTION OF U.S. FAMILIES LIVING IN URBAN POVERTY AREAS IN 1980

20 Percent 40 Percent Poverty Areas Poverty Areas

Mother-only families 16.5 5.13 Other families 4.7 1.0 White mother-only families 4.5 10* Black mother-only families 34.2 10.0' Black persons 26.0 8,0

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1985. Information is not available on the proportion of white end black mother-only families living in areas that are 40 percent poor. We estimate these percentages by extrapolating from the propor- tions observed in 40 percent areas for other families and black persons. The estimate for white mother-only families was obtained by assuming that the ratio of white mother-only families to other families that pertains to the 20 percent arees also pertains to the 40 perrent areas. The estimate for black mother-only families was obtained by assuming that the ratio of mother-only families to black persons that pertains to the 20 percent areas also pertains to 40 percent areas. ly, there are huge racial differences in theneighborhoods became more desolate degree of isolation of mother-only fam-with respect to the proportion of males ilies. Whereas less than 5 percent of whiteemployed and the proportion of families mother-only families live in areas inon welfare." which 20 percent of the residents are In addition to residential character- poor, over 34 percent of black mother-istics, offspring from mother-only families only families live in such areas. About 10 also differ with respect to certain commu- percent of black mother-only familiesnity resources and parental values. Re- and less than 1 percent of white mo.ther-search based on data from High School only families live in areas of extremeand Beyond, a survey of 50,000 high poverty. school sophomores and seniors, shows To what extent did black mother-onlythat black adolescents in mother-only families become more socially isolatedfamilies attend lowerivality high schools during the 1970s? Our research suggestsand are more accepting of nonmarital that the proportion of black mother-onlybirths than their counterparts in two- families who reside in neighborhoods in parent families, even after controlling for which at least 20 percent of the residentssocioeconomic status. In contrast, the are poor declined. Yet the proportion ofeducational aspirations of their mothers those who reside in neighborhoods thatare no different from those in two-parent are at least 40 percent poor increasedfamilies." dramaticallyby about 30 percent. In 22. Sara S. McLanahan, Irwin Garfinkel, and other words, in the face of general eco- Dorothy Watson, "Family Structem, Poverty, and nomic progress for black families in the the U nderelass"( Discussion paper no. 823.Institute last 25 years, the proportion of poor for Reward) on Poverty, University of Wisconsin, 1987). mother-only families who are isolated 23. Sara S. MeLanahan, Nan Astone, and increased. Finally, these extremely poor Nadine Marks, 'The Role of Mother-Only Families

3 SINGLE MOTHERS AND SOCIAL POLICY 101

In sum, whereas only a small propor-by promoting female headship and reduc- tion of mother-only families live in ex-ing the likelihood ci marriage Is While tremely pooror what might be Calledthe effect of welfare on the aggregate underclassneighborhoods, dune is evi-growth in mother-only familks is quite dence that this group is growing. More-small, its erect on the poorest half of tlw over, there is some evidence that childrenpopulation is more substantial. Our own from mother-only families are more ac-crude estimate suggests that the thredold cepting ci the single-parent status thanincrease in AFDC and welfare-related children from two-parent families. Thebenefits between 1955 and 1975 may ism of intergenerational female headshipaccount for as much as 20 or 30 percent of and its consequences is especially im-the wowth in mother-only families among portant for blacks, given their higherthe '.ottom half of the income distribution. concentration in urban poverty areas and Welfare also undermines direct an ach- their high prevalence of mother-only fam-ment to the labor force by imposing a ilies. An important question, which wehigh tax rate on earnings. Welfare ie . have not attempted to answer here, iscipients lose nearly a dollar in benefits fi whether an increasing proportion of neweach dollar earned, and they may als birth cohorts are being born to singlelose health care and other income-tester mothers in extremely poor neighbor-benefits. Because of the high tax rate and hoods, and, if so, how this will affect theloss of bewfits, and because their earnings gains in socioeconornk status made bycepacity is very low, many single mothers blacks during the past three decades. would be worse off working full-timc than depending on welfare.26 SOCIAL POLICY TOWARD SINGLE Finally, AFDC promotes social isola- MOTHERS AND THE UNDERCLASS tion by creating a separate institution for the poor and by encouraging nonemploy- All communities develop institutions ment at a time when married mothers are to aid dependent persons. As capitalismentering the labor force in increasing replaced feudalism, providing for the numbers. Ironically, whereas AFDC was poor became a public responsibility. In originally designed to allow single moth- the United Sista, we have always haders to replicate the behavior of married public welfare programs, and they havewomenthat is, to stay home with their been the most important source of govern-childrenit currently functions to sep- ment income for poor single mothers.24 arate the two groups further. Though welfare programs are necessary, So why not reduce dependence by too heavy a reliance on them is conducive simply cutting or even eliminating welfare to the emergence of an underclass. benefits as some have suggested? Un- AFDC and other means-tested welfarefortunately, such a strategy would do programs undermine the indirect labor great harm to families who rely on welfare force attachment of poor single mothers

25. For a critical summary of the literature, see in Reproducing Poverty" (Paper delivered at Pov- ibid., chap. 3. erty and Children, a conference at the University of 26. Sheldon Danziger, Robert Havernan, and Kansas, Lawrence, 20-22 June 1988). Robert Plotnick, *How Income Transfers Affect 24. For a brief historical account of public aid Work, Savings, and the Income Distribution: A to single mothers, see Garfinkel and MeLanahan, Critical Review," Iownal of Economic literature Singk Mother, and Their Children, chap. 4. 19:975-1028 (Sept. 1981). 102 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY at some point but who are in no damp ofprograms make low-vmge work more becoming part of the underclass. Suchcompetitive wkli welfare. Aiding the poor familks constitute Ilk overwhekning ma-through inatitutions that serve all ince= jority of those who ever become depen-classes is itself integrative. dent on welfare...27 Furthermore, such a Universal programs are also more strategy would kave tin mothas with the successful in preventing poverty and re- fewest skiik and least experiame worse ducing economic insecurity. By providing off and even more desperate than they are a common floor to evayone, they lift the today. Reducing welfare could lead tostandard of living of the poorest, least increased depemleoze on illegal sourcesproductive citizens without stigmatizing of income and even further isolation forthem as economic failures. Ttk common those familia at the bottom of the income floor facilitates the efforts of such citizens distribution. to eseape life on the dole,' by making life In this connection, it is important tooff the dole more attractive. Universal recognize that the existence of intergen-programs therefore prevent both poverty erational welfare dependence is notand welfare dependence. The common prima facie evidence of the ill effects offloor, of course, also cushions the fall of welfare. In the absence of welfare, inter-middle- and upper-income families who generational transmission of poverty iscome upon hard times.29 Finally, because to be expected. Indeed, one justificationuniversal programs provide a valuable for welfare programs is to break this in-good or service to all citizens, they develop tergenerational link Whether welfarea more powerful political constituency ameliorates or exaverbates the intergen-and are therefore funded far more gener- erational transmission of poverty is aously than programs for the poor.30 A complicaled question that merits further 29. In addition to the cushion provided by a research.28 common floor, social insurance programswhich. Whereas welfare program discourage along with free public education, are the two most work and isolate the poor, universal important universal systems in tbe United States provide additional protection to middle- and upper- programs have the opposite effect. Be- income families by providing higher benefits to cause benefits in universal programs are workers with histories of higher earnings. not eliminated as earnings increase, they 30. For a discussion of the politics of universal provide an incentive to work for those and income-tested programs, see Gordon Tullock, who would otherwise be dependent on "Income Testing and Politics: A Theoretical Mod- welfare. That is, benefits from universal el? in bworne-Tested Thatsfer Programs: Me Case For and Against, ed. Irwin Garfinkel (New York: 27. Ellwood, - Would-Re" bong-Terns Ree4si- Academic Press, 1982); David Berry, Irwin Gar- eats of AFDC Although this statement about the finkel, and Raymond Munts, "Income Testing in proportion of families ever receiving welfare who Income Support Programs for the Aged," in ibid.; become long-term recipients may appear to be ibid., pp. 499-513; Hugh Redo, "The Political inconsistent with the earlier estimates of the propor- Foundations of Antipoverty Policy," in Fighting tion of welfare families at a point in time who are Poverty: iflat Works and What Doesnk ed. long-term recipients, there is no inconsistency. The Sheldon H. Danxiger and Daniel H. Weinberg point-in-time estimate will always be higher than (Cambridge, Mk. Harvard University Press, 1906); the lifetime exposure estimate because the short- Margaret Weir, Ann OrWT, and Theda Skoepol, term recipients are less likely to be on welfare at any eds.. The Polities of Sockd Policy in the United point in time. States (Princeton, MI: Princeton University Press, 28. Gottschalk has proposed to address this 1988); Sheila Kamerman and Alfred Kahn, Mothers issue. See Gottschalk, "A Proposal to Study Inter- Alone: Strategies for a Time of Change (Dover, generational Correlation of Welfare Dependence? MA: Auburn House, 19811).

5 SINGLE MOTHERS AND SOCIAL POLICY 103 recent comparison of six industrialized earnings as inconw and payroll taxes are. countries shows that the poverty rates ofThe child receives the full amount paid by single mothers are substantially lower inthe nontesident parent, but no less than a countries that rely mod heavily on uni-socially assured minimum benefit. When versal and employment-related income the nonresident patent is ummployed or transfer programs as compared to coun-has very low earnings, the government tries that rely heavily on means-testedmakes up the difftwence just as it does prugrams.31 with the social security pension. CSAS is Although universal programs haveat least a cousin of our social insurance clear benefits for the underclass, some programs, which require a contribution analysts have argued that they are ineffi- from all member families but guarantee a dent. The small amount of research that minimum pension irrespective of the con- directly addresses this issue, however, tribution. CSAS increases indirect attach- sugpsts that whether universal or welfare ment to the labor force by provkling a programs are more efficient is difficult to link between the mother-only family and ascertain and that, in any case, the differ- the nonresidential parent who is em- ences are not likely to be large.32 What is ployed, and it iocreases direct attachment clear is that universal programs will beby providing a source of income that more costly than welfare programs to supplements rather than replaces earnings. upper-middle- and upper-ircome families. Universal chikl care, health care, and The new child support assurer= system child allowance programs also help to (CSAS), which is being implemented in integrate the poor into mainstream soci- Wisconsin and other parts of the country, ety. At present, the government has two encourages labor force attachtnent and different mechanisms for subsidizing the reduces isolation.33 Under CSAS, the cost of raising children. Middle- and financial obligation of the nonresidential upper-middle-income families receive parent is expressed as a percentage of his their subsidies through three provisions or her income and is withheld from in the tax code: the dependent-care tax credit, the personal exemption for chil- dren, and the exclusion of employer- 31. Barbara B. Toney and Tunothy Smeeding, financed health-insurame benefits from "Poor Children in Rich Countries"(Paper prepared taxable income. Lower-income families for the meeting of the Population Association of receive subsidies primarily through two America, New Orleans, LA, 21-23 Apr. 1988). 31 See David Ration, David Greenbas, and welfare programs, AFDC and Medicaid. Richard Kasten, "A Simulation Analysis of the To beat welfare, unskilkd single mothers Economie Efficiency and Distributional Effects of need health care, child care, and cash Alternative Program Structures: The Negative In- outside of welfare. come Tax versus the Credit Income Tax," in Replacing the personal exemptions Income- Tested Dwirfer Programs. ed. Garfinkel; Jonathan R. Kessehnan. 'Taxpayer Behavior and for children in the federal income tax the Design of a Credit Income Tax," in ibkl.; Efraim with an equally costly refundable credit Sadka, Irwin Garfinkel, and Kemper Moreland, or child allowance would shift resources "Income Testing and Social Welfare; An Optimal toward the bottom half of the population Tax-Transfer Model," in ibid.; ibid., pp. 503-9. and provide a small cash supplement to 33. Irwin Garfmkel and Patrick Won& "Child Support and Public Policy" (Discussion paper no. earnings. Making the child-care tax credit 854, Institute for Research on Poverty. University refundable and more generous at the of Wisconsin, 1987). bottom would help the poor pay for child 1 o 6 104 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY care.34 Adopting a universal heakh-in-cause of the increase in female headship surance program would reduce the incen-among poor blacks.$6 tive to remain on welfare as a way of For single mothers themselves, a high ensuring health-care coverage. demand for labor increases both the The most universalistic policy of all,availability ci jobs and their rate of pay. and the one most important to poor It also increases tlw ability of nonresiden- single modwrs, is full employment. High tial fathers to pay child support. In sum, unemployawnt protuates both loose at-nothing will do more to forestall the tachnurat to the labor force and femaledevelopmt of an underclass than a full- headship. Despite some gaps and anom-employment policy. alies, there is now a strong body of empirical research that documents that SUMMARY one of the costs of inavased unemploy- ment is increased female headship.35 With Although the vast majority of single the exception of the Vietnam war, unetn-mothers do not fit the description of an ployment rates for blacks have gone upunderclass, there is a small group of steadily since the 1950s. William Juliuspredominantly black single mothers con- Wilson has argued, and our own examina-centrated in Northern urban ghettos that tion of the evidence has led us to concur,is persistently wealdy attached to the that this increase in unemployment haslabor force, socially isolated, and repro- probably been the single most importantducing itself. Although welfare programs are necessary for those who are failed by or who fail independing upon one's 34. Another alternative is for the government political perspectivethe labor market to provide child care for all and to charge a sliding- and other mainstream institutions, too scale fee based upon income. heavy a reliance upon welfare can facili- 35. For a summary of the literature, see Gar- tate the growth of an underclass. In fmkel and McLanahan, Singk Mothers and Theircontrast, aiding single mothers through Children. See also Scott South, "Econoink Condi- tions and the Divorce Rate: A Time Series Analysis more universal programs such as a child of the Postwar United States,"Journal of Marriagesupport assurance system, child care, and the Family. 47:31-42 (1985); Andrew Cherlin. health care, children's allowances, and a Social and Economic Determinants cf Maritalfull-employment macroeconomic policy Separatkin (Berkeley: University of Californiawill retard the growth of an underclass. Press, 1976); Wilson, Thdy Disadvantaged; Moyni- han, Negro FM*. 36. Wilson, Thdy Disadvivnaged. ,11,....1

ANNALS, AA PSS, 501, Janualy 1989

Puerto Ricans and the Underclass Debate

By MARTA TIENDA

ABSTRACT: This article uses data from the Current Population Surveys of 1975, 1980, and 1985 and the 1980 census of population to investigate why the economic status of Puerto Ricans has declined more than that of Mexicans and Cubans. The working hypothesisthat structural factors, namely, rapidly falling employment opportunities in jobs where Puerto Ricans traditionally have worked and the concentration of Puerto Ricans in areas experiencing severe economic dislocation, are largely responsible for their disproportionate impoverishmentfinds considerable support. Results based on the Current Population Surveys show that Puerto Ricans are distinct from Mexicans and Cubans in that their labor market instability and complete withdrawal began earlierin the mi4- compared to the late 1970s and was more extreme. Furthermore, the analysis of census data shows that the constraints on Puerto Ricans resulting from ethnic labor market divisions and high unemployment rates are stronger than those on Mexicans or Cubans, lending support to structural interpretations of the Puerto Ricans' economic distress.

Marta nenda is professor of sociology at the University of Chicago and associate director of the Population Research Center. She is coauthor of The Hispanic Population of the United States (1987) and coeditor of Divided Opportunities: Poycrty. Minorities and Social Policy (1988) and Hispanics in the U.S. Economy (1985). Her current research interests include the work and weYare consequences of amnesty and the migration and employment patterns of Puerto Rkans.

NOTE: This research was supported by grants from the Ford Foundation, the Mee of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant to the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Institutional support was provided by the Population Research Center of the National Opinion Research Center and the University of Chicago. The opiniols expressed are those of the author and not of the sponsoring institutions.

105 1 106 TUE ANNALS OF Tic. AMERICAN ACADEMY

ESPITE the appreciabk drop in and 33 percent in 1985.3 A similar pattern Dpoverty since 1960, =lent empirical was not discerned among Mexicans or work on the economic status of minorities Cubans, indicating that Puerto Ricans has documented persisting and in some are diverging from other Hispanics. instanees widening differentials in poverty William Julius Wilson and others claim and economic well-being according to that black family incomes have become race and national origir Among His- bifurcated, with increasing shares tA fami- panics, between 1970 and 1985 Puerto lies concentrated at the upper and lower Ricans experienced a sharp deterioration tans of the income distribution.4 So severe in economic well-being while Mexicans has dm decline in Puerto Rican economic experienced modest, and Cubans substan- status been that this minority group has tial, improvement in economic status.' fared worse than blacks in the 1980s, a A few indicators illustrate the extent to reversal of the situation prevailing during which economic disparities between the the 1960s. This generalization obtains three major Hispanic populations have whether based on national data or those widened. Puerto Rican family incomefor New York City, which houses the declined by 7.4 percent in real terms single largest concentration of Puerto during the 1970s and by an additional Ricans.3 18.0 percent between 1979 and 1984. Although the reasons for the measured Mexican and Cuban real family incomes increases in racial and economic inequality increased during the 1970s, then fell after are not well nderstood, there is a growing 1980; but the decline for neither group consensus that three interrelated sets of approached the magnitude experienced circumstances are involved: (1) uneven by Puerto Ricans. Unlike that of Puerto changes in family composition and labor Ricans, black real family income rose market position according to race and gradually during the 1970s, then fell 14.0 national origin; (2) a heavier toll of percent following the recession of the cyclical dowLeurns on the job prospects early 19805.2 While real family iwomes of of minority workers; and (3) the persisting all population groupsminority and non- significance of race in allocating social minority alikefell between 1979 and position. By themselves, these factors do 1984, the decline was steepest among not explain why some minority groups, minorities, Puerto Ricans in particular. such as blacks and Puerto Ricans, have Equally disturbing are findings that lost more economic ground than others, family income concentration has increased such as Cubans, Mexicans, or Native for Puerto Ricans since 1970. The share Americans, nor do they enable us to of Puerto Rican families with income below one-quarter of the median income 3. Ibid., tab. 2, p. 31. 4. William Julius Wilson, "The Ghetto Under- of whites rose from 11 percent in 1960 to class and the Social Transformation of the Inner 15 percent in 1970, 26 percent in 1980, Chy"(Paper delivered at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of 1. Marta Tienda and Lief Jensen, "Poverty Science, Chicago, IL, 1967). See also Walter R. and Minorities: A QuarterCentury Profile of Color Allen and Reynolds Fancy, "The Shifting Social and Socioeconomic Disadvantage," in Divided and Economic Tides of Mack America, 1950-1980," Opportunities: Minorities, POverty and Social Annual Review of Sociology, 12727-306 (1987). Policy, ed. Gary D. Sandefur and Marta Tienda 5. Terry J. Rosenberg, Poverty in New York (New York: Plenum Press, 1988) pp. 25-33. City: 1980-1985 (New York: Community Service 2. Ibid., tab. 1, p. 27. Society of New York, 1987). 1 9 PUERTO RICANS AND THE UNDERCLASS DEBATE 107 predict the future course or magnitude oftaining labor market inequality. Tlk next inequality. =dons compare the labor market stand- Signs of economic distress amongMg of Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban Puerto Ricans have fostered considerablemen from 1970 to 1985, emphasizing the specultnion that Puerto Ricans have be- uniqueness of the Puerto Rican labor come part of dm urban underclass, butforce withdrawal process both in timing the available evideme is more suggestive and magnitude, and then assess the eco- than ccatclusive. Answering this questionnomic consequences of ethnic job quests in the affirmative requires, at a minimum, and ethnic labor market concentration longitudinal data showing that extreme on earnings. The concluding section dis- economic &privation is 17,411 chronic and cusses these empirical findings in light of conceigrated among a Fagment of thegrowing speculation that Puerto Ricans Puerto Rican population; that chronicare becoming part of the urban underclass. deprivation is accompanied by labor market detachment; and that both condi- THEOREI1CAL CONSIDERATIONS tions are sustained by social and spatial isolation from mainstream institutions Evidence from cross-sectional data sug- and activities. Although inadequine forgests that the declining economic status demonstrating the coincidence of these of Puerto Ricans can be traced both to three conditions for Puerto Ricans, re-poor economic performance and to the peated cross-sectional census surveys can low stocks of human capital possessed by shed some light on the emerging debatePuerto Rican workers. Although a sub- about whether and to what extent thestantial literature documents the im- deteriorating economic status of Puerto portance of edueation for labor market Rican families is accompanied by one success, the low educational achievement form of social dislocation, namely, labor of Mexicans challenges the completemss market detachment of the human-capital explanations. Mexi- One objective is to examine the laborcans have not experienced declines in market pmition of Puerto Rican men in labor market standing and economic comparison with that of Mexicans and well-being comparable to those of Puerto Cubans. A second objective is to docu-Ricans, even though their educational ment the influence of structural factors, levels are similar. namely, ethnic labor market concentration That a steep increase in poverty was and ethnic job queues, on Puerto Ricans'not experienced by all Hispanic groups earnings. The working hypothesis guiding raises questions about the salience of the analysis is that structural factorstostructural factors in restricting these ef- wit, rapidly falling employment opportu- fects to Puerto Ricans. My case is that the nities in jobs where Puerto RicAns tradi- weakened labor market position of Puerto tionally have worked, and the concentra- Ricans and their consequent impoverish- tion of Puerto Rkans in areas experiencing ment have roots in their placement at the severe economic dislocationare major bottom of an ethnic hiring queue coupled factors wcounting for the impoverish- with residential concentration in a region ment of this minority group. that experienced severe economic decline The following section sets forth theo- and industrial restructuring after 1970. retical issues bearing on the significance Each of these ideas is elaborated in the of national origin in producing and main- following pages.

I0 108 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

ETHNIC HIRING QUEUES the existence of ethnic hiring queues, shifts in unemployment will be highest The significance of ethnicity for the for the group or groups at the bottom of labor market stratification of minority the queue in the event of a wave of un- workers depends not only on local employ- employment.1This interpretation appears ment conditions but also on how indi- to be consistent with the Puerto Rican vidual ethnic traits circumscribe choices, experience after the mid-1970s. how ethnic traits are evaluated in the Lieberson't argumert has considerable marketplace, alai how ethnic traits are appeal for explaining the growing eco- used to organize the labor market If nomic inequality among Hispanic work- national origin is used as a criterion toers. For example, Mexicans have been define and maintain job queues, then the preferred workers in agricultural jobs at economic costs and benefits of residential least since the mid-1800s. Whik the in- concentration will derive not only from comes of agricultural workers are low opportunities to interact with members compared with those in other low-skilkd of like ethnicity but also from the role of jobs, when evaluated against the alterna- national origin in channeling minority tive of unemployment or nonparticipation wolkers to particular categories of jobs. in the labor force, agricultural work is The viability of ethnic hiring queues,preferable because it at least ensures however, is related to patterns of ethnicsome earnings. Puerto Ricans, unlike geographical concentration. Stanley Lieb- Mexicans, never have been preferred erson who succinctly summarized the laborers for specific jobs, with the possible ecologival foundations of racial or ethnicexception of women in garment and occupational differentiation, claimed that textile industries. Unionization initially a discriminatory hiring queue results whenprotected textile and garment workers, employers activate their prejudices and but the massive industrial restructuring preferentially hire workers on the basis of in the Northeasts which has resulted in ethnic traits rather than market skills.6 the elimination of many unskilled and Two aspects of Lieberson's queuing prem- unionized jobs, has dimmed the employ- ises have direct implications for the ensu-ment prosrwcts of all Puerto Ricans, ing analyses. One is that the job configura- including youths and mature men. tion of groups will vary in accordance Viewed in this way, the declining eco- with their share of the labor force in a nomic status of Puerto Ricans may have given labor market. Second, because of resulted partly from the rapid decline in 6. See Stanley Lieberson, A Piece of the Pie the types of jobs in which they were (Berkeley: University of Califonna Press, 1980. His disproportionately concentrated and part- ideas about the existence and operation of an ethnic job queue are derived from the following proposi- 7. Alternatively, during periods of labor short- tions: (1) that the occupational composition of a age, groups at the bottom will experience broadened community is independent of the ethnic or racial employment opportunities because the preferred composition of its population; (2) that groups differ groups will not fill allot the traditional employment in their objective qualifications for various occupa- opportunities. Under these eircumstantes, employ- tional activities; (3) that group membership dim aly ment shifts could bc most favorable for groups at affects occupational opportunity, owing to em- the bottom of the queue. This is consistent with the ployer preferences and tastes; (4) ant occupa- experience of Puerto Ricans during the 196th. tionsjobs-differ in their desirability: and (5) that 8. See George Borjas and Marta Tienda, eds., groups differ initially in their dispositions toward Hispeolim tn the US. Economy (Orlando, FL: certain jobs. Academic Press, 1985), esp. chaps. 10 and 11. 1 I PUEIZTO RICANS AND THE UNDERCLASS DEBATE 109 ly from a loss in relative earning poweraccentuated by the demarcation of hiring owing to low stocks of human capital in aqueues along ethnic lines. market whose demand for labor increased These ideas concerning how ethnic in some sectors whik it decreased indensity and ethnic typing ofjobs influence others.9 That Cuban men did not have aemploymnt outcomes suggest two work- similar despite their disProPor-ing hypotheses. First, 1 hypothesize that tionate representation in two of the samethe unequal labor market experiences of labor markets as Puerto Ricansin NewMexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban men York and New Jerseysuggests eitherduring the 1970s reflect their unequal that Cubans are ranked higher in anplwement in a hiring quetw, with Cubans employment queue or that Cuban workersat the top of the Hispanic queue and displaced by the employment-restructur-Puerto Ricans at the bottom. Second, the ing processes were more successful findingdisadvantaged labor market status of alternative employment by moving fromPuerto Ricans results partly from the New York and New Jersey to Miami. umqual benefits of minority labor market concentration reaped by each group. LABOR MARKET CONCENTRATION These ideas will be empirically evaluated here, after a brief review of the extent of The burgeoning literature on structurallabor market detachment experienced by aspects of labor market outcomes has Puerto Ricans since 1970. identified both positive and negative ef- fects of ethnie residential concentration LABOR MARKET DETACHMENT IN on employnwnt outcomes.10 For present COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE purposes it suffices to note that positive dfeets of minority labor market concentra- Failure to participate in the labor tion are consistent with an overflow ormarket, along with social isolation and power thesis: the former would derivepersisting deprivation, is a derming feature from the spillover of minorities intoof the urban underclass. Although na- .1ional data on chronicity of poverty and Ifigher-status jobs and / or the reorganiza- labor force nonparticipation do not exist tion of labor markets along ethnic lines, for Puerto Ricans, annual Current Popula- while the latter would stem from greater tion Survey data permit an initial foray political leverage of minority groups as a into questions of labor market detach- function of increasing group size. Negative ment and withdrawal. For this purpose, effects would be consistent with the dis- crimination and subordination theses, Hispauic men were classified into three categories based on their employment whereby minorities are systematically ex- status at the time of, and five years prior cluded from jobs or relegated to the least desirable jobs. This process would beto, the 1975, 1980, and 1985 Current Population Surveys:ft the stable active 9. Some indirect evidence on this point is category consists of persons, including afforded by comparisons of Puerto Rican unemploy- 11. The uniform SCAM of March Cunent Popula- ment rates in industries whew they historically have tion Survey files was created under the direction of been concentrated. These tabulations are available Robert D. Mare, of tlw University of Wisconsin, from the author. and Christopher Winship, of Northwestern Uni- 10. Marta Tienda and Ding-Trano Lii,"Minor- versity, with financial support from the National ity Concentration and Earnings Inequality: Blacks, Science Foundation through grant SOC-7912648 Hispanics and Asians Compared, American-tow- "Social and Demographic Soinves of Change in the nal of Sociology, 2 July 1957. pp. 141, 165. Youth Labor Force." Current Population Survey

1 1 10 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY dm unemployed, who were in the laborperiod characterized by slow growth and force at both points in time7,12 personstwo major recessions. who were in the labor force at the begin- The share of men experiencing unstable ning of the five-year period but not at theemployment hovered around 8 to 9 per- end, or vice versa, are classified in thecent among Mexicans and 4 to 7 percent unstable active categm; the stable inac-among Cubans. For Puerto Ricans it was tive category includes persons who werenot only considuably higher than that out of the labor force, and not looking forfor either Modeans or Cubans through- work, at both tbe beginning and the endout the period but also rose more steeply of the period.13 between the 1975-80 and the 1980-85 While less than ideal for evaluating theintervals, from 13 to 19 percentage points. hypothesis of labor market detachmentAn increase in unstable employment ex- because these cross-sectional data do notperiences is significant because it appears represent the continuous employmentto be a precursor to complete withdrawal. history of the same kutividuals over theBy 1985, the share of chronic detachment entire time span, results summarized inamong Puerto Ricans had reached nearly Table I fast row for each panelclearly6 percent, compared to 1 percent for show a steeper rise in labor marketMexicans and 3 percent for Cubans. instability and incomplete withdrawal The notable rise in Cuban labor market from the work force among Puertoinstability and withdrawal during the Ricans. Whereas the category of stable1980-85 interval partly reflects the pres- inwtive was virtually nonexistent priorence of a large segment of low-skilled to the onset of economic decline in theimmigrants whose labor market integra- mid-1970s, the share of unstable employ-tion process was more difficult than that ment rose between 1970 and 1985, aof earlier Cuban immigrants." A similar period-immigration-effect cannot be data for 1970 were not analyzed, owing to space claimed for Puerto Ricans, yet among constraints. them labor market withdrawal was even 12. Including the unemployed in the categorymore pronounced. Moreover, the lower of stable active overstates the share of worken with some income. For the present purposes, however,levels of market withdrawal and detach- this classification procedure is reasonable because ment among Mexicans, who also have the goal is to characterize changes in labor market become increasingly diversified by a high activity. For individuals to be classified as in theinflux of immigrants since 1970, challenge labor force, they had to be looking for work, itselfany simplistic explanations that interna- an indicator of commitment to work or attachment Inactivity, that is, classification as out of the labortional migration or, in the case of Puerto force, indicates that individuals were neither actively Ricans, cirvular migrationbetween is- employed nor searching for work. land and mainlandwas largely re- 13. The unstable active employment categorysponsible for the observed instability and largely reflecn withdrawal from the market over the five-year period, because only a trivial share ofwithdrawal workers moved from inactive to active status over TableIalso provides information the interval. My decision to pool the two unstable about social and economic characteristics active categories was based on the rule of parsimony. Also, it bears emphasizing that the cross-sectional 14. Alejandro Fortes, Alcx StePick, and CYnthia nature of the data makes it impossible to ascertain Truelove, 'Three Yeats Later The Adaptation whether additional employment-status changes oc- Process of 1950 (Mariel) Cuban and Haitian Ref- curred during the interval for which we have ugees in South Florida," Population &march and observed beginning and ending states. Policy Rtvkw, 5:53-94 (19E6). ; 3 PUERTO RICANS AND THE UNDERCLASS DEBATE 111 of the men according to employnnint-the 1916-85 interval, among McKim= experience categories. Although the sam- real incomes of those stably employed fell ple charactetistics are weighted to approx- 9.7 percent, incomes of the unstably imate those of tie total population, theemployed were virtually constant, and small sample sizes warrant cautious com- thoseri chronically inactive men dropped parisons between some categories, partic- substantially, by 7.5 percent. Puerto ularly for Cubans. Nevertheless, the con- Ricans fared somewhat worse in the wigs between Mexicans and Puerto 198es: family incomes fell 6.4 percent Ricans are striking and instructive. among men stably employed, 9.0 patent That labor market position is directly among those unstably employed, and 3.0 associated with economic well-being is percent among those who were out of the *arty apparent in the povezty and income labor force continuously. Thus the declin- data, which show substantially highering economic status of Puerto Ricans poverty risks for men whose labor market appears to be rooted in two factors: the experience was characterized by instability rising shares of prime-age men with un- or inactivity. Of course, stable employ- stable employment and chronk inactivity, ment does not always prechuie poverty, awl sharper declines in the incomes of because a share of the poor are full-tinw, those with unstable labor market experi- year-round workers whose poverty status ences. The latter may contribute to the derives from low wages, but the imidence withdrawal process, as chronically low of poverty for the stable active expetience earnings and unstable work lead to total category is considerably less than fordiscouragement and alienation from the workeis in the other two categories. 5 market. While real family incomes declined for Arguments about the importance of most groups between 1980 and 1985, they education for labor market success also did so differentially according to employ- find some support in the tabulations ment category and national origin. Cuban reported in Table 1. For all groups, labor men illustrate one pattern: essentially, force withdrawal and detachment were stably employed men dki not experience associated with lower stocks of education. a decrease in real family incomes through- The average educational attainment of out the period, although the rate ofMexican and Puerto Rican men was growth slowed during the early 1980s, roughly similar at the beginning of the from roughly 6.6 percent for the 1975-80 period, 8.4 and 8.6 years, respectively, period to 2.9 percent for the 1980-85 but over time, as the average schooling interval. stocks for these groups rose, differentials In sharp contrast to the Cuban experi- within experience categories increased, ence, family incomes of Mexicans and favoring Puerto Ricans over Mexicans Puerto Ricans who were stably employed among those stably employed, and Mexi- during the 1975-80 period rose roughly 11 cans over Puerto Ricans among those and 9 percent in real terms, while the unstably employed or chronically out of family incomes of men unstably em- the labor force. If human capital were the ployedunstable activefell by 5.6 per- major determinant of labor market with- cent and 8.6 percent, respectively. During drawal and detachment, then the shares 15. Poverty among those in the stable active of Mexicans with unstable and inactive category results in part from unemployment and work trajectories would be greater than low-wage experiences. those of similarly classified Puerto Ri-

I4 TABLE SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS OF ADULT HISPANICMEN AGED 25-64 eV LABOR FORCE EXPERIENCE(Means or percentages)

Period and Work Experience Category" 1980-86 1970-75 1975-80 Unstable Stable Stable Unstable Stable Stable Unstable Stable Stable active active inactive active active inactive active active inactive

Mexicans 89.8% 9.0% 11% Category total (percentage) 91.0% 9.1% 0.0% 91.5% 7.8% 0.8% 7,1 9.5 7.6 8.2 Education (yeart) 8.5 7.4 NA 9.3 8.6 (4.3) (4.6) (3.4) (s.d.)I (4.5) (4.1) _ (4.5) (4.7) (4.9) $8,031 $5,579 $4,484 Family income (1974 dollars) $8,015 $5,935 $8,890 $5,601 $4,849 (5,650) (4,522) (3,4313) (s.d)t (4,947) (4,411) (6,602) (5,188) (3,266) 17.7% 39.5% 44.1% poverty rata (percentage) 15.5% 27.5% 9.9% 38.3% 34.5% (157) (18) (18141 (1761 1241 [PII4 [6521 (67) 101 [17731

Puerto Ricans 74.8% 19.3% 5.9% Category total (percentage) 86.8% 13.2% 0.0% 84.3% 13,4% 2,2% 10.8 6.9 8 0 Education (years) 9.2 5.3 NA 10.1 7.5 5.1 (3.5) (4.4) (4.3) (a.d.ft (3.6) (3.2) (3.7) (3.8) (5.5) $7,908 $3,956 $4,293 Family income (1979 dollars) $7,752 $4,750 $6,453 $4.343 $4,425 (3 574) (4,7)5) (s.d.it (4,287) (3.721) (5,280) (6,951) (2,360) (5.107)

115 34.1% 12.2% 49.2% 46.7% Poverty rate (percentage) 11.6% 49.4% 11.1% 65.1% (2871 (49) 191 (3201 1691 1221 1N1* (152) (24) 101

Cubans Category total (percentage) 95.8% 42% 0.0% 95.7% 4.3% 0.0% 90.0% 6.8% 3.2%

Eduartion (years) 11.1 32 NA 112 10.5 - 11.3 8.8 10.9 (04)1. 14.0) (3.7) - (3.6) (4.6) - (3.9) (4.0) (3.9) Family income (1984 dollars) $9,565 $4,280 - $10,199 $0,283 $10,499 $3,658 $8,152 (s.d.)t (5,427) (2,581) - (5,963) (5,553) _ (7,829) (3,383) (4,732) Poverty rate (Percentage) 6.6% 22.3% - 6.4% 8.3% - 5.3% 512% 0.0% (N)t WC (51 (0) 11901 191 101 12271 (141 (71

SOURCE: Current Population Survey, standardized files, 1975, 1980, and 1985. See note 11. NOTE: Unless otherwise indicated, the figures in this table are weighted to approximate population parameters. *Stable active: in labor force at beginning end end of interval; unstable active: changed labor force status during interval; stableinactive: out of labor force at beginning and end of interval. t Standard deviation. tUnweighted sample size.

116 114 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY cans. In fact, just the opposite occurred. tion of jobs in shaping the economic This justifies a search for structural CA-opportunities and outcomes for Hispanic *nations, which is the topic of theworkers integrate two structural =Mattes following section. of labor marketsthe ethnic segmentation of jobs and the ethnic composition of JOB QUEUES AND DECLINING marketsand assess their inane= on LABOR MARKET OPPORTUNMES logged annual earnitgirs. I evaluate these premises by regressing the log of annual The theoretical and substantive issues earnings ci Mexkans, Puerto Ricans, raised earlier focus on how residence in ethnic labor marketsthat is, whetherand Cubans on measures of ethnic labor market comzentration and incumbency in individual workers reside in labor markets with high levels of ethnic concentra-an ethnic job queue. tion,6and ethnic job segmentation Table 2 reports descriptive statistics for samples of Mexican, Puerto Rican, whether jobs were ethnic typed, Anglo and Cuban men who worked during the typed, or not ethnically differentiated17 year prior to the 1980 census. The rank operate to stratify the annual earnings of ordering of the groups according to aver- Hispanic-origin men. The data used for this part of the analysis art from the 5age annual earnings shows Cubans well above Mexicans-23 percent higher percent sample of the Public Use Micro- and Puerto Ricans-30 percent higher data Samples of the 1980 census.", while a difference of less than 6 percent My arguments about the influence of separatea the latter two groups. Equally ethnic concentration and ethnic segments- striking are the educational gaps accord- 16. The distinction between high- and low- ing to national origin. Beyond the averap ethnic-density labor markets is derived from an schooling differentials reported in Table analysis of both the ethnic composition of labor 1, these data show appreciable dis- markets and the distribution of each ethnic group crepancies in the credentials held by among them. Briefly, a labor market area was dermed as one of high ethnic &Italy for a given Hispanic men. At one extreme, roughly reference group if the group was overrepresented two-thirds of Mexican and Puerto Rican relative to its share of the total population, based on adult men had completed less than 12 standardized, or x, scores. years of formal schooling at the other 17. The statistical procedures we used are de- extreme, about 4 percent had attended tailed in Marta 'Ganda and Franklin D. Wilson, "Ethnicity, Migration and Labor Fmce Activity" college, in contrast with 18 percent of (Paper delivered at the National Bateau of Eco- Cuban men. Mexicans and Puerto Ricans nomic Research Workshop on Migration, Trade thus appear quite similar in terms of and Labor, Cambridge, MA, 11-12 Sept. 1957). A human-capital characteristics as well as log-linear analysis was used to detennine whether hours and weeks of labor supply. Only in each ethnic group was ovenepresented (ethnic- typed), underrepresented (Anglo-typed), or approxi- English proficiency do Cubans appear to mately equally reptesented (nontyped), after adjust- ments for group differences in education and age census, hence school enrollment would not limit composition. labor force participation. Additional restrictions on 15. The sample includes approximately half of the sample excluded individuals who met the the men aged 25-64 who self-reported their race or following conditions: (1) never worked, or were out national origin as Mexican, Puerto Rican, or of the labor force continuously during the five years Cuban. Restricting the lower end of the age distribu- prior to the censue4 (2) wan enrolled in school or in tion to 25 rather than 16 ensured that most the military in either 1975 or 19$0; or (3) resided respondents had completed school at the time of the outside the United States in 1975.

1:7 PUERTO RICANS AND THE UNDERCLASS DEBATE 115

TABLE 2 DEMOGRAPHIC AND LABOR MARKET CHARACTERISTICS OF HISPANIC MEN AGED 26-84,1980

Mexicans Puerto Ricans Cubans

Dependent variable Annual earnings (logged) 923 9.18 9.43 (s.d.) (.08) (.87) (.82) Annual mean earnings $13,342 $12,687 $16,368 (9,414) (8,647) (13,069)

Individual characteristics Education (percentage) Did not complete high school 62.3% 69.9% 41.2% High school graduate 33.3% 36.1% 40.9% Some college 4.4% 4.0% 17.9% kle (Years) 39.3 39.5 46.1 (s.d.) (10.6) (10.1) (10.0) Good English (percentage) 78.0% 82.7% 63.6% Foreign born (percentage) 36.3% 77.3% 93.3% Work disabled (percentage) 5.0% 5.8% 3.5% Weeks worked 46.2 46.7 48.1 (s.d.) (11.0) (10.8) (92) Average hours worked weekly 41.7 40.0 42.6 (s.d.) (10.2) (10.0) (11.1) Household head (percentage) 862% 79.6% 89.6% Married (Percentage) 81.3% 71.7% 81.8%

Market characteristics Ethnic iob queue (percentage) Ethnic typed 13.0% 18.0% 13.0% Anglo typed 4.3% 6.6% 14.4% Nontyped 82.7% 75.4% 72.6% Concentrated area (percentage) 85.9% 83.2% 84.4% Ares wage rate $721 $7.88 $7.37 (0.97) (0.77, (0.61) Area unemployment rate 6.19 6.69 5.66 (1.98) (123) (1.30) [N] [5,728] [5,908) [3,895]

SOURCE: Public Use Microdots Samples, A-File, 1980. NOTE: The sample includes approximately half of the men aged 25-64 who self-reported their race or national origin as Mexican, Puerto Rican, or Cuban. Restricting the lower end of the age distribution to 25 rather than 16 ensured that most respondents had completed school at the time of the census, hence school enrollment would not limit labor force participation. Additional re- strictions on the sample excluded individuals who met the following conditions: (1) never worked, or were out of the labor force continuously during the five years prior to the census; (2) were en- rolled In school or in the military in either 1975 or 1980; or (3) resided outside the United States in 1975, In this table, standard deviations appear in parentheses; thPy are descriptive ktatistics based on a sample with nonzero earnings in 1979. r.

116 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

be disadvantaged relative to Mexicansweakens their labor market position, and Puerto Ricans, reflecting the shorterleaving them vulnerable to economic immigration history of the Cuban popula- cycles and ethnic prejudices. tion. The national-origin groups also Support for this proposition is found differ in terms of their family status:in Table 2, which shows that Ptmrto among men aged 25-65, Puerto Ricans Ricans were more likely to work in were las likely to be married and to be ethnic-typed jobs than either Mexicans household heads than either Mexicans or or Cubans, and in Tat* 3, which shows Cubans. that Puerto Rican incumbents of ethnk- My argument about the influence oftyped jobs were penalized 17 percent structural factors in explaining the weak- relative to their statistically equivalent ened labor market position of Puertocounterparts engaged in nontyped jobs. Ricans fmds sonx support in the summary For Mexicans, the earnings penalty for market characteristics. Puerto Ricans'incumbency in ethnic-typed jobs was residential configuration afforded themsomewhat lower, roughly 12 percent, the highest unemployment rates and thewhile incumbency in Anglo-typed jobs highest average wage rates. Cubans, onsustained economic rewards 19 percent the other hand, resided in labor markets above those received by incumbents of with relatively lower unemploymentanontyped jobs. These effects are net of difference of nearly one percentage point, individual productivity characteristics-- on average, compared to Puerto Ri-for example, education, English pro- canswhile the unemployment ratesficiency, disability status, age, and the where Mexicans resided were betweenconditional probability of being in the the Puerto Rican and Cuban extremes. wage sample. Puerto Ricans, however, Space restrictions preclude a full dis-did not reap additional earnings bonuses cussion of the implications of marketfrom incumbency in Anglo-typed jobs. conditions for the labor supply decisions Equally interesting are the earnings cot Hispanic men. Suffice it to note that, in consequences of labor market conditions. a separate analysis, area unemployment Whereas both Mexicans and Cubans rates exerted a significant negative effect,gained significant fmancial rewards from and average area wage rates a significant residence in high-wage areas-13 percent positive effect, on the labor force decisions and 3 percent, respectivelyno such ben- of Puerto Ricans, while for Cubans and efit accrued to Puerto Ricans. Moreover, Mexicans these effects were essentiallyresidence in labor markets with high zero.19 This appears to indicate that theconcentrations of the respective national- labor market behavior of Puerto Ricansity groups translated into an economic is more sensitive to labor market condi- liability for each group, but less for tions than that of either Cubans orPuerto Ricans than for either Mexicans Mexicans, but why this is so is lessor Cubans. This suggests that residential obvious, Moreover, among those in-concentration does not increase the ability dividuals who do secure employment, of these groups to protect ethnic workers uneven placement in the job queue furthervia political leverage derived from group 19. These results were based on a probit regres- size, nor does group concentration result sion of 1980 labor force participation and are in massive spillover into high-status and available from the author. well-paying jobs. That Mexicans and MERU) RICANS AND THE UNDERCLASS DEBATE 117

TABLE 3 EFFECTS OF ETHNIC JOB QUEUES ON EARNINGS OF HISPANIC MEN AGED 25-64, IMO (Metric coefficients)

Mexicans Puerto Ricans Cubans

Ethnic fob queue Ethnic typed -.116* -.170* -.257* (.029) (.025) (.033)

Aniffd 11,Peci .193' .067 .112* (.048) (.039) (.031)

Labor market Area wage .126* .018 .035* (.010) (.014) (.018)

CCM cen trated area -.172" -.079* -.180° (.029) (.027) (.031)

Education High school graduate -.253* -.068 -.238" (.050) (.064) (.037) Did not complete high school -.412" -.183* -.283 (.062) (.070) (.045) Age .042" ,032* .025* (.008) (.008) (.010) Age2 -.0004" -.0003* -.0002 (.0001) (.0001) (.0001) Good English .185* .128* .208* (.027) (.026) (.028) Foreign born -.029 -.080* -.070" (.024) (.024) (.044) Work disabied -.135* -.192* -.200* (.045) (.042) (.060) Lambdas .120* .098* .083" (.015) (.0141 (.015)

Constant 5.552 5.330 6.708 R2 .334 .300 .338

(5,726) 15.9081 [3,895)

SOURCE: Public Use Microdata Samples, A-File, 1980. NOTE: Effects of ethnic Job queues are adjusted for the effects of weeks worked and usual hours worked. Standard errors are in parentheass. The sample includes approximately half of the men aged 25-64 who self-reported their race or national origin as Mexican, Puerto Rican, or Cuban. Restricting the lower end of the age distribution to 25 rather than 16 ensured that most respon- dents had completed school at the time of the census, hence school enrollment would not limit labor force participation. Additional restrictions on the sample excluded individuals who met the following conditions: (1) never worked, or were out of the labor force continuously during the five years prior to the census; (2) were enrolled in school or in the military in either 1975 or 1980; or (3) resided outside the United States in 1975. °inverse of Mills ratio to correct for selfselection Into the wage sample. *Significant at the 95 percent level. 118 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

Cubans were more residentially concen-Ricans, it does nia address the issue of trated than Puerto Rkans in 1980 partlywhy the economic status of Cubans and explains why the effects of concentrationespecially Mexkans has not followed were more pronounced for them, but it issuit. While nca denying the importame of also conceivable that discrimination hasprejudice in maintaining socioeconomic intensifxd because of the lfts of low- inequality along racial and ethnic lines, a skilled jobs in New York My coupledstructural interpetation is consistent with with the growing presence of Dominicanthe uneven regional effects a economic and Colombian immigrants willing togrowth and decline that occurred during work in jobs that offer low wages andthe late 1970a and early 1980s. But a poor working conditions.m simple Rustbek-Sunbelt dichotomy set Substantively, the findings in Table 3against the backdrop of major recessions suggest that the process of channelingalso is inadequate to explain the impov- Puerto Ricans into so-called Puerto Ricanerishment of Puerto Ricans; their increas- jobs, coupled with the absence of earningsins labor market instability and with- bonuses for securing nontyped jobs, rein-drawal (Table 1) can only partly be forces the low earnings of Puerto Ricansunderstood in these terms. who do manage to secure employment. Additional and equally important in- But, as the analyses in Table 1 show, sincesights into the declining economic status 1975 increasing shares of adult Puertoof Puerto Ricans obtain from the results Rican men have not secured jobs, andshowing that the existence of ethnic labor residence in high-concentration areas hasmarket divisions also places constraints not improved the chances of employmenton the earnings frontiers of Hispanic for Hispanics, irrespective of nationalworkers, and Puerto Ric= in particular. origin. This is evident in results (Table 3) showing strong negative penalties for incumbency DISCUSSION in Puerto Rican jobs, and no additional compensation or bonus for the small During the 1960s and 1970s it wasshare of Puerto Ricans who manage to commonplace to attribute the existencesecure Anglo-typed jobs. Yet these results of racial and economic inequality toalso raise many questions about the eco- discrimination and to direct policy initia-nomic significance of ethnic job queues, tives aiming toward equal employmentwhich appear to operate differently for opportunity and affirmative action. TheMexicans and Cubans. While both groups experience of the 1980s, however, hasbenefit financially from incumbency in reaffirmed that a healthy economy is aAnglo-typed jobs, the share of each group necessary, albeit insufficient, conditionable to secure these better-paying jobs for reducing inequality. The economicdiffers (Table 2). Moreover, both groups experiences of Puerto Ricans provideare penalized for incumbency in eth- stark testimony concerning the ckkteriousnic-typed jobs, Cubans more so than consequence of economic decline. Mexicans. Although discrimination may still be a On balance, the empirical results pre- major factor accounting for the disad-sented are mow suggestive than conclusive vantaged economic status of Puertoas to the importance of structural factors 20. Sec Iknias and Ttenda, eds., filvanks Inin explaining the declining economic sta- the U.S. Economy, chaps. 10 and 1 1 . tus of Puerto Ricans. While the evidence

121 PUERTO RICANS AND THE UNDERCLASS DEBATE 119 of labor force withdrawal has arousedDominicans and Colombians in partic- speculation about the emergence of anularhas exacerbated the economic prob. underclass among Hispanics, largely con-lems of Puerto Ricans =I the extent to centrated among Puerto Ricans, the ab-which industrial restructuring has been sence of longitudinal data prevents ex-responsible for the labor market with- amination of the duration of labor marketdrawal of Puerto Rican men. Beyond detachment these strwturally focused Lim of inquiry, My results place the Puerto Ricanadditional study of labor market trajec- experience in a comparative perspectivetories is essential to cktermine whether and emphasize the promise of a structuralthe patterns of nonparticipation based on interpretation of labor force withdrawal.repeated cross sections represent tlw ac- While evidence of growing labor marketcumulation of chronic spells and per- instability and withdrawal is consistentmanent withdrawal among a segment of with one of the premises of the petsistingthe total population, or whether the poverty syndrome, further scrutiny of theobserved increase in nonparticipation concentration of labor market withdrawalamong Puerto Ricans reflects the increas- and social isolation is needed beforeing prevalence of short spells of nonpartici- concluding that Puerto Ricans have be-pation among the total population. Until come part of the urban underclass. Pri-these questions are satisfactorily an- ority issues worth investigating includeswered, discussions about the develop- establishing whether increased laborment of a Puerto Rican urban underclass market competition from immigrantswill be largely speculative. ANNALS, 444PSS, 501, January 1989

Immigration and the Underclass

By ROBERT D. RELSCHAUER

ABSTRACT: The size and nature of recent immigration to the United States have raised the possibility that immigrants have diminished the labor market opportunities of low-skilkd, native minority workers and, thereby, might have contributed to the emergence of the urban underclass. To the extent that imMigrants and native workers are substitute factors of production, immigrants may reduce the wage rates of native labor, increase tlwir unemployment, lower their labor force participation, undermine working conditions, and reduce rates of internal mobility. While casual empiricism would seem to support the notion that immigrants have depressed the opportunities of low-skilled native workers, careful and sophisticated analyses by a number of social scientists provide little evidence that immigrants have had any significant negative impacts on the employment situation of black Americans. Thus competition from unskilled immigrants should not be included on the list of factors that have facilitated the growth of the underclass.

Robert Reischauer is a senior fellow in the &anomie' Studies Program of the Brookings Institution, where he is compkting a book on America's underclass. He served as senior vice-president of the Urban htstitwefrom 1981 to 1986 and before that was the deputy director of the Congressional Budget Office. Reischauer has written extensively on domestic policy issues, peal federalism, and the federal bud,get. He received a A.D. in economks and an ALLA. in imernational teaks from Cohanbia University.

NOTE: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and should not be attributed to the Brookings Institution, its trustum, or its funders. 3 120 IMMIGRATION AND THE UNDERCLASS 121

IN recent years, a large number ofcame from Europe Canada, Austualia, immigrants, both documented andand New Zealand during the 1951-60 undocumented, have entered the United period, less than 15 percent of the im- States. Some °Wavers have feared thatmigrants arriving during the 1980s came this wave of immigration might have from these areas. contributed to the emergence of the urban The impetus behind immigration has underclass by eroding the labor marketalso changed somewhat over time. As prospects of low-skilled native minoritks. travel costs have fallen, desperate eco- The size and nature of the recent immigra- nomic conditions, population pressures, tion make such concerns plausible. Overand civil strife have continued to push the decade 1975-84, some 5.1 millionmany from their countries of birth. But aliens entered the country legally and anthe American monomy has not been wry estimated 1 to 3 million persons entered vibrant. Rising unemployment and slow in an undocumented status.' In raw wage growth have characterized the econ- numbers, this inflow came close to equal- omy during this period of increasing ing the nation's largest immigration wave, immigration. which occurred during the first decade of The size and characteristics of these the twentieth century. Relative to the size recent immigrant flows, and their occur- of the nation's population, however, the rence during a period of high unemploy- recent inflow is substantially below that ment, have rekindled fears that immigra- of the first three decades of this century. tion may be hurting the labor market The recent flow of immigrants hasprospects of native labor, in particular been notable not only for its magnitude low-skilled, minority workers. This pos- but also for its characteristics. After thesibility has generated particular concern enactment of the National Immigration because certain minority groups, most Act of 1965, an increasing fraction of the notably black males with few skills, have new arrivals were drawn from Asia, Latin experienced significant labor market prob- America, and other less developed areas. lems during the past decade and a half. Compared to previous immigrant waves, Black unemployment rates have risen fewer of these newcomers came from dramatically, the incomes of less educated Europe and Canada, more were non-blacks have not kept pace with those of white, and more had relatively low skill whites, and black male labor force partici- and educational levels.2 For example,pation rates have fallen. Specifically, the while 68 percent of legal immigrants unemployment rate for black males aged 25 to 34 rose from 8.5 percent in 1974 to 1. For estimates of the number of legal immi- grants, see U.S. Department ofJustice, Immigration 13.8 percent in 1985 while the rates for and Naturalization Service, Ssatiakal Yearbook; white males of the same age rose from 3.6 idem, press releases. For estimates of the number of percent to only 5.7 percent. The incomes illegal entrants, see Economk Ryon f the Presi- of less educated black males rose at a rate dent= Feb. 1986, pp. 216-19; Jeffery S. Passel, that was under two-thirds of that of "Estimating the Number of Undocumented Aliens,* Monthly labor Review, 109(9):33 (Sept. 1986). whites with similar levels of educational 2. The occupational-preference viSaS provided attainment. Finally, the fraction of the by the 1965 act tended to increase the skill and black males aged 25 to 34 participating in educational levels of immigrants relative to those of the native pop lation while the kinship preferences and the growth of undocumented immigration had New Immigration Less Skilled than the our the opposite effect. See Barry R. Chiswick, "Is the Journal of Labor Economics, 4(2):169-92(1936).

124 122 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY the labor force fell from 918 percent toeconomic activity as the immigants who 88.8 percent over the pixiod from 1974 to work and those who do not int:tease the 1985.3 demand for the goods and servkaes needed This article explores Um possibilityfor daily existence. The popular dismal= that the size and character of recenthas focused solely on the imams in dm immigration have hurt the labor marketsupply of labor and has assumed that this prospects for low-skilled minorities andincrease must lower the wages of native thereby might have contributed to theworkers. In Wu= words, it has been emergence of the urban underclass. Theassumed that immigrant labor and native next section of the article summarizes theworkess are what economists refer to as tlworetical framewca used by Jahr econo- substitute factors of production. mists to analyze the impact of immigration While an increase in the labor supply on the native labor force. This is followedcaused by immigration should act to by a description of the specific avenuesreduce the labor market prospects for through which the arrival of immigrantssome groups of native workers, this may might worsen the labor market prospects not be the case for all or even most types of the native workers with whom theyof native labor. In other words, some compete. The next section reviews thegroups of native labor may be comple- circumstantial evidence of these effects,ments to inunigrant labor and way find evidence that has clearly influenced public their labor market prospects improved impressions. This is supplenwnted with aand their wages bid up as a result of summary of the fmdings of some recentincreased immigration. Whether immi- social science research that examinesgrant workers are a compkment or a these issues. The concluding section dis-substitute for a certain categmy of native cusses several reasons why there appears workers will depend very much on the to be so little evidence that immigrationcharacteristics of the immigrants, the has played any appreciable role in therelative numbers and characteristics of deterioration of minority job prospectsthe native workers living in the labor and the growth of the urban underclass. markets in which the immigrants settle, and tlw strength of those local labor THE IMPACT OF IMMIGRATION: markets. THE THEORY Under certain circumstances, immi- gents could even prove to be a comple- Immigation both increases the supplymentary factor of production for all of labor and raises the overall level ofcategories of nptive workers. This would 3. The unemployment and labor force participa- be the case if the immigrants filled an tion rates are taken from U.S. Department of empty niche in the labor force; in other Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Handbook of words, if they were willing to do the jobs Labor Statistks. Bulletin 2217 (Washington, DC: that no native worker would accept at the Government Printing Office, Juin 19115), tab. 5. pp. 20-21, and tab. 27, pp. 71-72. The income figures are prevailing wage. Such a situation could derived from data contained in U.S.Departmentof lead to an increase in the demand for all Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Money Income types of native labor. For example, a In 1974 of Families and Persons in the United certain type of manufacturing might be States, series P-60, no. 101, Jan. 1976, tab. 58; idem, unprofitable in the United States because Current Papule:1ms Reports, series P-60, no. 156, Money Income of llousehokis. Fetnilks and Per- no native workers are willing to do the sons In the U.S.: 1985 (Washington, DC: Chwern- most unpleasant tasks required by the went Printing Office, 1987), tab. 35, p. 34 production process even for the highest , IMMIGRATION AND THE UNDERCLASS 123

wage that the manufaetwer, could pay The price reductions and increases in and still compete effeetivdy with imports. economic activity caused by immigration When immigrants who are willing to do should act to offset some of the detri- this work at a low waip arrive, an mental labor market effects of an increased industry is created. This then increasessupply of a particular type of labor. the &mind for native workers who fillUnder some extreme ciretunstanees, the the other jobs in the new industry and ininciease in economic activity could com- tin industries that supply goods andpletely offset any detrimental labor mar- services to the new industry. The apparelket impacts and all groups of native work- and furniture industries in Los Angelesers could find themselves as well or better conform to this pattern as does much ofoff after the immigration. For example, the fruit aud vegttable farming in thean influx of wealthy political refugees West and Southwest. Iranians, for instancefew of whom A similar situation could occur if theintended to work, or an increase in the positions of native workers, whom onenumber of immigrants who were the might expect to be competitive with theretired relatives of natives could produce immignints, were somehow protected. this result. For example, it has been suggested that Mexican immigration into southern Cal- AVENUES OF IMPACT ifornia might have raised incomes for black workers because a significant por- Most of the public discussion of the tion of California's blacks are employedimpact of immigration on labor markets has focused on wage rates, but wages are by the public sector and immigration has only one of five possible avemws through driven up the demand for public services. Because citizenship or legal entry is awhich the impact of immigration might prerequisite for public-sector employ- be felt. Unemployment represents a second ment, many of the immigrants were pre-avenue. Institutional rigidities could make cluded from competing with the blacks wages relatively inflexible. The minimum for these government jobs. wage and collective-bargaining agree- The more normal situation would bements are two such rigidities, but there one in which tix immigrants competeare others. For example, many large with some segments of the native labornational companies have uniform wage force and complement other segments. policies across geographic areas, some of Those for whom they act as substituteswhich are affected by immigrants and would find their labor market prospects others of which are not. Such rigidities damaged, while those for whom they are would preclude the full expression of the complenwnts would be helped. The charac- impact of immigration on wages and teristics of the immigrants, both actual instead may lead to increased unemploy- and those perceived by employers, would ment among those groups who must be important in determining which spe-compete with recent immigrants. To the cific groups of native workers were helpedextent that immigrants are viewed as and which were hurt.4 better, less troublesome, or harder work- ers, they would be preferred at any fixed wage over native labor. If this is the case, 4. There is no reason why the negative impact of immigration need be confmed to the unskilled portion of the labor force. For example, at the top the influx of foreign medical professionals has end of the skill spectrum, a case can be made that reduced the earnings of native doctors.

1 6 124 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY native lalwor may suffer more unemploy-blacks from the South to the cities .;" the ment because of immigration but littleNorth and Midwest are just some ex- notkeable reduction in the wage rates ofamples. thie possible effect of the recent those who remained employed. influx of immigrants may have been to A third avenue through which theslow down the pace of internal migration. impact of increased immigration mightThus the major impact of the flow of be felt is the labor force participation ofimmigrants into such expanding metro- competing workers. In recent years, thepolitan areas as San Diego, Phoenix, Los labor force participation rate for blackAngeles, and Miami may not be found youths has fallen signifwantly. Mostanaly-among the unskilled native work forces ses indicate that many of the youngof those cities htt ratha in St. Louis, persons who are out of the labor force do Gary, Newark, awl Detroit, where poten- want to work. At first glance, theirtial migrants to these more vibrant labor reservation wages do not seem to bemarkets might now be trapped because unreasonably high; in fact, they arethey cannot compete successfully for the slightly below those for white youths.savailable jobs in the boom areas. These reservation wages may, however, Finally, the impact of immigrztion be considerably above those of competingmay manifest itself not in wages, employ- immigrant workers. The net result mayment, migration, or labor force participa- be that competition from recent im-tion but rather in the working conditions migrants has incivased the fraction ofand fringe benefits of the join taken by native youths who have dropped out ofimmigrants. If significant numbers of the labor market. Those remaining in the blacks also hold these jobs, the effects of labor force may be disproportionately inimmigration on black workers may be protected jobs, such as the governmentfelt through a relative reduction in the sector, or in positions that require agenerosity of the health_insurance, vaca- strong communications ability. In othertions, pensions, and workplace safety words, they may be protected or comple-offered by these jobs. mentary factors of production. To summarize, there are a number of A fourth avenue through which im-different channels through which immigra- migration could affect the prospects oftion might affect the labor market pros- competing groups of native labor is in-pects for native workers, and it is unlikely ternal migration. U.S. history is repletethat the impact of immigration would be with examples of vast internal flows ofexpressed through just one or two of workers seeking better opportunities. Thethese. The most probable situation would movements west during the Gold Rush,be for all to be active to some degree. the flight of the Okies from the Dust Bowl in the 1930s, the migration from THE CASUAL AND rural areas to the industrializing cities CIRCUMSTANI1AL EVIDENCE that took place during the world wars, and the post-World War II exodus of The public has long been fearful that immigration has a harmful effect on 5. Harty J. Hohrr,"Illack Youth Nonemploy- native workers. Periodically, this fear has ment: Duration and Job Search," in The Black Youth Employment Crisis, ed. Richard B. Freeman erupted into political movements to re- and Harty J. Holzer (Chicago: University of Chicago strain immigration. The nation's first Press, 1936), pp. 23-70. restrictions on immigrationthe Chinese I7 _

IMMIGRATION AND THE UNDERCLASS 125

Exclusion Act of 1882 and the 1907drive a car, and sot= knowledr of the agreement to stop the entry of Jap-geography of du local area. A dropout ainsewere manifestations both of thisfrom an hitter-city high school should fear and of racism. certainly have an advantage on all of Public opinion polls suggest that dosethese dinonsions over a recent immigrant concerto are strong today and representfrom a Third World nation. Yet, in some some of the impetus behind the innnigra-cities, disproportionate numbers of cab don reform legislation that Congressdrivers are recent immigrants. For ex- passed in 1986 after four years of debate.ample, a recent survey found that 77 For example, a poll conducted in mid-percent of those applying for new hack 1986 found that one-third-34 percent--licenses in New York were born outside of the total population and 44 percent ofof the continental United Stateas blacks felt that immigrants were taking Cab driving is not the only low-akilled jobs away from Americans.6 A June 1983 occupation in which immigrants appear poll of the Los Angeles area, which ranksto have a strong foothold. In many cities, second only to Miami among metro-the crews that clean large office buildings politan areas most affected by recentare incivasingly dominated by recent immigration, found that almost half--immigrants, as are the kitchen staffs of 48.2 percentof the respondents felt thatmany restaurants, the personnel hired try undocumented aliens were taking jobs upper- and middle-income working wom- away from native workers and over two-en to care for their children, and op- thirds-68.6 percentfelt that immi-erators, fabricators, and laborers in grants lowered the wage levels in at leastlow-wage manufacturing industries. A some occupations! When compared to well-publicized exampk of the latter was whites and Asians, black respondentsthe composition of "tio New York 21," expressed significantly stronger convic- the group of 21 workers at the Hantscho, tions that undocumented aliens were un- Inc., plant in Mount Vernon, New York, dermining the labor market and that this who, on 22 August 1985, won one-third was affecting black workers the most. of what, at the time, was the nation's Casual observation of labor marketlargest lottery prize. Only two of the trends in large American cities would workers were native-born, the remainder seem to support these popular views.having come from such countries as Many of the low-skilled jobs that one Paraguay, the Philippines, Poland, Trin- might expect to find filled by minority idad, China, the Dominican Republic, workers with little education appear to bc Thailand, Yugoslavia, and Hungary. held by immigrants. Taxicab drivers are Some crude indication of the potential one noticeable example. The skills re-for competition between immigrants and quired for this job are an ability to black workers can be obtaimd by cumin- communicate in English, an ability to ing the changes in employment, unemploy- ment, and labor force participation that 6. New York TirnesICBS News poll conducted by Gallup in mid-1986, New York Timer. I July 8. Anne G. Morris,"The Impact of a Mandated 1986. Training Pfogram on New Taxicab Drivers in New 7. Thomas Muller and Thomas J. Espenshade, York Civ" (Report no. NY-I I-0034, Center for The Fourth Wave: Coltfornia's News; hnntignuus Logistics and Transportation, Graduate School (Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press, 1985), and University Center of the City University of New app. C, pp. 199-202. York, Dec. 1985), pp. 15-17.

128 126 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY occurred betweed 1970 and 1980. During Immigrant job growth was more heavily this period the size of the immigrantconcentrated in the slovier-growing occu- wetting-sr populaticmaged 20 to 64pations. Of course, it is possible that increased by rouelly the same amount asblacks were forced out of these mcwe the worliing-age black popultdion: 3.29 slowly growing occupations. This, how- million Necks versus 3.39 million immi- ever, does not seem to be a likely source grants. Recent immigrants, however, filled of the problem because not much of a divroportionate number of the new black male employment had been in these jobs mated during the decade. Of every 8 occupations.* new jobs, 1 was filled by a recentinimi- A simple comparison of black unem- grant, while blacks filled onlY I out ofployment, labor force participation, net every 11 new jobs. migration rate, and earrings in the metro- Over the same decade, the unemploy- politan areas that have experienced the ment rates and labor force participationlarva recent inflow of immigrants with rates of blacks and immigrants diverged. comparable data from those meuopolitan Black male unemployment grew from 6.3 areas that have experienced little new to 12.3 percent between 1970 and 1980, immigration also does not reveal any while the unemployment rate for malestriking evidence that immigration has immigrants rose from 3.7 to 6.5 percent. had a substantial impact. Tlw average The labor force participation rate for all unemployment rate for black males in the black males fell from 69.8 to 66.7 percent metropolitan areas with the greatest immi- over this period, and for those in their gration rose less than did the average rate prime working yearsages 25 to 44it for the areas that experienced little immi- fell from 87.8 to 84.6 percent. In contrast, gration (see Table 1). Similarly, in the the labor force participation of all male metropolitan areas experiencing the most immigrants rose from 64.0 to 68.9 percent immigration, the average black male labor and that for prime-working-alp immi- force participation rate fell less and the grants fell slightly from 91.8 to 89.4average earnings of black workers in- percent9 creased more than was the case in the While these diverrnt trends are disturb- metropolitan areas with little immigra- ing, there may be little causative connec- tion. The change in net black out-migea- tion between the labor market behavior tion, however, was slightly greater in the of blacks and immigration. A more de-high-immigration metropolitan areas. tailed look at the employment changes by Of cowl. :, these measures of labor occupation over the decade does not market performance are affected by many provide any strong evidence of competi-factors that are not controlled for in the tion or displacement. Black job growth crude comparisons presented in Table I . took place disproportionately in the more Therefore, these data do little more than rapidly growing occupational categories rule out the possibility that immigration such as managerial, professional, and has had an overwhelming effect on black technical workers, sales and clerical work- labor market performance. If the effects ers, and nonhousehold service workers. are subtle, more complex and sophis- 9. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of m. Joseph Alionji and David Card, "The Ef- the Census,1970 Census of Papolashmsubject fects of Immigration on the Labor Market Out- reports,National Origin and lamuage,PC(2)-1A. comes of Natives* (Paper delivered at the NBER June 1973: unpublished data from the U.S. Bureau Conference on Immigration, Trade and Labor of the Census. Markets, Cambridge, MA, 1987). IMMIGRATION AND THE UNDERCLASS 127

TABLE 1 CHANGE IN BLACK LABOR-FORCE PARTICIPATION RATES, UNERWLOYMENT RATES, MEDIAN EARNINGS, AND NET MIGRATION RATES FOR METROPOLITAN AREAS THAT EXPERIENCE SUBSTANTIAL AND INCMSEQUENTIAL IMMIGRATIM, 1970-80

Recent Labor Force Unemployment Median Net Metropolitan Ares Immigration Participation/ Ratet Earnings. Migration1 fa) Ibl (cl (di (e)

High immigration Miami 16.64 5,4 218.5 106.2 2.16 Los Angeles 12.93 -6.3 15.5 102.1 -4.21 New York 8.40 -9.5 53.1 88.0 8.72 San Francisco-Oakland 6.88 6,9 70 2 107 6 -2.84 Houston 4.97 03 96.6 159.5 2.03 Washington, D.C. 4.48 3.1 252.0 104.8 2.89 Average 9 05 5.3 117,7 111,4 -2.77

Law rmmigretion Indianapolis 0.58 3,7 11 9 113.9 -1.29 Cincirmat -Ham ton 0.58 12.3 236.7 89,5 0,0 St. Louis 0,63 -5,0 104.7 115.2 3,59 Pittsburgh 0.66 -2.2 187.4 122,7 0.48 Kansas City 0.87 -.11.0 71.4 80.1 -2.87 Buffalo 0.93 -21.6 134.4 113.8 -6.53 Average 0 78 -9.3 120.5 105.7 2.30 SOURCES: For columns a and e, U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1980 Census of Population, vol. 1, chap. C, subject reports, PC 80-2-2C, Geographic Mobility for Metro- politan Areas Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1985). For columns b, c, and d: idem, 1970 Census of Population, subject reports, PC (2)-28, Negro Population (Washington, DC: Govern- ment Printing Office, 1973); idem, 1880 Ohms of Population , vol. 1, chap. C, subject reports, PC 80-1-C1, General Social and Economic Charecteristi cs, pt. 1, United States Summary (Washing- ton, DC: Government Printing Office, 1984). *Percentage of 1980 population composed of immigrants arriving between 1970 and 1980. tPercentage change from 1970 to 1980 in labor force participation for black males aged 25 to 29. "Percente9e change from 1970 to 1980 in unemployment rate for black males avid 25 to 29. g.Percentege change from 1969 to 1979 in earnings of black males working full-time, full-yeer. ilPercentage-point change from 1970 to 1980 in five-year net black migration rate. ticated statistical procedures would be increases in immigrant labor. These mod- required to ferret thew out. els are estimated across samples of indi- viduals. The second approach examines THE ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE in detail the experience of a particular labor market, one that contains a large A number of recent analyses, using number of recent immigrants. The third sophisticated statistical techniques, have approach involves analyzing labor market attempted to measure the degree to which outconms across standard metropolitan immigrants have hurt the labor market statistical areas (SMSAs) or industries to prospects of native workers. These studies determine whether native labor in turas have used three approaches. The first of or industries with high immigrant shares these employs a generalized Leontief pro- haw been affected by this immigration. duction function framework to estimate The major contributions based on the the factor price elasticities of variousproduction function approach are con- categories of native labor with respect to tained in a series of articles written by

1 3 0 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

George J. Borjas and several others con-of Hispanic and non-Hispanic immigrants tributed by Frank D. Bean, B. Lindsayand found that neither group appeared to Lowell, and Lowell Taylor. Time anklesreduce the wages or annual earnings of utilize several diffrant data sources toblack males.13 Under certain circum- estimate the effects of various types ofstances, however, native Hispanic males immigrants on the wage rates, earnings,appealed to be a substitute for black and participation rates of different groupsmales. Bat* also found that women of native workers. Using data from theWen substitutes for men and that the Survey of Income and Education, Borjasincrease in the labor force participation found no evidence to support the viewof women has had a particularly law that Hispank mak laboreither immi-impaci on black male labor market pros- grant or nativedepressed the wages ofpects. Borjas also looked at effects of black male workers.11 Instead, this studyimmigration on labor force participation uncovered some weak evidence to support rates and found some evidence that white the view that Hispanics and blacks aremale immigration and the increase in complements. female participation had reduced the In another paper, using 1970 and 1980participation rate of black males. census data, Bodes examined the impact In yet another paper, Bodes examined of immigration on the annual earnings ofthe impact of four separate categories of various classes of native workers.12 An-male immigrantsblack, white, His- nual earnings, of course, are a product ofpanic, and Asianon five categories of wage rates and hours worked and thusnative workersblack, white, Hispanic, encompass unemployment, the secondand Asian males, and all femalesutiliz- avenue through which immigration maying data from the 1980 census.14 All affect the native labor force. Botjas'simmigrant groups were found to depress estimates suggest that male immigrationthe earnings of white native males, but increased the earnings of both young andonly black and Hispank immigrants had older black males in 1970; that is, thatan even marginally negative effect on the male immigrants were a completnentary earnings of native black males. The deptes- factor of production to black male work-sive effect of Hispanic immigrants was ers. Black male earnings were unaffected confmed to Mexicanas distinct from by female or Hispanic immigration. Sim-Cuban, Puerto Rican, and other His- ilar estimates using data from the 1980panicimmigrants, but the magnitudes census provided no statistically significant of these effects were minuscule. For evidence that black male earnings wereexample, one set of Boijas's estimated reduced either by recentoccurring be-parameters indicated that a doubling of tween 1970 and 1980or earlier pre-Mexican immigration would reduce the 1970immigration. earniags of black native males by less In a third study, using data from thethan 1 percent.ls

1970 census, Botjas separated the impact 13. George J. Borjas, "The Demographic Deter- 11. George Sodas, "Substitutability of Black, minants of the Demand for Black Labor,' in lack Hispanic, and White Labor," &anon* Inquiry, Mush Entploynwu Crisis, et Freeman and Holzer, 21:101 (Jan. 1983). F. 225. 12. Georgo Sodas, "The Impact of Immigrants 14. George Bosjas, Immigrants, Minorities and on the Earnings of the Native-Born," in hnnsigra- Labor Market Competition," Industrial and Labor tian: luues and Policies, ed. V. M. Bsiggs, Jr., and Relations Review, 40382-92 (Apr. 1987). M. Tienda (Salt Lake Oty, UT: Olympus, 1984). 15. Ibid., p. sax. 1 31 IMMIGRATION AND THE UNDERCLASS 129

Frank Bean and his colleagues haveinto Los Angeks did not seem to have used a similar methodology and 1980any negative labor market consequences cense; data to examine the impact offor the native black population. Ova. the undocumented Mexicans on the annual 1970-82 period, labor force participation earnings of native workers in 47 SMSAsof black adults in Los Angeles was con- in the Southwest." Their results suggest sistently higher than the national average. that the size of the undocumented Mexi-The labor force participation rate for can population has no depressive effect black females rose more than the national on the annual earnings of black males or average over this period, while du partici- females mut that legal Mexican immi-pation rate for men fell less than else- grants and native Mexicans are comple-where. Similarly, the unemployment rates mentary to blwks. The major detrimental for blacks in the Los Angeles area in- impact of immigration, both legal andcreased far less dramatically than they undocumented, was found to be on thedid in the nation as a whole over this earnings of other immigrants. A secondperiod despite the substantial inflow of study confirmed these fmdings and ex-immigrants into the area. tended them to cover black females and Tlw Urban lonitute analysis concluded blacks working in blue-collar occupa- that tlwre was little direct job competition tions." While the fmdings of these studies between blacks and Mexican immigrants are significant, their relevance may bein the Los Angeles area. Over 90 percent limited by the fact that they focused only of the net increase in black employment on the SMSAs of the Southwest, many of occurred in white-collar jobs, and, as a which have very small black populations. result, black wage gains in the area A number of studies have employed seemed to outpace those in the nation as the second spproach, which involves care-whole. The institute's researchers did find ful examination of the interactions be-considerable evidence, however, that the tween immigrants and native workers ininflux of immigrants had depressed wages a particular labor market. One of thein certain low-skilled occupations where most detailed of these is the Urban immigrant labor was concentrated. Institute's analysis of the impact of immi- Researchers at Rand have also ex- gration on the economies of southern amined the impact of Mexican immigra- California and the Los Angeles metro-tion on the economy and social structure politan area." This analysis found thatof California." They found that wage the large inflow of unskilled immigrants growth in California and Los Angeles 16. Frank D. Bean, B. Lindsay Lowell, and over the 1970-80 decade was slower than Lowell Taylor, °Undocumented Mexican bnmi- in the nation as a whole probably because grants and the Earnings of Other Workers in the of immigration. While immigration af- United States," Demoaraphy, 25(1):35-52 (1986). fected the earnings of native whites and 17. Frank D. Bean et al., "Mexican Immigration and the Earnings of Other Workers: The Case of Urban Institute, Aug. 1985); Thomas 1. Espenshade Undocumented Females" (Paper no. 9.014, Texas and Tracy Ann Goodis, "Recent Immigrants to Los Population Restart* Center Papers, series 9:1987. Angeles: Charaturistirs and Labor Market Im- University of Texas at Austin, 1937). pacts" (Policy Discussion Paper, Urban Institute, 18. Muller and Espenshade, Fourth Wove, pp. May 1985). 91-123; Donald M. Manson, Thomas .1. Espen- 19. Kevin F. McCarthy and R. Burciaga Val- shade, and Thomas Muller, "Mexican Immigration dez, Cu/remand Fliture iffeelsopfexkun hnntigra- to Southern California: Issues of Job Competition lion In California, Executive Summary, R-3365 / 1- and Worker Mobility" (Policy Discussion Paper, CR (Santa Monica, CA: Rand, 1985). 132 130 TEE ANNALS OF TUE AMERICAN ACADEMY blacks, their earnings still remained con-were colkcted in 1970, 1976, or 190. siderably above the national averages atLabor market dynamics could have the end of the period. changed some during the 1980s. About 5 The Urban Institute fesearchets aremillion additional immigrants have en- among those who have employed thetered the United States since the 19I0 thini approut, which involves examiningcensus, many local labor markets have the effects of immigration across metro-become extremely weak, and the minim= politan areas or irelustries using the areas wage has not been increased since1981. or industries as the unit of observation.ze Not only are the availahk data old, They used regression analysis to examinebut they also may not be sufficiently the effect of Mexican immigration ondetaikd to isolate the types of effects that black unemployment rates and familyare of interest. These effects may be quite incomes in a sample of 51 metropolitan localized, may affect only small groups of areas in the Southwest and to estimatenative workersfor example, young the effects of variation in the size of theminority workers with limited educa- Hispanic population on black unemploy- tional attainmentsand may be caused ment and family incomes across 247 ofby only certain types of immigrantsfor the nation's metropolitan areas. Theseexample, recent immigrants with few models uncovered no evidence of anyskills. Analyses that examine national signiftcant effects on unemployment ratesdata may not be able to umover effects and only a very small effect on familythat are felt in only a few geographic incomes in the sample of 247 metropolitan areas. The concentration of recent immi- areas. gration suggests that this shortfall could be a problem. The metropolitan areas of CONCLUSION Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Hous- ton, San Francisco, and Chicago absorbed The empirical work that was reviewed more than 40 percent of the net increase in the previous section provides no strong in immigrants over the 1970-80 period; evidence that immigration has signifi-the post-I980 immigration may have cantly diminished the labor market pros-been even more concentrated. pects for black workers. This conclusion Similarly, it may be necessary to disag- appears to be fairly robust; it is based on gregate immigration even more than has studies that use a variety of analyticalbeen done to uncaver the effects zt has approaches and a number of differenthad on certain:oall segments a the data sources. Therefore it is unlikely that native labor IV, oe The labor market recent immigration has played an appre-characteristics of thi. various groups of ciable role in the emergence of theimmigants differ greatly. One would not underclass. expect many of these immigrant groups Nevertheless, there are several reasons to diminish the labor market prospects of why this conclusion should be regardedpoorly educated, native minorities. For as tentative. Prime among them are theexample, immigrants from Western Eu- limitations of the available data. Most ofrope and Canada have characteristics the studies reviewed in the previous section that are very similar to those-of the native are based on fairly old data, data thatwhite work force, while those from India 20. Muller and Espenshade, Fourth Wave. have very high educational levels and ate

.1 3 IMMIGRATION AND THE UNDERCLASS 131 disproportionately competing for profes- and more on the dimensionssuch as sional jobs. Some 66 percent of the labor force participation, flings bowfin, Indian immigrants enumerated in the working conditions, and internal migra- 19110 cams had completed four years of tionthat have received less attention. college and 43 percent of those employed While tlx-re art these reasons to re- were in professional specialty occupations. examine the question when data from the It is also possible that the effects of 1990 census become available, the ending immigration are being manifest less on evidence suggests that immigration has the waps, earnings, and unemployment not been a major factor contributing to that the existing studies have examimd the emergence of the urban underclass. ANNALS, AAPSS, 501, January 1989

The Urban Homeless: A Portrait of Urban Dislocation

By PETER H. ROSSI and JAMES D. WRIGHT

ABSTRACT: In this decade, homelessness has been recognized as a serious and growing urban social problem. Using a new research approach to the study of undomiciled urbaa populations, we describe the social, economic, and demographic characteristics of the literally homeless population in Chicago. The homeless in the Chicago sample are unaffiliated persons living in extreme poverty, with high levels of physical and mental disability. Homelessness is interpreted as a manifestation of extreme poverty among persons without families in housing markets with declining stocks of inexpensive dwelling units suitable for single persons.

Peter H. Rossi, S. A. Rice Professor of Sociology, is acting director of the Social and Demographic Research Institute at the University of 14 fanachusetts, Amherst, and the recipient of the Common Wealth Award for contribution, to sociology. His latest work. Down and Out in America, a monograph on honwlesmess and extreme poveny, will be published in 1989. James D. Wright is the Charles and leo Favrot Professor of Human Relations in the Department of Sociology at Tulane University. He has authored or coauthored more than 80 scholarly papers; among his 1 1 books the most recent is Homelessness and Health, coauthored with Eleanor Weber.

1 3 5 132 THE URBAN HOMELESS 133

E4 EW of our contemporary social prob- accounts of the plight of homeless per- kms rival hmnelessness in the public sons, but these do not cumulate to precise attention received in this &cede.' There knowledge about the extant awl characta are ample and obvious reasons for this of the problem of homehissmiss. attention, for the plights of the homeless Reasonably valid data on lions*saness easily evoke sympathy and concern. In ais unquestionably difficult to obtain. Na- society that placep so high a value on the tional statistical series contain little or no concept of home and devotes so muchinformation on the honvaless population. attention to housing and its accoutze-The U.S. cern= essentially counts the meats, the vision of being without a home homed population; conventional surwys is clearly a frightening one, bound to are ordinarily derived from samples of evoke sympathy for persons so afflicted. households and therefore miss those with- The high level of concern about home- out conventional dwellings.3 This article lessness has not produced much in the describes the findings from research using way of empirically adequate knowledge an adaptation of modern sample-survey about the extent of homelessness and the methods, a study that is the first to conditions that produce it. Estimates ofprovide reasonable valid data on the the size of the national homeless popula- homeless of a major city, Chicago.4 tion vary from about a quarter million to A major significant obstacle to the upward of 3 million;2 equally wide varia- study of the homeless is the lack of an tions exist in the estimates for specific agreed-upon defmition of homelessness.5 cities and states. The sources of homeless- 3. The 1980 population census included some wis are also not understood in any detail. partial attempts to enumerate persons living in Is homelessness primarily a housing prob- shelters and in public places, such as train and bus lem, an employment problem, a condition stations, but this effort did not cover all places where homeless persons might be found nor did the created by deinstitutionniiiarion of the census cover all cities. U.S. Department of Coln- chronically mentally ill, a manifestation merce, Bureau of the Census, Persons in Instinakins of the breakdown of family life, a symptom and Other Grow Quaners. 1980 Census of Aoptda- of the inadequacies of our public welfare lion. pub. PC50-2-4D (Washington, DC: Govern- system, or a combination of these and ment Printing Office, 1954). Virtually all survey- or other factors? To be sure, there have been census-based estimates omit homeless persons., and most pass over institutionalized persons as com- many dramatic and moving descriptive ponents of such estimates, leading to corresponding underestimates of povetty-impacted populations. 1. The rather sudden welling up of concern 4. A full account of the methodology and the can be indexed by the number of listings under findings can be found in Peter H. Rossi, Gene A. "homeleisixtss" in the Reader's Guide to Periodical Fisher, and Georgianna Willis, 77te Condition of Literature (New York: H. A. Wilson, 1776, 1983- the Homeless of Chicttgo (Amherst University of 85). In 1975, there were no listings; in 1981. 3; in Massachusetts, Social and Demographic Research 1982, 15; in 1983, 21; and in 1984, 32. Institute; Chicago: University of Chirago, National 2. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Opinion Research Center, 1986). Development, A Report to the Secretary on the 5. On the definitional problem, see Edward Homeless and Emergency Shelters (Washington, Baxter and Kim Hopper, Prime Lives. Public DC: Office of Policy Development and Research, Spaces: Homekss Adults on the Streets of New 1954); U.S. Department of Health and Human York City (New York Community Service Society Services, Helping the Homeleu: A Resource Guide of New York, Institute for Social Welfare Research, (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1954); Steven Crystal, Chronic and Situational 19134); U.S. General Accounting Office, Homeless- Depentkrtce: Longterm Residents in a Shelter for nest: A Complicated Problem and the Federal Men (New York: Human Resources Administration Response, 1985. of the City of New York, 1982). LQ6 134 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

.3 On the most general level, the homelesssampled within their customary dwelling can be defined as those who do not haveunits, an assumption that fails by defini- customary and regular access to a conven-tion in any study of the literally hornless. tional dwelling or residence. But what is aThe strategy devised for tin Chicago conventional dwelling or residence, andstudy thesefore departed from the tradi- what is customary and regular access?tional sample survey in that persons were There is a continuum running from thesampled from nondwelling units and obviously domicikd to the obviouslyinterviews were condusted at times when hornless, with many ambiguous cases tothe distinction between the homed and be encountered along that continuum.homeless was d amaximum. Two comple- Any effort to draw a line across thatmentary gawks weft taken: (1) a prob- continuum, demarcating the homed fromability sample of palms spending the the homeless, is of necessity somewhatnight in shdters provided for homeless arbitrary and therefore potentiallypersonsthe shelter survey; and (2) a evntentieus. compkte enumeration of persons encount- These definitional ambiguities are notered between the hours of midnight and 6 simply scholastic issues. A definition ofa.m. in a thorough search of non-dwelling- homelessnevia is, 0.sceircro. a statement asunit places in a probability sample of to what stould constitute the floor ofChicago census blocksthe sired survey. bowing adequacy below which no mem-Taken together, the shelter and street ber rJ society should be permitted to fall.surveys constitute an unbiased sample of Iteqa.ly obvioes that the number andthe literally homeless of Chiciego, as we existential conditions of the hotnekssdefine the term. depend in'to :MAU part on how dm Our research classified persons as liter- phenorneec n LB defined. ally homeless if they were residents of Ii deeling with these definitional prob-shelters for homeless persons or were lems, we ha ezi ceund it useful te 4istinguishencountered in our block searches and between ( I) the literally i omdess, personsfound not to rent or own a conventional who deeriy do oot have aceess to ahousing unit. cenventienal dweling end who would be In the street surveys, teams of interview- homeless by auy coeceivable definition ofers, eccompanied by off-duty Chicago the term; wed (2) prezariously, or margin-police officers, searched all places on ally, houeee persons, with tenuous oreach sampled block to which they could %tie temporary claims 4o a conventionalobtain access, including all-night busi- dwering of more or less merreinel see,nesses, alleys, hallways, roofs and base- +lacy. This diatinetion, of mrse, doesments, abandoned buildings, and parked Got evlye fee definitional problem, al-ears aod trucks.6 All persons encountered though it does MOM dearly spreii'y subeop- tf. Instructions to interviewers were to enter all Cations of likely policy interest. platei until they encountered kicked doors or were forhicidenfor example, by managers or propri- etors--to go further. Police escorts were hired to METHODOLOGY LNED IN THE protect interviewers. Cooperation rates were 81 CHICAGO seuee percent in the shelter surveys and 94 percent in the street surveys. The majority of the slr-her respon- Most coeventional quantitative social dents not interviewed were not present at the time of research methods depend on the assump- interview, being temporarily out of the shelter for tion that pe teens can be enumerated and own reason or another.

A. "ft THE URBAN HOMELESS 135 were Taxied to determine whether theynifkant was a minority of young black were hmneless, and they were interviewed womenabout 14 percent of the home- if found to be homeless. lesswho were, ty0cally, homdeas with We believe the Chicago Homelesstheir young children and apparently in Study to be the first attempt to applytransition fron unsatisfactory housing modern sampling methods to the study ofarrangements to establishing new house- the homekss, awl, as such, it provicks theholds with those children. In addition, fust sciernifically defensible estimates of older maksover40---tended to be white the size and composition of tin homekss and were usually hamlets for relatiwly population in any city. long periods of time. In the wealth of social and economic ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND detail contained in our interview data, DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS three salient characteristics of the home- OF THE UTERALLY HOMELESS less stand out extreme poverty; high Being homeless is predominantly alevels of disability resulting from poor male condition; three out of four-76physical and =nal health; and high percentof the homeless were men, in levels of social isolation, with weak or sharp contrast to the proportion of the nonexistent ties to others. Chicago adult population that is male, 46 percent.7 Blacks and Native Americans Extreme poverty constituted considerably more than their The literally homeless are clustered at proportionate share of the homeless, with the extreme lower boundary of the Amer- whites and Hispanizs proportionately un- ican population that is in poverty. Within derrepresented. Although the average age the rather narrow income range found, of the homeless-40 yearswas not farthere was some heterowneity, as the from that of the general adult population, differences between the various measures there were proportionately fewer of theof central tendency show. Tlx mode very youngunder 25and the old, orcomprised the almost one in five-18 those over 65. Nor were the homelesspercentwho reported no income at all very differ:nt from the general population in the month prior to the survey; median in educational attainment, the typicalincome for the month was $99.85, and homeless person being a high school average, or mean, income for the same graduate. period was $167.39. Given that the 1985 The modal homeless person was apoverty level for single persons urder 65 black male high school graduate in his was $5250, the official poverty level was middle thirties. Average characteristics, 2.6 times the average annual income and however, obscure an important fact,4.4 times the nwdian annual income of namely, that the homeless population is Chicago's literally homeless.8 On average, somewhat heterogeneous. Especially sig- the literally homeless survive on substan- tially less than half the poverty-level 7. The percentage of women-24 percent-- income. among the homeless is in stark contrast to the homeless, or skid row, population of Chicago as S. Poverty levels for households of various studied in the late 19508, virtually all of whom weTe sizes and for various years are given in The men. See Donald Bogue, Skid Row in American Swanked Abstract of the United States (Washing- Cities (Chicago: University of Chicago. 1963). ton. DC: Government Printing Office, 1986).

I :4 ffrd 136 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

In Chicago there is almost no afford-time employment lasting three or more able housing at these levels of income. Inmonths; the median amount of time was 1985, the average monthly rental for3.3 years, or 40 months. Intermtingly, SRO rooms, among the cheapest accom-elapsed time since last steady job was very modations available for single persons,much greater than time currently home- was $195,9$27 above the averagemonthlyless, the latter averaging about 22 months, income of the homekss. At this level ofwith a median of 8 months. w l'his suggests extreme poverty, spending one'sentirethat many among the literally homekss available income would still not be quitewere helped by their families awlfriends enough to afford llw cheapest avahablethrough zelatively long periods of unem- housing, much less also cover the costs ofployment,11 but that the patieme, forbear- food and other necessities. That the liter-twee, or resources of thesebenefactors ally homeless manage to survive at all is aeventually ran out, with literal homeless- tribute to the laudable efforts of the shel-ness then added to chronicunemployment ters, soup kitchens, and charitabk orga-as a problem experienceddaily. nizations that provide most necessities. The homeless make some contributionDisability to their own support. Although a very Many disabling conditions plague tiw small percentage-4 percentheld full-homeless, ones that would ordinarily time jobs, almost two in five had workedmake it difficult or impossible for a for some period over the previous month,person to lend a full lifetoobtain mostly at casual, poorly paid pan-timeemployment, participate in social life, or jobs. Remarkably, work and other eco-maintain relationships with others. Of nomic activity was, on average, the source course, disability is a matter ofdegree, so of 29 percent of total monthly income. that it is difficult to calculate precise Even more of a surprise, income transfer proportions; nevertheless, it is abundantly payments accounted for very little of clear that the proportions among the their income, with only about a quarter- literally homeless are much higher than in 28 percentreceiving Aid to Family with the general adult popuhition. Dependent Children (AFDC) or General More than one in four reported that Assistance (GA)mostly the latter. In- they had some health problem that pre- 30 come transfer payments amounted to vented their employment. Prominent percent of the total income; another 21 among the conditions reported were men- percent was accounted for by pension and disability payments, received by to. "Time cunently homeless" is counted as about one in five, or 18 percent. months elapsed since last domiciled. Many homeless pcople have been homeless more than once; among Job histories of the literally homeless those who had become homeless sometime in the suggest that they have been among the year prior to the interview, I I percent had had one extremely poor for years. On the average or more homeless episodes in previous years. it was more than 4.6 years, or 55 months, 1 I. Research on recipients of General Assistance since their last steady job, defined as full- in Chicago documents that many of the extremely poor stilliVe mainly through the goodwill offamily 9. Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, SRO's, and friends. See Matthew Stagner and Harold An Endangered Species: Single Room Occupancy Richman, General ASSLOallee Profiles: Radings Hotels in Chkago (Chicago: Jewish Council onfrom a Longitudinal Study of Newly Approved Urban Affairs and Community Emergency Shelter Recipients (Chicago: University of Chicago, Na- Organization, 1985). tional Opinion Research Center, 1985).,

,f4 F.c.

THE URBAN HOMELESS 137

tal illness, cardiovascular ailments, andmorning symptoms of &premien, nearly gastrointetninal disorders. Likewise, morehalf-47 percentof the Chicago home- than one in three-37 percentreportedless registered levels suggesting a need for themselves as being in only "fair" orclinical attention, compared to about 20 "poor" health, a level of self-reported illpercent in the national Health and Nutri- Wrath about twice that found in thetional Examination Survey. On a second general adult population, 18 percent.scale, measuring psychotic thinking, one Behavioral indicators support these self-in four showed two or more signs of reports, with more than one in fourdisturbed cognitive processes; almost reporting a hospital stay of more than 24every item showed significantly higher hours during the previous year.12 Highlevels of psychotic thinking than a compar- levels of alcoholism and drug abuse areison group tested in a New York Cky also indicated by the one in three whoworking-class neighborhood. reported stays in detoxification centers. Contacts with the criminal justice system Relatively high levels of mental illnessrepresent yet another, albeit qualitatively are evident in the data Almost one indifferent, disability that is rather wide- four-23 percentreported having beenspread. Such contacts at least indicate in a mental hospital for stays of over 48prior adjustment difficulties, some of a hours, more than eight times the levelrather serious nature. Two of five-41 found in the general population. Amongpercenthad experienced jail terms of those who had been in mental hospitals,two or more days, zs percent had been three out of five, or 58 percent, had hadconvicted by the courts and placed on multiple hospitalizations. Nearly one inprobation, and 17 percent had served five-16 percentreported at least onesentences of more than one year in state suicide attempt. or federal prisons, presumably for felony In addition to the self-report data, two offenses. short scales were administered to measure The cumulative incidence of these var- psychiatric symptomatology.13 On a scaleious disabilities is staggering. More than 12. For the self-reported health status of the four out of five-82 percentof the U.S. adult population for 1982, see the first Special homeless either reported fair or poor Report of the R. W. Johnson Foundation (1983). health, or had been in a mental hospital Additional data on the health status of the homeless or a detoxification unit, or received clini- are reported by P. W. Brickner et aL, Health Carr of cally high scores on the demoralization Homeless People (Ncw York: Springer-Verlag, 1985); James Wright et aL , in Research in Social scale or on the psychotic-thinking scale, Probkms and Publk Policy, ed. M. Lewis and .I. or had been sentenced by a court. A Miller (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1987), 4:41-72. majority had had two or more such 13. The first scale was a shortened version of experiences or conditions. Although these the CES-D scale measurim symptoms of depres- data clearly do not sustain precise es- sion, developed by the Center for Epidemiological timates of the degree of disability among Studies of the National Institute of Mental Health for the national Health and Nutritional Examination the literally homeless, it is clear that the Survey; the second was a shortened version of the prevalence is several magnitudes above Psychiatric Epidemiological Research Interview that encountered in the general adult developed by Dohrenwend and associates. Barbara population. S. Dohrenwend et aL, "'Social Functioning of Psychiatric Patients in Contrast with Community Dohrenwend et aL, "Nonspecific Psychological Cases in tbe General Population." Archives of Distress and Other Dimensions of Psychopath- General Psychiatry, 40:1174-82 (1983); Bruce P. ology," ibid., 37:1229-36 (1980).

1 LI 0 138 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

Social isokaion fore especially vulnerable to the vagaries of fortune occasioned by changes in A high degree of social isolation is also employment, income, or physical or men- endemic among the homeless. Nfix4-57 tal health. percenthave never married; of those ever married, most are separated or di- vorced, on either count in sharp contrast AN INTERPRETATION OF HOMELESSNESS to the patterns of the general adult popula- tion. 14The very few-9 percentwho are The characteristics of the homdess as still with families are almost exclusively derived from the Chicago Homeless Straly homeless women with dependent chillren. pertain only to Ow literally honntless and The literally homeless are telatively are not necessarily descriptive of the isolated from extended family and from precariously honwd. Indeed, there is some friends. Nearly nine in ten-88 percent evidence that the latter may also be in have surviving-relatives and family mem-extreme poverty but differ in other im- bers, but only three in five-60 percent portant respects. The Illinois GA rolls for maintain even minimal contact with them the city of Chicago in 1985 contained visiting, writing, talking with, or telephon- about 100,000 indivklual recipients, most ing them at least once every two or three of whom were single-person households, months. Similar low levels of contactlargely male, and with annual incomes with families of procreationspouses, below $1848, the eligibility cutoff point ex-spouses, or childrenwere also re- Given that G A monthly payments of up ported; 55 percent had such persons, but to $154 are by tiremselves insafficient to only one in three maintained contact with bring recipients above $1848 per year, we them. Overall, one in three reported no can consider GA clients as among the contact with any relatives and almost one extremely poor. Because only few are in four reported no contacts with either literally homeless, we may regard the relatives or friends. clients as reasonably representative of the Further evidence on strained relations precariously homed of Chicago or at least with family and relatives was shown in of some large portion thereof replies to a sequence of questions on Stagner and Richman'S study of those preferred living arrangements. We asked receiving GA in 1984 provides a descrip- whether respondents would like tc Letum tion of this group showing them to be to their families and whether their families similar to the literally homeless in demo- would take them. Among the young graphic composition.15 Most-68 per- homeless women, very few wanted to centare male, 71 percent are black, and return; many of the young men would 91 percent are unmarried; they tend to be have liked to but believed they would not slightly youngerthe average age was be welcome. 34than the literally homeless. GA recipi- The social isolation of many of the ents contrasted strongly with the literally homeless implies that they lack access to homeless in three important respects. extended social networks and are there- First, GA recipients are considerably more integrated socially, with half living 14. It is interesting that, despite their marital with relatives and friends and an addi- histories, more than half-54 perecnthadchil- dren.but current contact with these children tended 15.Stagner and Riclunnn,General Assistance to be minimal. Nofiks. THE URBAN HOMELESS 139 tional 30 percent receiving financial assis-households. The incidence of literal tance from such sources. Second, dis-homekssrums falls very heavily on persons ability levels among GA clients are muchwho are unaffiliated with households and lower. Far fewer-9 penenthave physi-upon those who have been extremely cal-health conditions that prevented em-poor for long periods of time. The home- ployment or laid been in mental hospitals,less therefore are the long-term vet), poor the latter amounting to 1 percent Third,who have been unabk to maintain suppor- GA clietas had work histories with short-tive connections withor have been re- er median periods-19 monthsincejected bytheir parental families and their last full-time jobs. friends and who have not been able for a There are undoutnedly other personsvariety of masons to establish their own in Chicago, as poor or poorer, who arehouseholds. not on the GA rolls. Some of the precari- Why the literally homeless have been ously homed extremely poor participateextremely poor for so long, why they in other income-maintenance programshave been rejected, and why they have such as AFDC or Supplemental Securitydifficulty establishing such households Income (SSI), receive payments underare issues very likely connected with their Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI)disabilities. Persons with serious dis- or other retimment plans, or are receivingabilities are likely to experience difficulty unemployment benefits. It is difficult toconnecting with full-time lasting employ- estimate the total number of the extremelyment and also difficulty maintaining their poor of Chicago, although the magnitudeshares in the webs of reciprocity that is at least 100,000 and possibly as many asconstitutes the support structures of kin 200,000 persons whose annual incomesand friends. It should be noted that from all sources are under $2000, 38because their parental families and friends percent of the official poverty level. Most,likely also are among the poor and have if not all, of these extremely poor personsfew resources to share with others, the are at high risk of becoming literallyburden of taking on the support of an homeless. additional adult is high. If the adult in Considering jointly the special andquestion presents behavioral difficulties distinctive features of the literally home-and a prospect of being dependent in- less in relation to the contrasting character-definitely, it is quite underztandable why istics of other extremely poor persons, werelatives and friends may be reluctant to offer the following interpretation of home-take on a burden that would strain both lessness and some speculation about theresources and patience. forces that influence changes in the size of The literally homeless constitute only the homekss population. a very small fraction of the very poor, At the base of our interpretation is themost of whom manage somehow to viewpoint that literal homelessness isavoid literal homelessness. Using the size primarily a manifestation of extreme pov-of the Chicago GA rolls, 100,000, as a erty. Literal homelessness, or the pro-conservative estimate of the magnitude of portion of persons being literally withoutthe very poor, the literally homeless consti- conventional housing, is a function oftute about 2.7 percent of the very poor. extreme poverty, in a housing marketTo understand literal homelessness prop- that has an inadequate supply of very lowerly and to predict its course, we need to cost housing to offer to single-personknow more about bow most of the very 142 140 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY poor manage to avoid that condition. Weto be in rented quarters all the time. Their can speculate, on the basis of somesmall pensions or welfare thecks can be knowledge, that they do so mainly by stretched to cover, say, all big the last few either overspending on housing or beingdays before the next check arrives. These subsidized by their families and friends. are persons who arc homeless on a part- time basis, supplimmting their rented Overspending on housing quarters by spending some nights in shelters or on the streets. Some of the extremely poor may avoid literal homelessness by spending all Private subsidies or mostly all of their cash income on housing. These are persons who live in Most of the extremely poor avoid single-room-occupancy hotels or fur- literal homelessness by being given hous- nished rooms or share inexpensive apart- ing and subsistence at little or no charge ments and who obtain food through food by their relativesmainly Parents and stamps or handouts from food kitchens; siblingsand friends. The households clothing from charitable sources; andthat provide these subsidies incur the medical care from free clinics and through marginal costs of adding another person Medicaid. To pursue this pattern of life to be housed and fed. Note that these consistently, one must also have a con- costs may not be a severe financial drain sistent source of income as provided by on t.: le household in question, especially if minimum OASI payments, small pen- the person in extreme poverty provides sions from other sources, GA, disability some payments to the subsidizing house- payments, and perhaps small remittances hold or shares in household chores. For from relatives or ex-spouses. They must example, adding another adult person to also live close to facilities that can provide a househokl may not mean any additional free or low-cost meals, casual employ- rent outlay, nor may it be necessary to ment, and the other amenities. purchase any additional food, if the ra- We suspect that the reason why there tions given to every household member were so few very old persons among the are diminished in order to share with the literally homeless is because even mini- additional member. But there are other, mum OASI payments provide sufficient nonfinancial costs, including increased consistent income to enable retired per- space pressures, reduced privacy, lower sons or their surviving spouses to live food quality and quantity, and increased alone or share dwellings with others. The weax and tear on facilities. In addition, same line of reasoning can explain why so there is also the potential for interper- few of the literally homeless were receiving sonal conflict. disability payments: SSI recipients re- Private subsidies may be virtually the ceived enough consistent income from only way that extremely poor single SSI payments to connect with the lowest persons can live on the income-main- end of the housing market. The homeless- tenance payments to which they may be ness literature is full of references to entitled. Illinois's GA payments of $154 persons in extreme poverty who spend as per month are simply not enough to much as they can on housing from their allow a recipient to enter the private small pensions or other remittances but housing market. AFDC payments to find that they do not have enough money single-parent households, although more

1 4 3 141 generous than GA, also fall short ofgenerous the levels of welfare support, providing enough to live on without the more likely families are to inn up with additional income in kind or cash. their long-term unemployed and disabled The fmegoing suggests that the size ofadult relatives. Many commentators on the literally homeless population is driven the homeless problem suspect that cut- by those macro processes that affect the backs in social welfare programs have led availability of low-Wiled employment,to an increase in homelessness. In this the ability of poor families to help theirconnection as well, the processes involved less fortunate members, the market condi- may work indirectly, by providing lower tions affecting the supply of very low cost incomes to poor familks and thereby housing for single persons, and the cov- lowering their abilities to subsidize their erage of income-maintenance programs adult unemployed members, and directly, for disabled and single persons, asby lowering the coverage and real value follows: of income-maintenance programs avail- able to single persons. Income transfer 1. Changes in demand for low-skilled payments over the past two decades have worker... The employment prospects fornot kept pace with inflation. The recent low-skilled workers= affect the number rise in the size of the literally homeless of literally honxless in two ways: directly,population may be at least a partial by influencing the job prospects for low-reflection of the lowered real value of skilled single persons and hence theirwelfare payments and the consequent abilities to earn sufficient income to keepdecreased ability of poor families on them from being extremely poor, and AFDC or other income-maintenance pro- imlirectly, by influencing the abilities of grams to subsidize their peripheral unem- families to provide subsidies to theirployed adult members. Similarly, the long,term unemployed peripheral adult decline in the real value of GA payments members. A major difference between implies a correspondingly decreased abil- the description of Chicago's skid row inity of single-person households in that the late 1950816 and the portrait emerging program to afford rentals available at the from the our 198546 study is that in the bottom of the housing market. earlier period a strong market demand 3. Changes in the coverage of income- apparently existed for casual labor from maintenance support programs for dis- which the homeless men living in the abled persons, including admission into flophouses and cheap hotels could earntotal-care institutions such as mental enough to pay their rents and buy food. hospitals. The greater the coverage of Side by side with the flophouses ondisability payment programs, the more Madison Street in Chicago were employ-likely are disabled single persons to be ment exchanges for casual laborers. With able to afford low-cost housing for single the decline in demand for low-skilledpersons. Hence the less likely are such casual labor such employment exchanges persons to become homeless. Similarly, are no longer available. changes in the coverage of indoor support 2. Changes in the level of income- programs, such as mental hospitals, can maintenance support for poor familiesalso influence the number of persons and for poor single persons. The morewho are literally homeless. In this view, 16. Bogue. Skid Row in American Cities. being institutionalized may be regarded

14 142 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY as a form of public subsidy for thebecause of alcohol and, to a kiwi extent, maintenamm of extremely poor persons. other substance abuse. Measures taken Deinstitutionalization forces such ex-to reduce the ammmt clakohol abuse dur- tremely poor persons eitllier into theing early adulthood, particularly among literally homeless group or into themales, woukl do much to reduce the privately subsidized poor. prevalence of disability in their middle 4. Quantkative and qualitative changes yean. in the supply of very low cost housing. As These macro processes suggest both low-cost housing units for low-income short-term and long-term remedies for families become short in supply or smaller the extremely poor and the literally home- in size, the greater becomes the burckenless in America. Short-term =sures imposed on such families by support for that would considerably ameliorate the their long-term unemployed and disabled condition of tin homeless include mea- peripheral adult relatives. Similarly, the sures that wouki increase the amount of shorter the supply and the higher the cost income available to the extremely poor. of inexpensive housing for single-personIn particular, more genera's income- households, the more likely single-person maintenamx programs and wider cover- houisholds are to be homeless. In city age for disability programs would both after city, the supply of low-cost housing help poor families to provide help to their for single-person households has experi- long-term unemployed adult members enced precipitous declines in the past and help such memben directly. Indeed, decade. In Chicago, single-room oc-one may even consider some of the cupancy capacity has been estimated to possible programs as Aid to Families have declined by almost 25 percent in the with Dependent Adults! The long-term period 1911043. This trend almost surely measures would include increasing the has contributed heavily to the growth of supply of low-cost housing, particularly the literally homeless experienced in the for single persons; providing mon low- past decade. skilled employment opportunities in ways 5. Changes in the numbers of persons that would be accessible to the extremely who are disabled in middle adulthood. poor; and measures designed to lower the Although disability levels in a population prevalence of disabling conditions among ordinarily may be only indirectly andyoung adult males. In the meantime, weakly influenced by social policy, the support for shelters, food kitchens, and special character of the disabilities of the other charitable organizations serving literally homeless may be more amenable the literally homeless is necessa.ry at least to such purposeful policy moves. Many to lessen the extreme hardships imposed of the homeless men are disabled mainly by that condition. "r1:

ANNALS, AAPSS, SOL January 1989

Equal Opportunity and the Estranged Poor

By JENNIFER L. HOGISCHILD

ABSTRACT: This article is concerned with people who so lack marketable skills and material resources that they are excluded from mainstream society, and who lack faith that they can succeed through conventional means. They are usually poor, but they are a small subset of the poor and are not necessarily poor throughout their lives. Most are excluded because the American rhetoric of equal opportunity for all is belied by political choices that deny to some any chance of success. Programs to enable the estranged poor to enter mainstream society must provide skills, a starting place, and faith in the possibility of achievement Such programs are long-lasting, intensive, and comprehensivethus costly. To ensure that estrangenwnt is not reproduced in the twxt generation, programs to aid the poor must, furthermore, eliminate gender biases in their prescriptions and must change the structural conditions that create the gap between the promise and practice of equal opportunity. These programs should not necessarily be targeted on minorities or the poor, but should build on Americans' support for social policies that give everyone a chance for at least some success.

Jennifer L Hochschild, professor of politics and public leaks at Ninceton University, received her Ph.D. in political science from Yak Uniwrsity in 1979 and has taught at Duke University and Columbia University. She is the author ofWhails Fnut American Beliefs about Distributive Justice and Tlw New Amerkan Dilemma: Liberal Democracy and School Desegregation and a coauthor of Equalities. She is a panest on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on the Status of Bkmk Americans and wasa fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the liehavione Sciences.

NOTE: My thanks to Princeton University, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and the Spencer Foundation for sponsoring this research.

143 I_ 6 144 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

N early contributor to the recentmixture of faith, hope, and politica! Aupsurge of interest in poor Ameri- demand is full of ambiguity: until recently cans claims that "the underclass isdis- "all ma" did not include blacks or tinguished from the lower class principally women; the government is sometimes by its lack of mobility."1 This definition is directed to stay out of the economy and imprecise and incomplete, but it points sometimes to intervene; definitions of toward the core problem of Amerkan success and desert vary widely. Those poverty: in a land dedicated to opportu- ambiguities are philosophically and politi- nity for all, some peopk lack the skills cally significant, but they should not be and resources they need to get ahead and allowed to obscure the underlying ideo- lack faith that they can obtain themlogical unity behind du phrase "equal through conventionally accepted mans. opportunity." Americans who lack the Enabling those people to escape their skills or resources to enable dwir partitipa- condition and reducing the gap between don in the opportunity system, or who the promise and practice of equal oppor- are given no chance to participate, and tunity in the future are not impossible but who have no hope or faith that they will require levels of political understand- might get ahead through conventionally * and commitment beyond what Amer- acceptable channels, are seriously out of ican citizens and especially policymakers step with tlw dominant American culture.2 have recently offered. This article seeks to My concern in this article is that small further that understanding and suggest but important group of profoundly es- appropriate avenues for that commit- tranged Americans. Readers of this vol- ment. My startingand endingpoint istune are by now familiar with poor the assertion that the problem of severe blacks' int:sensing concentration in urban poverty and its attendant behaviors and ghettos, unmarried teenage mothers' dis- emotions can be solved only when Ameri- mal prospects, young blacks' high unem- cans choose actually, not merely rhet,ri- ployment rate, children's increasing in- cally, to open the opportunity structure volvement in drug use and sales, and all to all regardless of their race, class, or of the otlx-r social, economic, and demo- gender. graphic problems of the urban poor. But the ideological and political context of THE PROBLEM OF BEING the apparently growing underclass3 has LEFT OUT 2. Over 95 percent of Americans agree that -every citizen should have an equal chance to A defining characteristic of American influence government policy" and °everyone in society is its faith in equality of opportu- America should have equal opportunities to get nity and the likelihood of success. At least ahead." Herbert McClosky and John Mier, The since the early nineteenth century, most American Ethos (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Uni- Americans have agreed that in principle versity Press, 1984), tabs. 3-5,3-9. For an analysis of the equal-opportunity theme in popular literature all men are created equal, all have the of the nineteenth centuryperhaps the closest inalienable right to pursue happiness, the analogue to modern opinion pollssee Irvin Wyllie. government should help in that pursuit, The Sett- Made Man (New York: Free Press, 1954). and most people should be able to succeed 3. At least one scholar, however, sees the to some extent if they deserve to. That apparent rise in underclass behavior as mainly a rise in "deviant" behavior at all levels of society. See Mark Hughes, "Moving Up and Moving Out: I, Douglas G. Glasgow. The lack Underclass Confusing Ends and Means About Ghetto Dis- (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1980), p. 8. persal,' Urban Studies, 24:503-17 (1987). 14 7 EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND THE ESTRANGED POOR 145 not received as much attention as itthey face. Still others can hardly be said warrants. to make a choice, in that no one has Not all of tlz poor have lost faith intaught tlxm that to keep a job, for achieving success through conventionalexample, one must report to work on means. Indeed, as the vast literature ontime every day, respond appropriaftly to why there is no socialism in the Uniteda supervisor, maintain decent relations States shows, most poor Amoicans bison,with coworkers, and so on. Finally, a few ically have kept their faith in the promisesimply ntect conventional values as well of opportunity long after it was clear toas conventional means of achieving their observers that tlxy had no realistic chancegoals; tiny will take what they want to improve their circumstances. qtherhowever they can. poor Amerkans have found alternative Obviously I am not providing a rigor- ideologies aixl social networks that giveous defmition of the underclass, nor them dignity, twlf-respect, and hope forwould this combination of objective and the future outside the equal-opportunitysultective characteristics necessarily be a framework. They include ambers of thefruitful start toward a rigorous definition. Nation of Islam, fundamentalist Chris- My goal here is not to defme and measure tians, and egalitarian socialists, to givebut rather to add an ideologival context, but a few examples. Thus only a smalla political explanation, and policy sugges- proportion of the poor are includedtions to the standard sociological and among the estranged Americans who areeconomic definitions. Let us turn, then, my subject here. to that context and explanation. Convasely, some people start life with resources and skills and therefore a reason- THE GAP BETWEEN RHETORIC able chance to maintain or improve their AND RtAt TY situations, but they lack the talents, gump- Some people lack skills, resources, tion, emotional strength, or simple luckand faith because they have not taken to sustain themselves. They fall into advantage of the chances they were given. poverty and despair and thereby join the Everyone knows, indirectly at least, of group with whom I am concerned. Others people who were so witless, emotionally start out poor but attain wealth for at damaged by some experience or relation- least part of their lives; an obvious ex- ship, or slothful that they sank far below ample is drug dealers who amass large their original status and were abandoned fortunes in their usually brief and violent in despair by their families and friends. careers. In short, the estranged Americans Enabling these people to improve their who are my subject here may spend part circumstances is part of my concern here, of their lives out of poverty. but their reasons for falling in the first People manifest in varied ways their place are not, because those reasons are lack of faith in getting ahead throughmore personal and idiosyncratic than conventional means. Some simply drop political and general. Once a pattern is out of society, living lives of quietorfoundsuch as middle-class wives' being noisymisery. Others sell drugs, leavebeaten or abandoned by their hus- high school and the labor force, or havebandsa political analysis becomes ap- children with no means of supporting propriate, but up to that point, individual them except welfare because they aredisasters are more the province of psy- responding rationally to the incentives chologists than of political scientists.

1 4 8 146 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

Let us, then, consider the pattern ofhers out of unpaid housework and low chokes made by American policymak-paid office work into professional and erswith the support or at least the white-collar jobs, and by the 1980s their acquiescence of most citizensthat have salaries and pc4itical power had begun to created or increased estrangement among rise accordirgly. Legally immigrating His- a minority of the poor. Those chokes are panics began to resemble oliks white best understood in terrm of a gap between ethnic groups in thek range of incomes, the rhetoric and reality of opportunity occupations, and residential and marital for all. choices. Much of American history can be read This is a familiar and justly celebrated as a set of political choices that created story. Opportunities really did become and consolidated racial, ethnic, and gen- more equal than they had ever been in der disparities in wealth and power. I American history, and many women have no room to consider them here, but and minorities took advantage of them. they form the backdrop for the thirty- Then Calle the 1970s, with oil cartels, year period I do want to examim. Amer- combined inflation and unemployment, icans' response to poverty and discrimina- the ght of new female and young workers, tion since the 1960s has been curiously the movement of many factories to ikwly double sided. On the one hand, citizens industrializing nations. Political and psy- from President Kennedy to the average chological changes accompanied these television watcher were genuinely shocked demographic and economic shocks. Cit- by the evidence of malnourishment and izens grew weary of the so-called excesses vicious racial prejudice that confronted of the 1960s. Politicians and academics them in the early 1960s. Their response cautioned against too much demoerarf was sincere and vehement; these things and overly high expectations. Books had to be stopped. Congress passed about people taking advantage of the three civil rights acts with bite in quick welfare system and the decline of academie succession after stalling for decades over and personal standards hit the best-seller much weaker proposals; presidents and lists. The number of whites who preferred mayors made eloquent speeches about "something in between" to either "deseg- breaking the shackles of the past; money regation" or "strict segregation" rose from and energy flowed into ghettos, barrios, 48 to 61 percent between 1964 and Isrno rural hinterlands, and even suburban Even incumbent politicians ran for office households. against governmnt. This new commitment to opening chan- Americans' apparent rightward move nels of opportunity had effects. Poor is an equally familiar story with perhaps blacks who were in a positiaa to take ad- less familiar results. "The real value of the vantage of their new legal and economic median state's maximum AFDC [Aid to resources did so; by the late 1970s, young, Families with Dependent Children] pay- married, well-educated, professional ment declined by 27 percent between blacks living in the Northeast had aver- 1970 and 1983."5 By 1983 a family of four age incomes greater than their white counterparts. The number of black voters 4. Philip Converse et aL, Amerkan Social Attitudes Data Sourcebook, 1947-1978 (Cam- rose considerably and the number of bridge, MA; Harvard University Press, 1911)), P. 61. black elected officials rose dramatically. 5. Rebecca Blank and Alan Blinder, "Macro- Women moved in unprecedented num- economics, Income Distribution, and Poverty," in

1 4 9 EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND THE ESTRANGED POOR 147 at the poverty line was paying more thandeclined sharply in real value during the 16 percent of its income in direct taxes,late 1970s and early 1980s. The Equal almost double the percentage paid inRights Amendnmat was defeated. It is 1965. Between 1979 and 1985, the annualimportant to note that these and other median family income for the poorest 40changes were policy choices, not simply percent o( the population declined $918 unintended or ifievitable outcomes of Cm constant 1986 dollars) whereas the uncontrollable economic, social, or demo- wealthiest 40 percent of famil*s gainedgraphic forcea $2775, aiai the wealthiest 10 percent In short, the 1960s' fervor to improve gained $6369.6 Courts stopped ordainsopportuni6es for thaw left out ran out of mandatory school desegregation and in a steam before its promises were fulfilled few cases reversed long-standing busingfor all of the poor. Legally and norma- plans; racial segregation in schools in-tively, all minorities and women bene- creased over 13 percent in the Northeast fited; socially, economically, and po- between 1968 and 1980.7 Policymakers litically, only some did. By the 1980s decided that the concept of full employ- the rhetoric and memories of the 1960s, ment permitted an official ummployment but little of the political commitment, rate of around 6 percent, a figure thatremaimd. many had considered unacceptably high Into this context came the children of in the late 19505.6 The minimum wage the 1960s' generation. Their grandparents often expected little from the larger soci- Rs** Faveny: What Works and What &font ed. Sheldon Dan2iger and Daniel Weinberg (Cam- ety, so they were not surprised when they bridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966), received little. Their parents were led to p. 196. Note, however, that this decline in AFDC expect and demand more, especially for payments may have been a deliberate response by their children, and for some the dire= state legislatures to the rise in noneash federal came true. But today's poor youths have benefits during the same period, in order to keep the welfare package worth about the same as the inherited convictions of their rights and lowest-paid employment. See Robert Moffitt "Has hopes for their future with few of the State Redistribution Policy Grown More Conserva- structural conditions for fulfilling them. tive" (Discussion paper no. 85148, Institute for Albert Hirschman describes this gap Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin, between promise and fulfillment as the 1988). 6. Sheldon Danziger and Daniel Weinberg, "tunnel effect," as when drivers of cars in Introduction," in Righting Poverty, ed. Danziger a traffic jam in a tunnel are initially and Weinberg, p. 17; Center on Budget and Policy pleased that cars in the adjacent lane are Priorities, "Gap between Rich and Poor Widest beginning to move. The tunnel effect Ever Reported" (Press release, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 17 Aug. 1547). Data are from operates because advances of others supply U.S. Department af COMmeree, Bureau of the information about a more benign external Census, Csaretu Population Reports (Washington, environment; receipt of this information pro- DC: Government Printing Office, 1985) duces gratification; and this gratification over- 7. The percentage of black students in schools with more than haff minority students went from comes, or at least suspends, envy. . . . As long 66.8 percent in 1968 to 79.9 percent in 1980 in the as the tunnel effect lasts, everybody feels Northeast. Gary Orfield, Pub& Sehooi Delegrege". better off, both those who have become richer lion in the United States. 1968-1980 (Washington and those who have not. DC: Joint Center for Political Studies, 1983), p. 4. 8. Christopher Jencks, "Deadly Neighbor- At some point, however, those left behind hoods," New Republk, 13 June 1988, pp. 21-32. in the tunnel come to believe that their 150 148 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY heightened expectations will not be met;Blacks of both wnden will focus on not only are their hopes now dashed, but persisting racial discrimination in tin face they are also left in a relatively worSCof white insistence that discrimination position than when the upward mobility has almost disappeared.11 Women of began.' "Nomealization of the expectation both races may be attuned to intractable [that my turn to move will soon come] gender discrimination in jobs and house- will at some point result in my 'becoming holds.12 Poor Hispanics may especially furious,' that is, in my turning into anreact wing inflated promises that the enemy of the established order.m SomeUnited States is the land of milk and of the infuriated will be galvanized into honey. But all could plausibly respond to extraordinaiy efforts to pull themselvesboth past promises and present disczep- up by their bootstraps; others will unite in ancies between themselves and others like political rebellion or withdraw into anthem with the question, "Why not me, alternative social order. A few will sink toor into apathy or erupt into violence; they Another gap between the rhetoric of are the estranged poor. the 1960s and the reality of the 1541Os is Particular forms of relative deprivation more cultural than material. Many white will probably vary by race and gender. Americans stopped demanding that blacks 9. Both poor noewhites and poor whites have and ethnic minorities assimilate into main- lost ground compared to wealthy members of their streamthat is, whitestyles and mores own group in the past three decarks. Consider the and started proclaiming the virtues of average family income of families at the ninety-ftfth cultural pluralism. Similarly, some people and twentieth percentiles of the income distribution stopped expecting employed women to during the recession years of 1961, 1971, 1975, and 1983. (I used recession years in order to control act just like employed men, and began roughly far unemployment rates.) The income ratio praising nurturant men and professional of the lower to the higher percentile for whites rose women who no longer hid their children. from .206 in 1961 to ,219 in 1971, then declined to Blacks, ethnic minorities, and women .212 in 1975 and .186 in 1983. The income ratio took new pride in their distinctiveness remained lower but followed the same pattern for nonwhites, rising from .138 in 1961 to .158 in 1971, and began to expect new accommoda- then declining to .154 in 1975 and .118 in 1983. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 11. In 1978, fewer than one-fourth of white Current Populatkm Reports, series P-60, no. 146, Americans perceived discrimination against blacks Money Income of Households. Families, and Per- in acquiring jobs, pay, and promotions or in sons in the United States: 1983 (Washington DC: treatment by police, teachers, labor unions, or Government Printing Office, 1985), pr. 49-50. home owners. Up to 75 percent of blacks felt 10. Albert Hirsclunan with Michael Rothschild, discriminated against in at least one of these amnas. "The Changing Tolerance for Income Inequality in Of white respondents, 39 percent in 1964 and 63 the Course of Eeonomic Development," Quarterly percent in 1976 felt that there has been *a lot" of Journal of Economies, 87:546, 552 (Nov. 1973). "real change in the position of [blacks] in the past John Johnstone, "Social Class, Social Areas, and few years." Blacks views were the mirror image; the Delinqiumcy,"SocioknyandSocial Reseveh, 63:49- proportion who saw a lot of real change declined 72 (0.-t. 1978), shows that poor youths commit from 60 percent in 1964 to 32 percent in 1978. Louis more crime when they live in affluent neighborhoods Harris and Associates, A Study o f AtUtudesmward than when they live in poor neighborhoods; he Racialand Religious Minorities and toward Women explains this finding as a manif mation of relative (New York: Louis Harris, 1978), pp. 4-34; Converse deprivation. Relatiw deprivation is not, of course, et al., American Social Attitudes, p. 79. Surveys in uniquely a property of the poor, but well-off the 191101 show similar results. sufferers are unlikely to become part of the estranged 12. Barbara Reskin, "Bringing the Men Back poor as a result. la," Gender and Sockty, 2:58-81 (Mar 1988).

I 7

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND THE ESTRANGEDPOOR 149 tions. But however sincere the proclama- movement of middle-class blacks tothe tions aml praise, practke was something suburbs but also to the rise in unemploy- else again. Employers found that blacks ment and decline in incomesduring the with mmstandard English and unconven- 1970s and 1980s. At some point, people tional styles made white customers and must choose to feed themselves andtheir coworkers nervous. Tlwy found that fe- young chikken and let theircousins and male employees who became pregnant, older children fend for themselves. If sought maternity leave, and needed good those older children are already inclined day care added new and unwanted com-to hostility or despair, they mayslide plexities to personnel management. Cal- from the merely poor into the estranged ifornians declared English to be the only poor. Thus the deteriorationof well-off official state language. Too many middle- Americans' general commitment to their class white male Americans seenwd un- poorer fellows can lead to adeterioration able or unwilling to distinguish whatof poor Americans' particular commit- they liked and were used to from what ment to theiT even poorer neighborsand was really crucial forrunning a business relatives. Even dozily a small minority of or society. Culturalpluralism went thethe poor are forced into such triage, the way of the war on poverty,leaviAg be- people at the very end of the line could hind high expectations and unsatisfying well experience a devastating loss of place results. and faith. Poor urban blacks already angry at Even the decline in old-fashioned racism withdrawn promises of opportunity and and sexism during the last three decades pluralism may be tipped into fury or may do little to help poorminorities enter despair by a weakening sense of com-the mainstream. White employers have munity. A middle-class white author can invented new ways to discriminate with- easily romanticize in hindsight blacks*out admitting prejudice. One methodis sense of mutual commitmentin the daysstatistical discrimination: denying posi- of racial segregation. But blacks them-tions of responsibility to members of selves, like ethnic whites whose enclavessome group because of abelief--perhaps are also broken up byphysical and socialcorrectthat that group causes more mobility, mourn the decline of the soli-problems than other kinds of people. darity forced upon them by a commonYoung black men, for example, may be enemy. That curiouslybittersweet loss is more likely to come to work late,borrow worsened by a simpler but more devastat- petty cash, or talk back to obnoxious ing problem. Poor blacks, like poor customers than young white men or older whites in Appalachia and ethnic slums, black women, so employers behave ra- survive as well as they do by sharingtionally by choosing older, white, or resources and responsibilities.13But iffemale employees. The difficulty, of their resources decline past a certaincourse, is that a likelihood of 5 percent point, they must choose which responsibil- more thefts leads to a nearly 100 percent ities to fulfill and which to abandon. Thedenial of employment to young black weakening of community among urbanmen, thereby punishing many morein- blacks may be due not only to thenocent than guilty. Surveys of employers show that statistical discrimination is 13. Carol B. Stack, All our Kai (New York: Harper & Row, 1974). 1 also owe the nextpoint in especially likely in jobs that require at this paragraph to Carol Stack. most a high school educationjust the

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150 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

jobs, of coarse, that most poor youths arePolitical choices ranging from slavery to al* to pursue.I4 To the degree thata preference for unem*yment over infla- statistical discrimination is a cover, con-tion in the context of a particular ideo- scious or not, for lingering racialorlogical framework helped to create agroup gentkr prejudice, would-be workers faceof people with no resources, no skills, and an additional barrier to their efforts tono faith. But political choices can undo prove themselves exceptions to the rule.what they have done; I turn now to that No wonder so many eventually giveup. possibility. Combining employers' suspicions of no-longer-deferential adolescents with NARROWING THE GAP BETWEEN poor youths' suspicions of proclamations RHETORIC AND REALITY of equal opportunity is lethal. Two strategies are necessary to help Self-consciously aspiring towanl..,self-the estxanged poor, but neither suffices respect, many young blacks see themselves alone. The first addresses particular indi- and are seen by others as not taking "the snail'vidualsand their childrenas theyare that has traditionally been dished out to black now; the second seeks to halt the reproduc- Americans.. . Add to this new image of tion of a similar group of people in the militancy a... stereotype of black [male) future. youth as being primarily responsible for urban street crime.. and general incivility, and one The most urgent task is to enable the is faced with the specter of a nearly "unemploy- estranged poor to enter mainstream soci- able" person.ls ety or to fmd a satisfying alternative. Teaching skills and even providinga Then add poor education and lack ofstarting place without restoring faith will work experienve among many ghettonot work, and trying to instill faith youths, and the recent excess of potentialwithout giving a material grounding also workers, and the "nearly" may well dropwill not work. Thus either workfare alone out of that verdict. or social services alonenever mind sim- There are many other ways in whichple income maintenanceare insufficient. the gap between the promise and reality The literature on programs to help the of equal opportunity works to create thepoor supports this claim powerfully if physical, social, economic, political, andunsystematically. Despite controversy psychological conditions that addup toover what the underclass is and whether estrangement from mainstream America.and why it is growing, analysts surpris- My main point should, however, be clear:ingly concur on what to do about it. Consider the followingprograms and 14. Jomills Braddock HI and James McPart- recommendations. The directors ofan land, "How Minorities Continue to Be Excluded from Equal Employment Opportunities,"Journal extensive research program on black male of Social Imo,43:15-17 (Spring 1987). unemployment conclude that "publicor 15. Elijah Anderson, "So= Observations ofprivate policies...should include not Black Youth Unemployment,"in Youth Einpky- only government jobs programs for youth mew and Public Policy,ed. Bernard E. Anderson and aggressive anti-discrimination and Isabel V. Sawhill (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: ac- Prentice-Halt 1980). p. 85; Toby Herr et al., "Early tivity, but also the efforts ofa broad Job Turnover among the Urban Poor" (Report, range of public and private social institu- Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research, tions, ranging from the welfaresystem to Northwestern University, 1987). employers to schools, to the criminal EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND THE ESTRANGED POOR 151 justice system, and to families.'96 Thehand, the situation ki not hopeless; if the New York Times praises a program that United States chose to devote enough has prewnted pregnancks among 32private resources and public actions to teenage girls through "care that is asthe effort, many of the worst-off could be multidimensional as the care that's sup-moved into tlw ideological, behavioral, posed to come from one's own family. and economic mainstream Institutional programs can work, but The costs of such an effort would be require a lot of money."17In 1981, Eugene substantial, but the benefits greater. Some Lang promised to pay college costs for aanalysts argue that program such as the class of Harkm sixth-graders and toWomen, Infants and Children Feeding make himself and a fall-time counselorProgram, Head Start, Chapter Iaddress- available for tutoring, advising, com-ing compensatory educationof the Edu- panionship, and intervention on theircation Consolidation and Improvenwnt behalf; as of June 1987, 27 of the 48Act, the Jobs Corps, the California Con- students remaining in Harlem had gradu-servation Corps, and others "not only ated, the rest were expected to, and so farimprove the lives of participating chil- 2$ had been admitted to college.18 Thedren, but 'save public mowys as welr by most extensive analysis of job-training raising wages and reducing hea '1* prob- and placement programs concludes that lems, crime, welfare dependency, and "income maintenance should be deempha-unemployment?' None of these programs sized....More intensive investments areserves more than a fraction of the eligible needed."19 population, and the staff members of all The common thread in these disparate programs and analyses is that successful Reduebtg Urban Unemployment: What Works at efforts to aid the estranged poor cost a the Local Level(Washington DC: National League of Cities, 1987 ); William T. Grant Foundation lot, last a long time, and involve a wide Commission cm Work. Family, and Citizenship, array of activities aimed at changing The Forgotten liar: Non-College Youth in America skills, views, and life circumstances.m (Washington, DC W.T. Grant Foundation Commis- The political implications of this conclu- sion, 1988); Robert Woodson, ed., Youth Crime sion are clear. On the one band, politics and Urban Policy (Washington DC: American Enterprise Institute, 1981); Andrew Hahn and as usual will not suffice. On the Robert Lerman, Who Works in Youth Employ- 16. Richard Freeman and Hany Holzer, "Young mem Pnfiey?(Washington, DC: National Planning Blacks and JobsWhat We Now Know," Public Association, Committee on New American Real- interest, 78:31 (Winter 1985). ities, 1985); Manpower Demonstration Research 17, "The Editorial Notebook: Piegnancy Preven- Corporation, Simimary and findings of the Na- tion," New York Times, 16 June 1986. tional Supported Work Demonstration (Cam- 18. Jane Periez, "In Harlem, Millionaire's bridge, MA: Ballinger, 1980). Poverty programs in Promise Still Inspires," New York Times, 21 June the 1980s, unlike those in the 1960s. ignore empower- 1987. ment of individuals or local communities. That 19. Robert Taggart, A Fisherman's Guide: An seems a serious mistakpolitical efforts ranging Assessment of Daining and Rernediation Strat- from neighborhood anticrin= watches to campaigns egies (Kalamazoo. MI: W. E. Upjohn Institute for for political offices could be important in reducing Employmeoliesearch, 1981), p. ix. the underclass and inhibiting its reproduction. 20. More systematic compilations of 'programs Obviously, this additional ingredient makes the that work at the local level" concur. See National political component of social policy reform that League of Cities, Chikblen, Families, and Cities: much more central, and difficult Progranu Mat Work at the Local Level (Washing- 21. Grant Foundation Commission, Forgotten ton, DC: National League of Cities, 1987); idem, Hat p. 31, quoting from U.S. Congress, House,

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152 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

of them have had enough experience totkization. Programs for citizen participa- know how to start and maintain high-tion often increase disparities between quality programs. Their expansion seemsmiddle-class and poor familks, camou- an obvious first step. flap bureaueratk ineptitude and patron- Other analysts are less sanguine about ization, or simply die from inertia.23 At both the ratio of fmancial benefits to best, using even highly trained community costs and the long-term social benefits ofnomsbets as counselors and teachers raises these programs.22 But the question is not unexpected and complex problems.24 But whether these programs are as successfulhem, too, the main issue is political wilL as we would likethey are notor asThere are enough successful models of successful as many programs that serve ahow to train and employ community less disadvantawd populationthey aremembers to help the poor that the appro- not. The issue is whether Americans arepriate question remains, Why don't we willing to let some fellow citizens destroydo more of it? rather than, What should their own and others' lives without usingwe do? the available knowledge to stop some of Successful programs will also be costly the destruction. 1 am not simply callingto organiz.ational stability. Public officials for throwing money at the problem, fortraditionally tackle problems one at a two reasons: money is not enough, andtime. Legal-aid lawyers jostle with social we know with some precision where toworkers about clients' tights and respon- throw it most effectively. What we nowsibilities, and both perceive the police as need is a political decision to spend what competitors for public resources. Local it will take to give faith, skills, and aofficials, perhaps especially new black starting place to people who lack themurban administrators, mistrust subur- all. ban- and rural-dominated state legisla- A second cost of successful programs tures. Bath fear federal control as much is personal rather than financial. Theyas they want federal dollars. But helping take a lot of people, time, and emotionalthe estranged poor requires attacking energy. We could, however, turn a poten-ricial and gender discrimination and tial flaw into a virtue by relying on localpoverty and crime and lousy schools and talent that is now mostly wasted. Peeranger, frustration, ignorance. No feature tutoring teaches the tutor even More thanin our policymaking system prohibits the pupil; peer counseling reduces juvenile such coordination, but conventional crime and teenage pregnancy and im-American political practice inhibitsit.25 proves race relations; parents* involve- 23. Jennifer Hochschild, TheNew Amerkan ment in the schools improves children's Dilemma: Liberal Democracy and School Desegre- learning. Again we must beware roman- gation(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1984), pp. 108-12. Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families, 24. Judith Musick, "A Chain of Enabkment," Opportuniatufor Cosi-liffective Programs Zero to Three,8(2):1-6 (Dec. 1987). for Chikiren,Aug. 1985. 25. A simple example of interorgankational 22. Laurie Bassi and Orley Ashenfelter, "The suspicion is the case of Judge Leonard Edwards, Effect of Direct Job Creation and Training Pro- who is spearheading an acclaimed effort to reform grams on Low-Skilled Workers," innetting Pov- the juvenile justice system in California. Administra- erty, ed.DanrigerandWeinberg, pp.138-51; tors from almost allagencies arecooperating the Christopher Jencks, "CommentIon Nathan Miter, holdout agency is the Department of Social Ser- "Education and Training Programs and Poverty"), vices, which supervises cases under court jurisdic- inibid.: RI 175'79' tion. The public defender says, *I've heard social

1 Fi5 EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND THE ESTRANGED POOR 153

Institutional constraints on successful and despair. I cannot say just how many programs go even beyond these threepeople need such a comprelsznsive com- costs. They include TMa strong need formitment, but it is surely a minotity of the over" whatever is to be done," whichpoor and of any ethnic or racial group. pivarates backlash and a proclamation of Perhaps the best political strategy for failure; "the tendency of our politicalovercoming the daunting constraints just processes to accord special treatmentdescribed would emphasize how small only to groups that are well organized,the group of estranged poor is. That politically active, and sophisticated inwould permit two arguments: (I) tlw pursuing a uniform set of interests";disproportion between tlx number of politicians' inability to ref= any claim- targeted people and the amount of dam- ant, so that new resoinves are spread too age and misery they represent suggests thin; and a history of weak administrative that the benefits of aiding even some will capacity in federal labor market pro- have large social payoffs; and (2) these grams. Perhaps the most severe institu- almost unmanageable probkms are of a tional constraint is the politician% "strong manageable scope. We do not, after all, need for overselling whatever is to beneed very many foster homes, or public done? That means that the inevitablejobs, or Eugene Langs to make a big failure of a large proportion of programs impact. to help the estranged poorand the Arguments about the small number of inevitable failure of a large proportion of estranged poor will have bite only if it is the participants in even the most success- clear that current members who escape ful programswill make the whole effort will not simply be replaced by a new seem futik, not merely risky. Add the fact generation. That point brings us to the that public opinion polls show over and other essential set of policiesthose over that "Americans favor government needed to reorganize the economy and action to help the poor, but they gerwrally polity to minimize the number of people dislike the subset of government programs who grow up with no skills, place, or faith that are intended to be targeted on the in the opportunity system. poor," and the prospects become dismal My first observation about the next for expensive programs for the worst-off generation focuses on the children of the of the poor.26 existing poor, or more specifically, on a It is just as well that I am focusing here curious set of common recommendations on only the extreme end point of poverty for the parents of those children. Bearing and raising a child, even at too young an workers say hundreds of times over the years that age and without a husband, does not they don't care what a judge says, they have the automatically make a mother a member power and they are going to do what they think is of the underclass. The amount of damage best." A spokesperson for the social workers dis- agrees; "The system works well, even though we all to mother and child depends on the have distinct roles and are not always in agreement." emotional well-being of the mother and John Hubner, *Childhood% Friend," West [mag- the social circumstances of the family. If azine of San Jose Mercury News], I May 1513, unwed teenage motherhood is problem- pp. 34-35. atic mainly because of the mother's pov- 26. All quotations in this paragraph are from Hugh Heclo, "The Political Foundations of Anti- erty, it is not obvious why providing jobs poverty Policy," in Fkhting Poverty, ed. Danziger for fathersmostly unmarriedis the and Weinberg, pp. 330, 332-35. best way to solve the problem. At best, it

IF-)6 154 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY is one step removed from tlw mother'stive implications and the potential for and child's poverty, and because anymore spillage than necessary from the program to aid the poor has a high failureproverbial leaky bucket of social policy. rate and is very costly, indirectness adds a As my argument for proviiing jobs for needless inefficiency. After all, not all of women as well as for men implies, policies those newly employed fathers will manyto prevent the reproduction of the es- and stay married tothe mothers, ortranged poor should begin with skills support their children. Why not, then,and, especially, a starting point, rather concentrate just as much on jobs forthan with faith, if for no other reason motheraW At worst, increasing tin num-than that it is probably easier to provide ber of marriageable men by improvingskills and a starting point and then kt their skills and providing them jobs with-faith grow than to create and sustain faith out providing the same service for womenin an empty promise. reifies a patriarchal social structure in That reasoning implies programs to which women arc dependent upon indi-reduce gender and racial discrimination, vidual menrather than an men collec-improve Kiwis and ease the transition tively, as in the welfare systemfor theirto work, red= teenar pregnancies and and their children's livelihood.22 births, provide jobs to inner-city youth, Caution is clearly called for here; I ambreak down the barriers between jobs in not arguing that public policies shouldthe primary and secondary labor markets, encourage unmarried women to haveassert more political control over plant children or that public policies should notclosings and industrial relocation, give make st renuous efforts to help men finishpreviously disenfranchised people more school, secure a job, and support theircontrol over local political decisions, and children. I am simply arguing that theso on. It may imply even broader pollens common recommendation of emacroeco-if race- and poverty-specific programs nomic dating service," in Adolph Reed'scannot sustain popular support, especially brilliant phrase,29 has worrisome norms-during economic downturns, when they are most needed.30 In that caw, Ow 27. Women in job-training and placement pro- United States needs programs in which grams increase their income more than comparable the downwardly redistributive component men do, even though women have been generally underrepresented in the programs and disproportion- is submerrd economically and politically ately placed in their least sucvessful tracks. Lynn in the horizontally redistributive com- Burbridge, "Black Women in Employment and ponent. Social Security is one such pro- Training Programs," in Slipping through thegram; family allowances, full-employ- Cracks. ed. Margaret Simms and Julianne Malveaux ment policy, and national youth service (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1986), pp. 97-114. The rise occurs .ore because women programs are others. increase the number of hours they work than The broader the policy, the more because their wages rise; thus programs of compar- controversy there will be over how to able worth or steering women into traditionally male-dominated jobs could produce even greater 30. William Julius Wilson, The Thdy Disod- benefits for previously unemployed poor women. %Imaged (Chicago; University of Chicago Press, Bassi and Ashenfelter, "Direct Job Creation," pp. 1987); Charles Hamilton and Dona Hamilton. 140.47. "Social Policies, Civil Rights, and Poverty," in 28. Carol Stack, 'Tiewpoint," Sigru, in press. Fighting Poverty, ed. Danziger and Weinberg, 29. Adolph Reed, "The Liberal Technocrat," pp. 287.311; Robert Nuance The life of the Asity Natkm, 6 Feb. 1988, p. 168. (New York: Viking, 1987). ot Os 01( tva-vo°*co ,9940, *ow,00 000*t41 los*3t$Avi:Wsvsloltv*-000 tooopottocto,,0007,10 3to 0477cP 'et qie*it's* tolLmo goo tv!°° v*bose _Ateode( 6440°' sego ittso0 towode;oss0 ittol aPse' 00 cr 40106 liti°130,?114 0 ita0 Ootolso tvs, si#0:fixo SOt31;00 ot Not 046 Ooszt°04040:001:::.icA \31q67c.titot tehlot 000 OCIC".eASSei.045tr. e$A ol04103 s),.0,011700lego4141,61$044wet°uct"000 ssA (0, *lover- ANNALS, AAPSS, 501, January 1989

The Logic of Workfare: The Underclass and Work Policy

By LAWRENCE M. MEAD

ABSTRACT. Much of today's entrenched poverty reflects the fact that poor adults seldom work consistently. The problem cannot be blamed predom- inantly on lack of jobs or other bathers to employment, as the chance to work seems widely available. More likely, the poor do not see workin menial jobs as fair, possible, or obligatory, though they want to workin principle. Government has evolved policies explicitly to raise work levels among the poor. Workfare programs, linked to welfare, show the most promisebut still reach only a minority of employable recipients. Welfare reform should, above all, raise participation in these programs, as the share of clients involved largely governs their impact. Welfare should also cover more nonworking men to bring them under workfare. While work enforcement may seem punitive, the poor must become workers before they canstake larger claims to equality.

Lawrence M. Mead is an associate professor of politic.s at New York University. where he teaches public policy and American government. He is the author of Beyord Entitlement: The Social Obligations of Citizenship and other works on social policy, especially werare and employment provrans. He has been involved in deliberatkms on werare reform in Washington, D.C. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University in 1973.

156 F .t;?Waiii*

.111#11

THE LOGIC OF WORKFARE 157

N important reason for entrenched the drop was apparently even greater for Apoverty and dependency in Amer- the low-skilled black num with the higlxst ken cities is that poor individuals and unemploymmn. Many, though not all, of families no longer work with the regularity these poor but nonworking adults have they once did. In 1959, 32 percent of the problems severe enough for them to be heads of poor familks worked full-time, included in the umierclass. and only 31 percent did not work at all, We are far from the world of the turn even though 22 percent of those heads of the century when whole families of were elderly, or beyond the normal work- immigrants on New York's Lower East ing age. In 1984, in contrast, only 17 Side labored long hours six or seven days percent worked full-time, and 51 percenta week, yet still were destitute.4 In the did not work at all, even though the intervening century, rising real wages proportion of elderly had fallen to 10 have lifted the vast majority of working- percent, due to growing Social Security aged Americans above needif they payments) work. At the century's turn, the poor The change primarily reflects rising were needy despite employment. Today, welfare dependency by single mothers on the whole, they are poor for lack of it. and less regular work by single men, Their overwhelming economic problem many of them the fathers of welfareis nonwork, in which I include both children. In ghetto neighborhoods today, inability to obtain a job =I failure even welfare is the economic mainstay while to look for one. Rising nonwork by many more men and youths are joblessworking-aged adults is the main reason than would have been true a generation the overall poverty rate, now 14 percent, ago. Aid to Families with Dependenthas fallen little in the last twenty years Children (AFDC), the main welfare pro- despite economic growth and decreasing gram, supports 4 million families, mostly need among the elderly. female headed, yet only 5 percent of the The masons for nonwork remain contro- moCiers work at a given time compared versial, but both liberals and conserva- to 33 percent for all single mothers with tives have given up hope that the problem children under 18.2 In 1960, 83 percent of will yield to general measures such as an both black and white men were eitherexpansionary economic policy or civil working or looking for work, but by 1982rights enforcement. Government has had the rate had fallen to 70 percent forto embark on policies and programs blazks, as against 77 percent for whites;3 aimed specifically at raising work levels among the poor. Of these, much the most 1. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of important is workfare, or recent require- the Census. Characteristks of the Popukaion below ments that employable welfare mcipients the Poverty Levek 1984, series P-60, no. 152 (Washington, DC: (overnment Printing Office, work or prepare for work in return for June 1986), tab. 4, p. 15. support. In this article, I summarize the 2. Robert Moffitt, 'Work and the U.S. Welfare reasons behind this development, describe System: A Review" (Study prepared for the U.S. what current workfare programs achieve, Department of Health and Human Savices, rev. propose some further developments in version. Oct. 1987), tabs. 1, 4. 3. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Statistkal Abstract of the United 4. Jacob A. Riis, How the Other Half Lives: States: 1984 (Washington, DC: Government Print- Studies among the Tenements of New York (New ing Office, 1983). p. 407. York: Dover, 1971).

1 G 158 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY work policy, and consider the implicationsthe architects of the war on poverty in tIm of workfare for equality. 1960s almost to dismiss structural eco- nomic causes of poverty. They assumed THE ECONOMIC CONTEXT jobs existed for the poor. The emphasis was all on compensatory education and The tradon among American policy-training programs to make poor adults makers has been to blame poverty onmore able workems In the current tight barriers to opportunity. It has been as-labor market, that convktion remains sumed that poor adults will work if theycompelling. have access to jobs, so poverty Can only The nation has, however, experienced be due to a lack of jobs or to othereconomic troubles since 1970 that have practical impediments to employmentgiven my, life to the belief that tint The great fact Aiming the work debateeconomy might deny employment to today is that these barriers no lonprmany low-skilled workers. In the 1970s, seem as compelling as they once did. shocks including higher oil prices led to Those seelcing barriers ask, above all, recessions that pushed the overall jobless wtudin:r jobs are accessible to nonworkingrate into double digits. Employment adults, most of whom are low skilled andgrowth was for several years outpaced by live in urban areas. Groups that are4 massive growth in the labor force due to heavily poorminorities, women, andthe maturing of the baby-boom genera- youthstypically have much higher unem-tion. Most seriously, the economy en- ployment rates than normal for the won-countered competitimess problems that ',my, reaching, in the case of inner-cityseemed to constrict opportunity for low- black youths, catastrophic levels of 40 skilled job seekers. Industry and manufac- percent or more. Such figures seem to turing, formerly staples of well-paid man- compel the conclusion that jobs must beual employment in the Northern cities, lacking. They arouse deep-seated mem- declined due to foreign competition, and ories of the Great Depression, when an the remaining jobs tended to shift to the economic collapse threw a quarter of the suburbs, the Sunbelt, or overseas. labor force out of work. While new employment has mush- But in the postwar era, the economyroomed, it is predominantly in service has suiTered no contraction comparabletrades, which pay less than unionized to that of the 1930s, not even the severe factory jobs, and there are more jobs in recession of the early 1980s. Decade after the suburbs than in the urban centers decade, it has generated new jobs on awhere most jobless poor people live. scale never seen before. Total employment Better-paying urban jobs are mostly in rose 35 percent between 1970 and 1985.the new high-technolop economy based Millions of immigrants, legal and illegal,on information processing, which typ- have flooded into the country to do jobs ically requires more education than earlier for which, apparently, citizens are unavail-employment. But in the inner city, educa- able. At this writing, overall unemploy- tion levels have fallen due to high drop- ment has fallen close to 5 percent, a level many economists consider close to full S. William JuliusWilson, The Thdy Disad- employment. vantage& The Inner City. the Underelas.r, and As the special editor of this volume has Pablic Polky(Chicago: University of Chicago noted, confidence in prosperity caused Press, 1987), pp. 129-33.

161 '

ME LOGIC OF WORKFARE 159 out rates and the failure of many students that jobs are absolutely lacking in tlx to absorb even minimal skills. ghetto.8 We do not know tha then In short, dun appears to be a mismatthwould be enough jobs if all unskilled between available jobs and unskilled jobworkers sought them at once, but jobs seekers. The inability of poor adults to clearly seem available at the margin. It is mnimute to or qualify for today% employ-inconsistent work, not a total lack of ment might explain the catastrophic ratesemployment, that largely explains today% of jokdessneas fowni in the inner city,aduh poverty and dependency. even if tlx surrounding economy is ptos- Tim poor thsweives say that jobs of a perous,6 Unemploymem, in turn, explains kind usually are available. Only 40 percent high illegitimacy and dependency in the of poor adults working less than full-time glutto, sin= poor mothers prefer welfaregive inability to find work as the main to marrying poor nun who cannot sup-reason for their short hours, and only 11 port them. From the decline of familypercent of those not working at all do so. stability, many of the other social prob-Much more often, the constraint is that lems of the underclass follow.? they are ill, retired, in school, or keeping To date, however, proponents of thehouse. These figures rise to 45 awl 16 mismatch theory have appealed mostlypercent among poor blacks and to 59 and to the high-level trends in the labor23 percent among poor black men, the market just mentioned. They have notmain focus of the mismatch theory, demonstrated a concrete connection be-Even among jobless inner-city black tween the workers victimized by deindus-youths, the group with the highest unem- trialization and jobless poor people in theployment, 71 percent say it is fairly easy inner city. Research that does look atto get a job at the minimum wage. They individual workers suggests, ratkr, thatcomplain, rather, about the quality of many jobs are still available in the innerthese jobs, which are mostly menial and city, even if they are usually not very good low paid.'0 jobs. Research has also failed to show that If the ghetto were depressed in theemployment is really inaccessible to inner- 1930s sense, we would expect to find that city job seekers due to distance or qualifica- most job seekers were unemployed long-tions. Blaxk workers do have to commute term. But, while a minority are, most arefurther than others to find work, but this out of work for only a few weeks. Among fact is only a minor reason for their much the groups with the highest measured unemploymentminorities, women, and B. Robert E. Hall, "Why la the Unemployment Rate So High at Full Employment?"Brookings youthsemployment and unemploy- Papers on Economic Activity, no,3, pp, 369-402 ment tend to be highly transient. There is (1970); Kim B, Clark and Lawrence H. Summers, rapid turnover, with workers moving "Labor Market Dynamics and Unemployment A quickly into or out of employment or the Reconsideration,* ibid., no. 1, pp. 13-46 (1979). labor force, not a pattern that suggests 9. Cakulated from Bureau of the Census, Otaracteristio of the Population below the Poverty 6. John D. !Wards, "The Regional and Urban Lev& IRK tab.10, pp. 37, 45, 47. Redistribution of People and Jobs in the U.S." 10. H anyJ.Holzer, "Black Youth Nonemploy- (Paper prepared for the Committee on National meat Duration andJobStarch," inThe Black Urban Policy, National Research Council, Oct. Youth Employmeru aisis,ed. Richard B. Freeman 1984 and Hany J. Holzer (Chicago: Univenity o( Chicago 7. Wilson,Thuly Disadvotuaged,passim. Press, 1986), chap. 1.

1 2 160 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

higher unemployment compared to °dmtive," but this preference reflects experi- groups; differences of race and educationence and is not entirely invidious. are much more important" The increase Many have supposed that welfare de- in education requiranents for availableters employmt because recipients typi- jobs has been ovetstated, in that the sharecally have their grants reduced dollar for of positions requiring more than a highdollar for any eArnings they make. But school education has actually changedextensive research has failed to show that little despite high technology.12 Also,these disincentives are strong enough to Bonn part of rising credentialism reflects, explain the very low work levels found in not a real demand for higher skills, but anthe ghetto. Most welfare mothtis would attempt by employers to compensate forbe better off, at least economically, if they falling standards in the schools. werked, yet few do, aivi work levels vary little with welfare benefit levels. It has THE SOCIAL CONTEXT been estimated that even the total aboli- tion of AFDC would raise working hours Such findings leave it a mystery whyby the recipkants by only 30 percent.14 nonworking adults do not take and hold Nor is it ckar, as is commonly asserted, available jobs more consistently. Inquirythat poor women fail to work because of has sought out barriers of a more socialthe burdens of children or their inability nature, but these, too, turn out to be lessto find child care. While numbers of substantial than often claimed. children do deter work, most welfare Nonwork has frequently been blamed mothers now have only one or two on riwial discrimination, since most ofdependents, and those with preschool today's long-term poor are nonwhite.children are as likely to work duir way However, minority employment rates off welfare as those with older children." were much higher before civil rights than Surveys have shown that most working they are now, and working blacks today mothers, rich aixl poor, manage to ar- earn wages closer to those of comparabk range child care fairly easily, mostly whites than ever before. Such trendsinformally with friends and relatives. make it implausible that nonworkingOnly 9 percent make use of organized blacks are being denied all employment. facilities, yet only 6 percent lose working There is some evidence that employers time in a given month due to a breakdown prefer to hire women, both black andin child care." Government must clearly white, rather than unskilled black men and youths, whom they view as uncoopera- 13. George J. Borjas, "The Demographic De- terminants of the Demand for Black Labor,*in 11. David T. Ellwood, "The Spatial Mismatch Black Youth Employment Crisis, ed.Freeman and Hypothesis: Are There Teenage Jobs Missing in the Holzer, chap. 5. abettor inMack Youth Employment Crisis, eid. 14. Moflitt, "Work and the U.S. Welfare Sys- Freeman and Holzer, chap. 4; Jonathan S. Leonard, tem," pp. 20-35. "Space, Tune and Unemployment: Los Angeles 15. Mary Jo Bane and David T. Ellwood, "The 1980" (Paper, School of Business Administration, Dynamics of Dependence: The Routes to Self- University of California, Berkeley, Sep. 1986). Sufficiency" (Study prepared for the U.S. Depart- These studies use census data from, respectively, ment of Health and Human Services at Urban 1970 and 1980. Systems Research and Engineering, Cambridge, 12. Thomas Bailey and Roger Waldinger, "A MA, June 1983), pp. 34, 4445. Skills Mismatch in New York's Labor Market?* 16. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of New York 4.0-airs, 8(3):3-18 (Fall 1984). the Census, WhoMinding the Kids? Child Care

fZ3 :51"!

THE LOGIC OF WORKFARE 161 pay few care if it wants wife= women towant to work as strongly as other peo- wort, and it already does pay, but thereple,18 but since they do not work as appears littk need :or more center-basedconsistently in practice, this finding has chiki care. to be interpreted. Nor is lack of skills usually an impedi- One reading is that they want to work, ment to work in some job. Welfarebut only if they can also succeed, that is, mothers with education and work experi-attain jobs paying mainstream wages. ence are more likely to work than thoseThey reject jobs that pay little, especially withotn, but the influence of these andif they are 'dead-end? That is, nonwork other demographic variables is less thanhas a political element. It is in part a ow would expect. For example, younger,protest against the menial jobs the econ- black mothers are just as likely to workomy offers tlw unskilled. This view has their way off the rolls as older, whitesome plausibility for nonworking inner- women.17 city men and youths, who, studies show, Work for the poor involves realcan be fractious employees. Many black burdens, but they are mostly the de-youths insist on earning the same wages mands inseparable from finding jobs andwhite youths earn, but since they are less organizing one's life to hold them, notable to attain them, they more often impediments peculiar to the needy. Onremain jobless for long periods. When the whole, economic and social barriersthey do work, they more often come into explain inequality rather than nonwork.conflict with employers, causing them to That is, they explain why the poor doleave jobs or be fired.19 poorly if they work, not why so many fail Another interpretation is that nonwork- to work at all. Unquestionably, mosters, despite their professions, do not poor adults lack the education and back-really seek work. They are oriented to ground to succeed in the sense of obtain-private life and have abandoned advanc- ing good jobs, and recent trends in theing themselves through employment. Eco- economy may have made prospects morenomic faHism is a feature of poverty difficult for them. Ban these factors cannotculture, particularly on the part of minori- explain why so many do not work eventies who, until recent decades, saw little enough to escape poverty and welfare. Bychance to get ahead. The ghetto culture of implication, barriers cannot explain thetoday's Northern cities may, in part, existence of an underclass. reflect the defeatism poor blacks learned under Jim Crow in the South.20 In the

CULTURAL FACTORS IS. Leonard Goodwin, Do the Poor WOW to If barriers to work are not prohibitive, Work? A Social-Psychological Study of Work Orientations (Washington, DC: Brookings Institu- we must finally reconsider the orthodox tion, 1972). presumption that poor job seekers seek 19. Freeman and Holzer, eds., sack Youth out employment as assiduously as the Employment Crisis,chaps, 1-3, 7, 10; Elijah Ander- better-off. Studies suggest that the poorson, "Some Observations of Black Youth Employ- ment," in Youth Employment and Pik& Policy, Arrangements: Winter 19844, series P-70, no. 9ed. Bernard E. Anderson and Isabel Y. Sawhill (Washington, DC Government Printing Office,(Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1980), May 1987), tabs. B, E. chap. 3. 17. Bane and Ellwood, "Dynamics of Depen- 20. Nicholas Lemann, "The Origins of the dence," pp. v, 29-45. Underclass," Atlantic, June 1986, pp. 31-55. 4 162 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

background is the fact that the most better-off blacks provided the role models heavily dependent American ethnicand supported the social ustitutions groupsblacks, Hispanics, and Amer such as churchesneeded to *saki wmk lean Indianshave origins outside theand other mainstream mores for the West. Where Western culture has sought group as a whole. But after the advent of to ovescome mataial hardships throughcivil rights, these leading elements de- rationalizing economic activity, non-West- parted for the suburbs. Many poorer em culture, on the whole, has counseled blacks then rejected legal but low-paying acceptantx. That heritage helps to explain jobs in favor af mgfare, crime, and the why today's poor seem more passive in underground economy. The ghetto lost the face of apparent opportunity than its connection with the legitimate econ- otlwr ethnic immigrant groups, even ifomy, aml far fewer residents now have most blacks and Hispanics have absorbed regular contact with working people. the acquisitive individualism of the main- They thus find it more difficult to lomte stream culture. "straight" jobs even if they want to.22 However, the most persuasive interpre- In this analysis, the major task of work tation of nonworking psychology, es-policy is not to dismantk barriers to pecially for welfare mothers, is what in work, because they seldom literally bar the 1960s was referred to as culture ofemployment. Rather, it is to restore con- poverty. In this view, the poor want toventional work norms to the authority work and observe other mainstreamthey had in the inner city before civil mores, but they do not feel they actually rights. Public program and policies must can work given the impediments theysomehow take over the leadership role faee.21 While the barriers to work do not previously exercised by the black middle ktem unusual to an impartial eye, non- class. They must reconnect the ghetto % kers often feel them to be. They feel with the legitimate economy, for only A someone else, typically government, through the workplace can poor blacks wa'.1 imd them a job and arrange child enter mainstream society. ire and other logistics before they ac- tually can vtuil.. ; they have absorbed POLICY DEVELOPMENT orthodox valut.t.,Jt not with the force needed to bind actual behavior. For Federal policymakers have gradually accepted that work by the poor must be them, work is something they would like enforced, not simply facilitated by ex- to do, but not something tlxy feel they panded opportunities. Work policy has must do at any cost. It is an aspiration but been closely tied to welfare, as it is not an obligation. This psychology is no doubt long-nonwork by welfare adults that is most controversial, and it is only the recipients standing, but it has become more visible due to changes in the inner city. Under of benefits whom government has the authority to require to work. Jim Crow, when blacks of all classes were confined to separate residential areas, The approach given the longest trial was work incentives, or the attempt to 21. Daniel P. Moynihan, ed., On Understanding give recipients stronger financial induce- Poverty: Perspectives from the Social Sciences ments to work. As mentioned earlier, (New York: Basic Books, 1969), chaps. 2-3, 7-9; Hyman Rodman, "The Lower-Class Value Stretch,- 22. Wilson, Moly Disadvantaged, pp. 46-62, Social Forces, 42(2):205-15 (Dec. 1963). 137-38, 143-44.

1 i35 TRE LOGIC OF WORKFARE 163 welfare semis to remove the materialin 1971 and 1981. The requirernent differs payoff to work by deducting any earningsfrom an incentive in that employable from assistance. To reduce this *tax" onrecipients are faced with a cut in welfare if work, reforms in 1967 allowed workingthey do not seek to work, rather than recipients to keep somewhat over a thirdpronthed higher income if they do. The of their earninp. But work levels did notoffender's share of assistance is eliminated rise, and the Reagan administrationfrom the family's welfare giant, whk.h, largely eliminated the incentives in 1981.however, continues for the rest of the Research, too, has shown that changes infamily. the payoff to work, like varying benefit The work requirement bears on recipi- levels, have surprkiingly little effect onents who are employable, which is cur- work effort by recipients. The reality isrently defined to include unemployed that welfare recipients, especially the long-fathers, teenagers not in school, and term cases, are not very responsive tomothers whose children are aged 6 or economic incentives. Indeed, if they were,over. That constitutes only about 38 they would seldom be poor in the firstpercent of all recipients over 16, chiefly because of the exemption of mothers A later strategy was public employ-with preschool children. Furthermore, Ment. Provide disadvantaged adults withwhile all the employable must register attractive, temporary jobs within govern-with a work program, only a third to a ment, the argument went, and they willhalf ever participate actively in work- become more involved in work and willrelated activitis, due to funding limita- move on to regular employment. Astions and the reluctance of staff to work many as 750,000 such jobs a year werewith the more disadvantaged c1ients.23 funded under the Comprehensive Employ- Ile participants mostly look for jobs ment and Training Act (CETA) duringunder staff direction, but some enter the 1970s. While the recipients usuallytraining or government jobs. The term contributed useful labor, they seldom"workfare" originally applied only to made the transition to private employ-assignments where clients "worked off," ment. Most went back on welfare oror earned, their grants in unpaid public unemployment benefits or, at best, tookpositions, but it has aequired a broader other jobs within government. The prob-meaning, preferred here, that includes all lem was thm the level of pay and amenitythe mandatory, work-related activities in necemary to raise clients' commitment towhich clients may engage, including job work was more than they could usuallysearch, training, or education, as well as command in the private sector. Thus thework. jobs were in part disguised welfare and Work programs hitched to welfare did not really solve the work problem.show potential. Many new programs For this and other reasons, Congresshave appeared since 1981, when Congress killed the program in 1981. allowed states and localities to develop Increasingly, work policy has relied onalternatives to the Work Incentive (WIN) administrative work requirements, or stip- ulations that welfare recipients look for 23. U.S. General Accounting Office, An Over- view of the WIN Program: Its Objectives, Ac- work or enter training as a condition ofcomplishments, and Probkmt (Washington, DC: receiving assistance. Such a test wasGovernment Printing Office, 21 June 1982), added to AFDC in 1967 and was stiffenedchap. 2.

I fZ6 ACADEMY 164 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN program, which previously hadbeen theinstituted more forcefully. Even where natitmwide AFDC work AMU= Evalua-the will to enforce work is strong, difficult tions of several of the recent initiatives bystatecraft lies alarad. A serious program the Manpower Demonstration Researchrequires that welfare departnmats and Corporation (MDRC) make them lookother local RiggneiCS coordinate many promising. In most instances, welfareservices and change many routines. In clients who were involved in the programsmost states, that process has only begun. worked more hours, earned more money,There is still doubt as to whether govern- and drew less welfare afterward thanment can carry out workfare in practice, comparable clients not so exposed. Whikwhatever its potentia1.26 running the programs cost money, it was usually more than recouped due to savings WHAT WORKFARE DOES in welfare grants as more recipients went Workfare reflects the analysis of the to work.24 work problem presented earlier. It as- In most cases, the economic gains are sumes that jobs exist but thatjobless still marginal. Workfare% main effect isrecipients must be motivated to take not to reduce dependency, at least notthem. For motivation to exist, work must right away. In the typical work program,be enforced, nimh as other public obliga- 52 percent of the clients entering jobstionssuch as tax paymentare by other earn enough to leave welfare,25 but many public agencies. The aim is not to resocial- will return later. Rather, the effect is to ize the poor, a task probably beyond the make the welfare experience less passive.capacity of government. It is only to close The major potential of workfare is simplythe considerable gap that now exists to increase work effort, to raise the sharebetween the desires of the poor to work of the employable recipients who are and their actual behavior. doing something to help themselves, Workfare involves more than an induce- whether or not they leave welfare, whetherment to work. Recipients are not left to it be training, looking for work, or actuallyrespond to work opportunities on their working. Short of abolishing welfare, this own, as with work incentives.Rather, is government's best hope to enforce the there is a definite program to follow up work norm in the inner city. on them. Special personnel helpthem Despite its long history, however, work-look for work and provide necessary fare has only begun to be implemented support services, particularly child care. seriously in the United States. Few states have programs that levy a real workAnd because participation is mandatory, the staff have an authority over clients demand on more than a token slice of the lacking in voluntary employment pro- employable caseload. Workfare is still grams. They can demand effortand too controversial in most places to be cooperation from the client in return for 24. Judith M. Gueron, 'Refornting Welfarethe benefits they are receiving. with Work" (Paper, Manpower Demonstration The combination of services and re- Research Corporation, New York, Dec. 1986), pp. quirements places clients in a structure 18-25. where they find they can work and also 25. U.S. General Amounting Office, Work and Werare: Current A FDC Work Programs and 26. Lawrence M. Mead, Beyond Bruitkment: Implkatiorm for Federal Policy (Washington, DC: The Social Obtigations of Citizenship (New York: Government Printing Office, Jan. 1987), pp. 105-6. Free Press, 1986), chaps. 6-7. 17 THE LOGIC OF WORKFARE 165 that they must. Previously, welfare wasticipated against their will, we would find essentially an entitkment, a right to sup-many being penalized for noncoopera- port regardless of effOrt ma& to overcametion. In fact, sanction levels are low, with dependency. Now that right is balancedonly about 5 percent of participants with an onus to work or seek work.losing their benefits,n even though the Previously, work was only a hope forpenalty for noncooperation is now very most clients. Now it becomes an obliga-limited. tion, something they actually have to do The MDRC studies of recent programs here and now, in many instances for thereveal that most participants approve of first time. them. They think the work requirement is The power of such requirements tofair, and they feel positively about their raise work effort is potent. TIN rhetoricwork experience under the program. The of barriers has convinced many welfaremain reservation is that those working off experts that to insist on work could havetheir grants would prefer regular jobs.29 little impact. In reality, the degree ofThis reaction is not what one would obligation in work programs is tlx mainexpect from middle-class people, and it determinant of their performance. Onereveals much about the psychology of measure of that expectation is the partici-workfare. Those who have not fully pation rate, or the share of all the employ-internalized the work norm resist require- able clients who participate actively in aments less, not more, than those who work program. That rate is generally low, have. It is better-off people who resist for reasons given earlier, but it variesbeing told what to do by government, widely across state and local programs.quite rightly, because they are more able In WIN, that variation was the strongestto tell themselves. My impression is that determinant of the share of clients inthe clients who are sanctioned in WIN those programs who entered jobs. Thistend to be the most self-reliant, not the was so even controlling for the allegedleast. Most activists who oppose require- barriers, that is, the disadvantages of thements are not themselves dependent Con- clients and economic conditions.27 It hasversely, those on welfare usually appreci- probably been by raising participation,ate the guidance workfare provides. They more than for any other reason, that theknow they need that structure to work in recent work programs have improved on practice. WIN. The notion that workfare is repressive Opponents typically view workfare as projects a middle-class psychology on the coercive, but it should rather be seen aspoor. Actually, effective programs work an exercise in authority. Enforcementagainst repression. Typically, welfare cli- assumes that the poor want to work, notents coming to workfare are profoundly that they do not, for otherwise workwithdrawn. They have often been failures would be unenfor=able, just as Prohibi-in school and earlier jobs and see little tion was. If workfare clients truly par-opportunity around them. They have the same belief in insuperable barriers evinced 27. Lawrence M. Mead, °The Potential for Work Enforcement A Study of WIN," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 7(4264-88 (Win- 28. General Amounting Office, Work and Wel- ter 1988); idem, "Expectations and Welfare Work: fare, p. 62. WIN in New York State," Polity, 18(2)124-52 29. Gueron, "Reforming Welfare witli Work," (Winter 1985). pp. 17-18. 166 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY by liberal analysts of the work problem,more passive, more impersonal, less able tmt it kaves them powerless. Halve thtirto motivate, and thus kw successful.32 reluctance to do more to help timmselves. Workfare should be seen in the broad- We think of social deviance as smnethingest sense as a form of public education. assertive, akin to breaking the law, butJust as we require children to attend for this group it ratha arises from de-school, so we should require adults to do, featism. Some are aggressive, but manysomething to improve themselves if they more are passively aggressive. are employable yet on welfare. Just asin Much that workfare does, besicks helppublic education, mandatoriness is essen- recipients with the logistics of work, istial to achieve participation, to draw prompt them to be more assertive. Onlyrecipients out of du* homes and into time can they seize opportunities andconstructive activities. The maser is control their lives. Two activities dom-that defeatism is not acceptable, that inate in most programs, both of themable-bodied adilts must do something to dedicated to this end. One is job search, inhelp themselves. But, given participation, which staff send individual recipients tothe developmental objectives of workfare interviews with employers. The other iscan be uppermost. Learning is directed job clubs, a form of job seeking in which inward as well as outward. Participants groups of recipients support each other in have much to learn about themselves as the endeavor to fmd work. Group mem-well as the outer world. Tim emphasis is bers encourage each other, but they alsoon opportunity and hope. levy expectations to keep each other from According to MDRC, the new work "shirking." The dynamic works againstprograms are upbeat and not punitive in passivity, as defeated individuals are tone.x3 Most of them do not seek primarily drawn out of themselves. to cut welfare but rather to reduce passiv- Besides aiming for high participation,ity on the rolls. Most of them offer successful workfare programs encouragetraining aml education options alongside intensive interaction between clients and immediate work. Some, indeed, include staff and among the clients themselves.30"learnfare," or requirements that teenage The work obligation is levied morewelfare mothers remain in school rather through these interchanges than imper-than drop out, a policy that makes explicit sonal bureaucratic requirements. Re-the parallel to education. All embody a cipients are not coerced; they are expected presumption, deep-seated in the culture, to participate and then to work by otherthat both education and work are public human beings whose demands they experi- activities to be expected of all competent ence as just and unavoidable.31 Relation- citizens, for their own good and society'S.34 ships are the main lever that forces them to become more active. Programs that WELFARE REFORM rely heavily on legal coercion are much The success of recent work programs 30. Mark Lincoln Chadwin et al., "Reforming has prompted many work-oriented pro- Welfare: Lessons from the WIN Experience,"Public posals for welfare reform in Washington. Administration Review, 41(3):375-76 (May-June 1981). 32. Mead, "Expectations and Welfare Work," 31. Fcr a vivid portrayal of such interaction pp. 237, 244.45. with;a a comparable program, see Ken Auletta, The 33. Gueron, 'lit:forming Welfare with Work," Uneirrelass (New York: Random House, 1982), p. 17 . chaps. 1, 3-4, 6, 8-11, 15-16. 34. Mead, Beyond Entitlement, chaps. 5, 10-11. lfj TRE LOGIC OF WORKFARE 167

At this writing, however, little clump issome 2 million recipknts are registered in frameable. The reform tills most likelywork programs in a given year, but only to become law, drafted by Democratsabout 700,000 have to particiwte Daniel Moynihan in the Senate andAccording to the Congressional Budget Thomas Downey in the House, wouldOffice, the Downey bill would have added increase welfare benefits in marginalonly 210,000 partkipants and would have ways, Init states would control mostcaused only 15,000 families to leave wel- parameters of work programs, as theyfare over five years; the comparabkfig- have since the 1981 reforms. They couldures for the Moynihan bill were only defirn as employable welfare mothers86,000 and 10,000. The Republican plan, with children as young as 3rather thanhowever, would have raised participation 6, as nowand the participation rate, orby 935,000 and caused 50,000 families to the share cf- the employable clients acthely leave the rolls. It also cost kssS1.1 involved, could remain low. billion versus $5.7 billion for Downey Changes on this scale would not alterand $2.3 billion for Moynihanbecause the token tharacter of most existing work more of the new services would have been programs, which typkally "cream," ordefrayed by welfare savings. work with only the most employable The defeat of the Republican proposal recipients. The tendency among liberalmeans that no version of reform will legislators is to play down the mandatoryexpend workfare very much. However, it aspect of workfare in favor of the newis likely that some minimal participation services it provides for willing job seekers.standard will be added to the final legisla- This approach suits their political needs,tion. At du urging of the White House, which are to satisfy public concerns about the Moynihan bill was amended, when it work on welfare without disturbing large, passed the Senate in June 1988, to specify entrenched urban caseloads. But pro-that n percent of the employable re- grams that cream tend to serve recipientscipiems had to participate actively in who might well go to work without workfare by 1994. That, at least, is some- special assistance. Thus they have littlewhat above the 15 percent in current law. impact on the more seriously dependentThe possibility of higher participation cases, those most central to the underclass. levels will also be studied. A level of 50 Rather, reform should ex ;And partici- percent is probably achievable over sev- pation in workfare so that mail more oferal years, as this is the level reached in the employable recipients share activelythe more demanding of the rment work- in work activities. This is the only way tofare programs.3s ensure that work effort becomes an in- Besides the small scale of the work tegral part of the welfare experience.programs, the other main limitation of Federal rules now set a minimum participa- current work policies is that they affect tion rate in state work programs of onlywomen much more than men. Workfare IS percent. As a counter to the Demo-can obligate only the adult recipients of cratic proposals, House Republicans, with assistance, most of whom are welfare the support of the Reagan administration, mothers. It cannot directly reach nonwork- drafted a plan that would have raised the ing men, few of whom are on welfare but floor to 70 percent over several years. The effect on work effort and job 35. Gutron, "Reforming Welfare with Work,* entrici would have been sharp. At present, p. 16. 79 168 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY whale employment problems are evenage in all states but would still forbidthe more central to the underclass. At best,father to work and remain onwelfile. there is the hope that to require welfare It would be better to cover the father mothers to work will make them lessbut require him to work. That is, a father tolerant of nonworking men as sexualcould receive welfare provided he was partners. working and his family was still needy. Work effort by men outside welfareHe would have the same right to supple- must be enforced by suppressing thementation as a working mother, except alternatives to kgal emOoymnt, meaning that he would face a much tougher work crion, partkularly drug trafficking, and test. He wmild have to be winking full- the underground economy, or work that time in a legitimate job or a workfare job is legal but done off the books to escapeeven to apply for aid, and he would have taxes. The defenses sometimes made ofto keep working to maintain eligibility. illegal work are unpersuasive. It is notThat requirement is also what differen- true that crime is a rational choice fortiates this proposal from the many plans unskilled black youths, since over a year offered in the 19605 and 1970s to extend most will make more money in legal welfare from single-parent to two-parent jobs.36 Nor is illegal work morally orfamilies. One move in this direction was socially equivalent to legal employment. another amendment added to the Moym-` Few underground workers are successfulban bill on its passage by the Senate, a husbands or fathers, nor can they earnrequirement that unemployed fathers full acceptance by other citizens. The way work at least 16 hours a week in workfare forward for today's poor, like yesterday's,jobs. But there is no need to confine them lies through the legitimate economy. to government employment. Private-sec- As a secondary measure, I would also tor jobs would satisfy the work norm as expand welfare to cover more low-skilled well or better. fathers, so that more of them could be Obviously, this proposal would help reached by workfare programs. At pres- only workers with the lowest wages and ent, states may cover two-parent familiessizable families, particularly in states pay- under AFDC, but only if the father has a ing high welfare benefits. For others, to work history and is unemployed. If hework steadily in virtually any job places works more than 99 hours a month, the one above the welfare level. But more family loses all benefits, even if it is still welfare fathers might accept these rules needy; his earnings may not be supple-than the current ones, and for that por- mented up to the welfare level, as those of tion, government would have more lever- working mothers may be. Only about age to enforce work than it does now. half the states cover unemployed parents, and the small size of the programs indi- WORKFARE AND EQUALITY cates that few welfare fathers find the The leading objection to any steps to rules attractive. The current Democratic strengthen work policy is that they would reform proposals would mandate cover- condemn the poor to a life of drudgery in 36. W. Kip Viscusi, "Market Ineentives for "dirty jobs." The dead-end quality of Criminal Behavior," in 1512c1c Youth Employmou such jobs is exaggerated, as poor and Crisis, ed. Freeman and Holzer, pp. 308, 314-15. black people show mobility comparable

171 THE LOGIC OF WORKFARE 169 to that of the better-off over timeif theythe number of working poor, the latter work.37 But there is no question that, forwould have much greater resources, both many low-skilled adults, to work initiallyeconomic awl political, to demand redress means menial labor. Should they have tothan tire nonworking poor have now. work under such conditions? New economic claims can be made only It is hard to argue otherwise as long asby citizens in full standing, who in this the public so clearly wants the poor toculture must have a work history. work more than they do.3s It is easier to Workfare is not opposed to greater argue for raising job quality. Workfareequality, Lit it Fddresses rather the prob- can enforce work only in jobs that pay thelem of econoizac participation that must minimum wage and meet other rules forbe solved before issiats of equity can even conditions and benefits set by govern-gt on the agenda. The last generation has ment. Those standards could be raisedgiven poverty unprecedented attention, for instance, by increasing the minimumbut fmally at the expense of equality. wage or requiring that all jobs includePoverty raised issues of social order, health benefits. But they would have to be including nonwork, that ultimately took raised for all workers, an expensive propo-priority. For a generation, those who sition. To offer 'better" jobs just to thewould have government do more to poor, as experience with public employ-promote equality have been stymied by ment shows, does not achieve integration,the charge that the poor are undeserving. as the beneficiaries do not meet the norms Likewise, those who- want governnunt to faced by other workers. do less, including the Reagan administra- Work policy presumes that even dirtytion, have faced the charge that the poor work is preferable to the distress nowwould be hurt. The underclass is the faced by the workinkaged poor both onalbatross around the necks of social and off welfare and that it would help to reformers, on both the Left and tlw integrate the underclass. About two-thirdsRight. of recipients who work their way off A rise in work effort among the poor, welfare escape poverty.39 Even if themore than any other chang, would give effect of enforcement were only to increase both sides freer rein. Both the collectivist and the free-market ideology would be- 37. Greg Duncan etal., Years of Poverty, Years come more defensible, for both are visions of Plenty: The Changing Fornmes of American on beialf of working citizens. The country Workers and Families(Ann Arbor: University of would much rather argue about these Michigan, Institute for Social Research, 1984), New Deal options than about poverty, chaps. 2, 4. for both presume exactly the competence 38. Mead,Beyond Emitkment.pp. 233-40. 39. Bane and Ellwood, -Dynamics of Depen- among the poor that has recently been in dence,- pp. 56-57. question.

172 ANNALS, AA PSS, 501, January 1989

Institutional Change and the Challenge of the Underclass

By RICHARD P. NATHAN

ABSTRACT: This article calls for greater emphasis c,n the institutional challenge of the urban underclass, particularly on implementation studies of new social program . The need for such a shift in emphasis is examined in historical context, stressing the pluralistic and competitive nature of the American policy process, the structure of American federalism, and the critical role of state governments in chartering and overseeing the major institutions that provide social services. Two types of action are propos:xi to give greater attention to institutional dimensions of the challenge of the urban underclass: (I) evaluation research that incorporates institutional, attitudinal, and community variables; and (2) new consultative arrangements involving panels of academics and experts to assist government agencies in the implementation of social policies focused on the urban underclass.

Richard P. Nati= is professor of public and international gffairs at the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University. He received his Ph.D. degree in political economy and government from Harvard University in 1967. Nathan hay written extensively on werare, urban affairs, and federalism. He if a former U.S. govenvnent official and senior fellow of the Brookings Institution. His most recent book is Social Science ir '5overnment., Uses and M louses . I 73 170 """_!

INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE AND THE UNDERCLASS 171

LI EVE years ago, Ken Auktta's book thelessof tin civil rights revolution in The Underclass waspublished. In America. As William Julius Wilson has the intervening period, William Juliuspokned out, one of the reasons for the Wilson, Isabel Sawhill., Robert Rei- concentration oithe multi-problem minor- schauer, Ronald Mincy, Erol Rickets, ity poor in law cities is the out-migration Mark Hughes, Greg Duncan, and others of role modelsteachers, merchasns, civil have wrestled with the Wales involved inservants, professionals---from the dis- defining and measuring the elusive condi- tressed aims of cities as opportmities tion of what is wklely believed to be ahave opened up for them to live and work growing urban underclass in America. in other and better-off areas.' This special issue ofMe Annalsof the By "multi-probkm," I refer to three Anntrican Acaikmy of Political and So- interconnected conditions: (1) economic cial Science presents a cross section of the needs as measured by such indkators as views of these and other leading experts poverty, unemployment, and educational en the subject of the urban underclass. I defickncies; (2) behavioral problans such was asked to write the penultimate article, as long-term welfare dependency, family focusing on the institutional challenge ofinstability, drugs, crime, and prostitution; the urban underclass. Rather than useand (3) attitudinal problems of deep valuable space in this compendium toisolation and alienation. All three of present my ideas on the reasons for andthese conditions are extremely difficult to character of the urban underclass, I begin measure, especially when they coexist. with a series of assumptions and then Moreover, even in those situations where turn my attention to two questions thatnational or local data are available, they fascinate me. First, given the existence ofusually are cross-sectional rather than an urban underclazs, what can we dolongitudinal, so our knowledip of the about it? And more specifically, what can character, depth of severity, size, and be done to assure that the institutions in duration of the urban-underclass condi- the society whose actions are critical totion is limited.2 the nation's response to the problem of an Despite thew and other measurement urban underclass rise to this challenge? I problems, we have become increasingly particularly focus on the second question aware in recent years of the existence of a in this article. growing and ever more isolated urban underclass.' One indicator is the greater

ASSUMPTIONS William Julius Wilson, Thenuly Disad- vantaged; The Inner City, the LInderclass, and I assume that the dramatic increase Public Policy(Chicago: University of Chicago over the past two decades in the geo- Press, 1987). graphic concentration of multi-problem 2. A new study of the urban underclass under the auspices of the Social Scicnce Research Council poor personspredominantly members and sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation of racial-minority groupsin large cities includes neighborhood ethnographic studies. Sim- in the United States is more than a ilar research at the neighborhood level, which will difference of degree from past periods. It add an important dimension to ow knowledge in is a new condition that is, and should be, this field, is being conducted by William Julius Wilson in Chicago. deeply troubling to the nation. In part, 3. My views on this subject are summarized in this condition is a function of the suc- "Will the Underclass Always Bc with Us?"Society, cessnot complete, but substantial none- Mar.-Apr. 1987, pp. 57-62.

174 in THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY concentration in urban cams triwts ofunderclass" in our cities, which he said multi-Foblem conditions. Decennial cen- required a new and expensive govern- sus data for 1970 and 1980 show that the mental response unlike that of the civil number at tracts with high con"rights polkies begun in the 1960s.6 of poverty and other social problems Instead of devoting more attention increased in the 1970s, although the popu- here toitdiagnosis, I turn now to the lation of these tracts in many casesresponse. This subject falls naturally un- declined.4 This latter phenomenonthe der two headings, one involvitg tin charac- thinning out of urban distresshas beenter of the response, the other its =entice. widely noted in tlz literature. It is obviousAs stated earlies, my main interest is in in windshield surveys of what formerlyimplementationthe instituticeal chal- were concentrated ghetto neighborhoods lenge of the untierciass. First, however, that now have large numbers of aban-we need to consider the policies and doned and burned-out buildings andprograms that can be part of the kind of vacant lots. new response as advocated by Bayard In my view, the striking characteristicRustin. of this underclass situation, a character- istic that has tended to be left out of our THE RESPONSE analysis, is that it is spatial. A recent study by the Urban Institute shows that The first and critical point to make in the 1970s, "a significant proportion ofabout the response to the underclass is the black population shifted away fromthat it is bound to be extraordinarily established ghetto areas."5 The increased difficult to reach into this hardened social- geographical concentration of the urbanproblem milieu and save even a relatively underclass has the effect of reinforcingsmall proportion of tlw people trapped in the behavior and attitudes that draw the urban underclass. The cultural isola- people into the patterns of deviance tion, danger, and depth of severity of the deviance, that is, from prevailing social social environment we are considering is normsthat characterize the urban under- hard to exaggerate. The people who need class. My assumption is that this greaterhelp are often resentful, alienated, and concentration of problem coeitions differ-prone to hostile acts. This makes the entiates this issue of the urban underclasspolitics of response much more difficult from that of high levels of poverty andthan in an earlier period, when a a sr on related concerns in rural areas, In the poverty included helping the old and Ise stimirwr of 1987, just a few months before sick, that is, a much larger number of he died, Bayard Rustin referred to this persons whom the society defines as the situation as the rise of a "lumpen blackdeserving poor. In short, the political challenge of putting together a coalition 4. Research by Mark Man Hughes being of supporters for what Bayard Rustin conducted at the Woodrow Wilson School, Prince- said have to be "new and expenrive" ton University, uses detailed mapping analyses of 15 government programs to affect the prob- major citia far all census tracts to study conditions lem of the urban underclass adds a and trends relevant to the Mum underclass. dimension of great difficulty.7 5. "Trends in Residential Segregation," The Urban butitute Policy and Reserm* Report, Winter 6. Television interview, "Commentary,' 5 July 1987, p. 20, based on a study by Scott McKinney 1987. and Ann Schnare, "Trends in Residential Segrega- 7. This challenge is discussed in other articles tion by Race, 1960-1980." in this issue of The Annals of the American 1 '7 5 INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE AND THE UNDERCLASS 173

Despitv the fact that both the socialwelfare, or so-called ww-styk workfare and the political conditicars involved are reforms. Under these state programs, so difficult, there are arguments for action able-bodied heads of welfare families and types of action that I belkve aremostly femalas in single-parent fam- feasible in terms of both thir chances foriliesare obligated to cora into what is success and tlw prospects for winning often called a social contract. This social support for their adoption. contract requires them to participate in A number of the authors of the articles serACCS like training, remedial education, in thk special issue of The Annals were and job search and to accept employment. part of tlw working seminar on family In exchange, the state provides the needed and American welfare policy sponsoredservices to make this bargain work. Sim- jointly by the Anwrican Enterprise Insti-ilar concepts are embodied in the inner- tute and Marquette Univerity and chaired city education reforms emanating from by Michael Novak.8The seminar included the program developed by Eugene Lang, a group of experts on domestic and social a businessperson and philanthropist in issues who reflected a wide range ofNew York City. His approach involves a ideological positions. In its report, issued deal whereby studentstypically in junior in May 1987, the working seminar empha- high schoolwe to stay in school in sized the emergence of what it called "the exchange for a commitment on the part new consensus" between liberals and con- of an individual, such as Mr. Lang, or an servatives on social policy. This new con- organization, such as the Boston Com- sensus is grounded in the concepts of "mu- pact, to provide help to those who stay in tual obligation" and behavioral change. school and to guarantee a fully paid It involves a political bargain in which, opportunity for higher education when on the one hand, conservatives are willing they graduate from high school. to support programs that instill the dom- Likewise, in the field of corrections, inant social values of the society, such as where there has been rapid growth in the the obligation to obtain an education, to prison population and in the proportion work, and to fulfill family and community of blacks and Hispanics in prison, state responsibilities and, on the other hand, governnwnts are experimenting with new liberals are willing to highlight these approaches that at their roots involve values as a trade-off for obtaining more institutional change. Examples are pro- money for social programs. grams for closely supervised probation, Recent developments in the field of including daily check-ins and frequent welfare policy give concreterms to this contact with parole officers, and inten- treaty on the part of political ors in the sive, supervised corrections facilities for field of social policy. Such developments youths with rehabilitation programs that include, for example, the state programs emphasize behavior change, job training, adopted during the past five years to and education.9 institute a combination of work and The political bargains reflected in these approaches for reaching in and saving Academy of Political and Social Science, including Jennifer L Hochschild, "Equal Opportunity and 9. See Joan Petersilia, Expanding Options for the Estranged Poor." Criminal Sentencing, R-3544-EMC (Santa Monica, 8. The New Consensus on Family WeYare CA: Rand, 1987); John J. Dilulia, Jr., "True Penal (Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute Reform Can Save Money," Wall Street Journal, 28 for Public Policy Research, 1987). Sept_ 1987. 1 7 6 174 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY some of the peopk in the urban =lacks mention. One is that liberal groups that in have now been mfficiently noted, and in the past have been important to effrsts to some cases tested, so that thereis sub-adopt new social peograms have tended stance to the idea of a new consensus as to drag their heels on or even oppose embodied in the report from the seminar these relatiWy small steps, which in some sponsored by the American Enterprisecasesnotably workfareinvcdve obliga- Institute and Marquette. I should add tions that they oppose. that this agreement does not entail the In sum, there is wider agreement now commitment of large amounts of re- on some potentially effective responses to sources to new social programs, butit the problem of the urban underclass, but does translate into support for moreit is not wholehearted and genetal agree- spending and more intensive programsmeat and it does not at this time entail a focused on the urban undexclass on the willingness to devote large amounts of part of many state and local governmentsnew money to such programs on a broad and private groups. Moreover, even basis. Nevertheless, an agenda is Climb* though it is not widely known, the na-that is grounded in the diagnosis, given tional government under the Reaganpreviously, of the urban underclass that administration has provided some sup- for many of its proponents is refreshingly port, though not huge, for program in-realistic about the depth of tlw problem novations in this area, particularly in the and the immensity of the challenge in- welfare field, where various federal waiv-volved. Implicit in this formulation is tlw ers have enabled state governments to userecognition that it will take a long time to federal matching funds for new-style work- achieve change, that even then only some fare initiatives. people will be affected, and that the My own view is that these quiet incre- politics involved are very difficult. mental steps are promising. One reason For me, this situation is hopefulwith for optimism is that the steps have been one big caveat. The caveat concerns taken without the expansive rhetoric and institutions and implementatior. The overpromises typical of new federal social key to the new consensus is institutional programs. Some statesMassachusetts, change of welfare systems, school sys- Michigan, Pennsylvania, California, and tens, child-care systems, and other insti- New Jersey, to mention exampleshavetutions that deliver social services to been embarked on efforts to institute needy people in troubled inner-city neigh- new-style workfare systems for as long asborhoods. The remaimler of this article five years. They are developing conceptsdeals with .Ne institutional challenge of and systems to do this without the spot- the new consensus Both in social science light of attention that accompanies newand in social policy, I see this institu- federal social programs and often pro-tional dimension as the neglected frontier duces inflated expectations and impa-that is an important key to success in tience for rapid results. Another positivedealing with the problem of a wowing factor is the support of business groupsurban underclass. like the Committee for Economic Develop- ment, which stress the need to upgrade THE NEGLECTED FRONTIER the nation's human capital because of the projected decline in the labor force. Generally speaking, the bulk of the While these developments bode well, attention of political actors and experts there are also negative factors that bear on social issues is devoted to the diagnosis 177 INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE AND THE UNDERCLASS 175 of problems and to the formulation and ical system of checks and balances as adoption of poky. The rewardssrub-having both a horizontal dimension and hefty for policymakers, and putilication a vertical dimension_ The horizontal di- for experts and scholarstend to favormension is reflected in the sharing of these activitks. The task of implementingpowers between the executive, the legisla- new policies is left to people who are less ture, and the courts, with the latter central to the intellectual process, and thecoming to have an ever more assertive implication often is that they are icssrole in many areas of social poky. The important players in the policy game. vertical dimension is that of federalism, Yet impktmentation is a special chal- which involves the mplication of this lenge in the American setting. The Amer- thretiold sharing arrangementexecu- ican political system is distinctively open, tive, legislative, judicialat many levels pluralistic, and competitive; Tocquevilleof government. Structurally, culturally, called it full of "striving and animation."and intellectually, this dynamic, competi- As a result, public policy decisions often tive politkal system places heavy pressure are complex pohttcal bargains made un-on those charged with the task of imple- (kr the pressure of a deadline withoutmentation in an ism area as basic and much, if any, attention to how they will complex as dealing with the problems of be carried out. The more controversial the urban underclass. the policy areas that are addressed, the In political scknce, the academic litera- more complex, turbulent, and unstableture on implenwntation is relatively new the politkal bargains that emerge. In theand not extensive; the principal theme of social policy field in the United States, we the best work in the field highlights the are almost immune now to the fact of immensity of the gap between an idea and constant change in program requirements its execution in the American govern- and resources. mental st tting.10 This academic literature What is more, the special character ofhas its roots in an earlier period in the our political system involves a high level work of specialists in public administra- of uncertainty and instability in the staff- tion as a subfield of political science. Now ing for implementation processes. The out of fashion, the leaden in public chief officials of many public agencies are administration at one time had much relatively short-term political appointees, higher standing. They taught courses in often with little experience, who are personnel management, coordination, bud- constantly looking to the next rung on wting, auditing, and accounting as ele- Ow career ladder. This characteristic of ments of a paradigm that viewed policy- the American political system is com- making as the work of politicians and its pounded by the division of authority and execution as the work of professionals responsibility, often along lines that are with neutral competence in administrative unclear, between federal, state, and local processes. But wiser heads took charge in governments. It comes to roost, for the the discipline, with their central point purp oses of this article, in troubled inner- being a critique of the idea that policy and city neighborhoods, where both public agencies and community organizations 10. See, for example, Eugene BardackThe deal with the complex web of problems Implementation Game: Why Happens seter a MI Becomes a Law(Cambridge: MIT Ness, 19771., and pathology of the urban underclass in Jeffrel L Pressman and Aaron Wildavsky,linpk- the provision of public services. mentation,34:1 ed., expanded (BerkeleY: University One cai think of the American polit- of California Pius, 1984). 1 7 8 176 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN At...AL.EMY administration can be separated and as- mentation studies in the social scierwes.0 signed to different political actors. `Mar They stress the importance of symbolic point, surely a legitimate one, is that the action and the 'interdependence between policy process is continuous and that relatively autonomous social and political values are brouiht into play in both the institutions." In turn, March and Olsen legislative and the administrative pro- "deemphasize the simple primacy ci micro cesses. As public administration has fallen processes in favor of relatively compkx away in political science, a focus on processes and historical inefficiency."12 economics, statistics, and organizational Their call for "a new institutionalism" behavior has replacedit in graduateand that of others are beginning to education in public affairs. influence a number of scholars. This is all Political science's sister discipline of to the good. In particular, I see the need economics has contributed to this shift. to have this movement be interdisciplin- In an earlier day, economics gave more ary, encompassing both political science attention to institutions. John R. Com- and economics. It is also important for mons, at the University of Wisconsin, other disciplines, especially sociology and and his followen stressed the idea that social psychology. institutions behave differently from the To extend the argument here about sum of the rational men and women who the need for institutional and particularly make them up. This insight caused Com- implementation studies in the social sci- mons and others, including a generation ences, and specifically to connect it to the of labor economists at Princeton Uni-challenge of the urban underclass, the versity, to view the workings of social next two sections of this article deal with programs on a basis that highlighted the areas in which this linkage can be made. role and importance of the way institu- Specifically,I believe that evaluation tions behave in the public sector. All of research in the social scienees can make this is gone now in economics. an important contribution on the institu- To put together several of the ideas in tional side of the urban-underclass issue. this section, I believe that both the charac- I also believe that we can be creative in ter of the American policy erocessnot devising new consultative arrangements unique, but distinctive in these to involve scholars, experts, and universi- Madisoninn termsand the intellectual ties, particularly schools of public affairs, heritage of the social sciences are such in explicit and helpful ways to assist in the that we must now find ways to give more implementation process for new social attention more systematically to institu- tional aspects of governance and spe- cifically to the implementation process in EVALUATION RESEARCH the conduct of social policy. How do we do this? Evaluation research in the field of social policy came into prominence in the late 1960s. Actually, it includes two types A NEW INSTITUTIONALISM" 11. James G. March and Johan P. Olsen, "The In political science, James G. March New Institutionalism: Organizational Factors in and Johan P. Olsen have called for "a Poicai Life,"American Political Science Review, new institutionalism" that holdspromise 78:734-49 (1984). for change and redirection toward imple- 12. Ibid., p. 738. INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE AND THE UNDERCLASS 177 of studies: demonstration studies, to testby Lyndon Johnson to adopt a planning- new policies; and evaluation studies, to programming-bmigetingsystem on a gov- assess the effects of existing, ongoing ernmentwide basis. It was not possible, as programs. The large-scale and systematic Johnson had envisioned, to identify the practice of both types of policy researchgoals and measure the results of all in the fwld of social policy in the United domestic programs and polky alternatives States dales from the Great Society per- as a way to make the budget process more iod, especially tlx itweption of the New scientific and rational. Demonstration Jersey demonstration studies to test the and evaluation research is selective, involv- idea of a negative income tax. A number ing large-scale studies of those programs, of evaluation studies were also comlucted either potential new programs or existing of President Johnson's Great Societyprograms, that are believed to warrant programs. Later, under Presidents Nixon special attention. and Ford, demonstration studies were In the 1960s, when demonstration and undertaken to test other new social pol-evaluation research rose in prominence icies. These studies included the healthit has fallen from grace in the Reagan insurance experiments, the housing experi- yearseconomists were far and away the ments, and education vouchers. dominant group among social scientists My experience in this field involves in the design and conduct of these studies. both demonstration and evaluation re- This is to their credit; however, the down search. The demonstration studim I know side of the strong influence of economists best are closely related to the topic of the in this area is that subjects that economists underclass, namely, the studies under-have not been interested in have received taken by the Manpower Demonstrationshort shrift. The most important subject Research Corporation (MDRC) to testin this category, for the purposes of this new employment and training and work/ article, is the institutional dimension of welfare programs to assist disadvantaged the policy process. Political scientists and population groups, which, for the pur-sociologists were not featured guests at poses of this article, in most cases would demonstration and evaluation research be included in the underelass.13 I have banquets, although sometimes they were also had experience conducting field net-invited to fill in at the back tables. This work evaluation studies of the implementa- has meant that certain variables in the tion of new federal grant-in-aid programs, research equationboth independent and including employment and training and dependent variableshave been given no community development programs tar- or relatively little attention. They include geted on disadvantaged people and dis- institutional variables and also attitudinal tressed places. and community variables. In an important sense, the rise of these In my opinion, these omissions are not two types of large-scale applied social as serious in the case of demonstration science studiesd.monstration and evalu- research as they are in the case of evalua- ation studiescan be seen as a fallback tion research. When the issue is what position to the earlier, ambitious effort works, as it is in demonstration research, we tend to be most interested in specific 13. See Judith Gueron,Work Initiatives for economic values like the effect of a new WeVare Recipients: Lessons front a Multi-State aperiment(liew York: Manpower Demonstration program on income, earnings, employ- Research Corporation, 1986). ment, and the like. The work/welfare I j 178 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY demonstrations conducted by MDRCgood intellectual reasons that go beyond are a case in point. Tests by MDRC inthe topic of the urban underclass, such a eight states involved the random assign-development would be highly beneficial ment of 35,000 people to treatment andin enhancing our knowledge base and our control groups, with the principal de-capacity for acting in this area. The pendent variables being earnings andintellectual mode of evaluation research welfare benefits. But what if new-styleas envisioned here would be more induc- workfare worked? tive and descriptive than evaluation re- When a government decides to general-search driven by economics. Likewise, it ize a work/ welfare program tested in awould rely more heavily on qualitative, as demonstration study, the research chal-opposed to quantitative, research meth- lenge is transformed. Politicians in this ods and data. It would focus on questions situation are likely to be interested in involving the degrees to which, and the whether we can change the pertinentways in which, the major organizational institutions so that the program will be actors involved in implementing a new put in place effectively and as intended. policy responded to changed policy pur- They have ideas, even data, about what poses and signals. It would make heavier they want to do. The question nowuse of interviews, survey dataespecially becomes, Can government do it? In the on attitudes toward policy change--and case of work/ welfare initiatives, for ex- program information.14 ample, can the gove. mental entities in- volved change the b-havior of schools, NEW CONSULTATIVE the welfare systems, the employment ser- ARRANGEMENTS vice, and child-care services in ways that Not only should the members of the focus on the rehabilitative needs of welfare fraternityI belong to, policy-oriented recipients on an interconnected basis? In institutional social scientists, augment the assessment of such programs, we are our research capacity to deal with the likely to be interested in individual eco-underclass challenge, but we also ought nomic impacts like earnings, employ-to bring this capacity to bear in a more ment, and welfare recipiency. But the direct and immediate way in the execution funders of such researchgovernment of new programs. Here, I think we need agencies and foundationsare likely toto do some institution building of our be much more interested in political and own. The aforementioned MDRC work/ institutional variables and processes. This welfare demonstrations indicate the kinds is the kind of knowledge that can help us of possibilities involved. These demonstra- cross the frontier of institutional change tions were conducted in eight states. On critical to dealing with the stubborn, hard the basis of the findings of the research problems of the urban underclass. and also for other reasons, a number of The bottom line for this discussion is state governments decided in effect to that we need broader, multidisciplinary replicate the demonstrated programs and evaluation studies that incorporate the program ideas on a larger scale. California idea of "a new institutionalism." This is a case in point entails moving backor, if you like, 14.The ideas presented inthis section are forward -in terms of pushing policy- d:scussed further and in greater detail inRichard P. oriented social science into the administra- Nathan, Social Science in Gavernmeru, Uses and tive arena. While I favor doing this for Misu.ses(New York: Basic Books. 1988). INSTITUTIONAL CHANOE AND THE UNDERCLASS 179

MDRC did its first and probably best-are appreciable hurdles to the achieve- known work/ welfare demonstration toment of the goal despite the fact that the test new approaches to job search linked goal is widely shared. with community work experience for The state of California has committed welfare applicants and recipients in Sanitself to a major evaluation of the GAIN Diego County, California. Some 5000 program. In the normal course of affairs, persons participated in this demonstra-however, the main outputs of such a tion, and the results were encouraging. study follow, rather than coincide with, Significant, though not huge, increases in the implementation process. As state earninp and lower welfare benefits were officials turned their attention to imple- found for the participants compared to menting the GAIN program, it became the controls. Based on these fmdings and increasingly apparent that the task was a also taking into account other ideas and formidable one. purposes, the state of California in 1985 It is in this kind of territory that I enacted a statewide program called believe we would benefit from some Greater Avenues to Independence (GAIN). inventive institution building that would The program involves an intricate set ofbring the intellectual community ex- interconnected steps to provide contin-perts and academicscloser to the imple- uous serviceeducation, job counseling, mentation process. I have in mind the training, work experience, child care -to creation of on-the-scene advisory panels heads of welfare families. These services that would work with government offi- are to be provided by a multitude ofcials and prepare material for their in- social agencies under the supervision of ternal use and periodic reports for public county governments, of which there are dissemination. I realize that such arrange- 58 in California. The law gives countiesments are often made and furthermore two years to plan their program, which that they involve many and diverse kinds must be approved by the state. of special political conditions and inter- At its roots, the idea of GAIN is to ests. Nevertheless, I believe there would convert the welfare system from a pay- be value in having some central organiza- ment system into a service system focused tion develop, organize, and oversee the on work preparation and facilitation. creation of consultative arrangements for Now, nearly two years into the GAIN panels of academic experts and con- prop-am, it is abundantly clear that the sultants to have formal ties to implementa- ambitious system-reform objectives oftion processes for important new social this new law stretch the state's capacity to policy initiatives. A group like the Na- design and oversee changes in socialtional Academy of Public Administra- programs and administrative procedures tion, for example, could play this role on across a broad array of communities and a national basis whereby it would develop agencies. The logistics involved for the the expertise to identify participants, pro- service .agencies that are called on to vide staff, and perhaps also help obtain participate schools, the employment ser-funding for such arrangements. vice, junior colleges, training programs, 'Ile advantage of having a central child careand the task of keeping inte- organizing unit is that there would be a grated records and making timely pay- body of experience --not unlike the case ments for welfare assistance to the individ- of MDRC as a research intermediary in ual participants and to service providers this field that could be drawn upon in 180 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY arranging for the auspices, time commit-process. It is state governmentsthat have ment, publications, funding arrange-the dominant policy and oversight role ments. and staff for the panels to aid in for many of the services that are critical to the implementation process for social addressing effectively the hardened social policy initiatives, especially those focused problems of the urban underclass. Histor- on the intractable problems of the urban ically, the main role of the U.S. national underclass. If nothing else, the central government in domestk affairs has been unit would provide a sounding board and in the area of income transfers, such as discussion arena for defming key issues social security, unemployment compensa- and considering problems as they arise in tion, and welfare. In the service area, its the execution of important and complex role has been more limited, focusing on new social policies. At some points along stimulating and supporting state and the way in the implementation proms, it local social services. The emphasis of could also help to clear the air or obtain federal policy has been on grants-in-aid support on key issues just by the fact offor social service programs, and not so having independent and well-developed muchas I argue is needed nowon analyses of the major choice points and promoting institutional change. We need issues in the implementation process. to shift our attention from specific and My image of these central groups is narrow programs to a broader concern that they would involve multidisciplinary for systemsschools, welfare, correc- panels of academics and experts, including tions, hospitalsin providing for the former officials in the field, perhaps using poor. This requires rethinking the federal faculty members and graduate studentsrole. The National Institutes of Health at schools of public affairs or other could be considered as a model, with the similar programs as principals and sup- aim being to give both financial and port personnel. The groups would have a intellectual support on a systematic basis single chair or director and a specified to state govet nments and through them relationf hip with program officials. There to their major local entities--big cities, would be financial resources and space urban counties, and school districts-- to for staff and an agreed upon schedule of transform the institutions critical to deal- their tasks and main products. The work ing with the problems of the urban of these special panels would be time underclass. limited. They would go out of existence once the program being considered had RECAPITULATION been developed and put in place. They could operate at diffe.cnt levels of the The articles in this special issue of The political system in state government or Annals reflect a convergence in their in large local jurisdictions, including diagnosis of the problem of a hardened, counties, cities, and school districts. troubled, and predominantly minority Under the general heading of inventing urban undtvelass. The underlying chal- mechanisms for institutional change, I lenge of racial differences is the main would go one step further. With respect story line of the history of social condi- to the earlier discussion of the pluralism tions and social policy in the United and diversity of American domestic gov- States. Our capacity to deal with this ernment, we need to return to the federal- challenge is the critical test of .fte Amer- ism dimension of the American policy ican democratic idea.

I INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE AND THE UNDERCLASS 18 1

There is now an emerging consensus inmissiqg and the consequences of its ab- the social policy community about strate-sence. It highlights ways in which intellec- gies that are likely to make a dent in thesetual resources, both evaluation research intractable problems. The missing ingredi-awl new consultative arrangements, could ent in dealing with these problems that isbe brought to bear in more systematic highlighted in this article is greater and ways to help turn goals into accomplish- concentrated attention on the institu-ments in the field of social policy related tional dimension of the policy changesto the urban underclass. It is in the needed to reach the problems of theinterest of lighting a dark area of govern- urban underclass, particularly the imple-ment that this article offers suggestions mentation process for new strategies andfor dealing with the institutional challenge programs. This article examines the rea-of the urban underclass. sons why this ingredient is so often ANNALS, AAPSS, 501, January 1989

The Underclass: Issues, Perspectives, and Public Policy

By WILLIAM JULIUS WILSON

ABSTRACT: This article critically review.4 the other articles in this volunie and integrates some of their major arguments Attmtion is given to the substantive arguments advanced by each author and how they relate to the points raised by the other authors. In conclusion, the policy recommendations put forth in several of the articles are assessed.

A MacArthur prize William Julius Wilson is. the L.Ltcy Flower Distinguished Service Professor of Sociology and Social Policy et the University of Chicago. He LS the author of Power. Racism, and Privilege; The Declining Significance of Race; The Truly Disadvantaged; and coeditor of Through Different Eyes. ISSUES, PERSPECTIVES, AND PUBLIC POLICY 183

DURING the decade of the 1970s, ANALYSIS OF INNER-CITY significant social changes (occurred SOCIAL DISLOCATIONS in ghetto neighborhoods of large central The article by Wacquant and Wilson cities; however, they were not carefullysets the tone for most of the research monitored or researched by social scien-articles in this volume. In contrast to tists. In the aftermath of the controversy discussions of inner-city social disloca- over Daniel Patrick Moynihan's reporttions that strongly emphasize the indi- on the black family, scholars, particularlyvidual attributes of ghetto residents and a liberal scholars, tended to shy away from so-called culture of ghetto poverty, Wac- researching any behavior that could be quant and Wilson draw attention to the construed as stigmatizing or unflattering structural cleavage separating ghetto resi- to inner-city minority residents. The vit- dents from other members of society and riolic attacks and acrimonious debateto the severe constraints and limited that characterized this controversy proved opportunities that shape their daily lives. to be too intimidating to liberal scholars. In highlighting a new sociospatial pattern- Accordingly, for a period of several years, ing of class and racial subjugation in the and well after this controversy had sub- ghetto, Wacquant and Wilson argue that sided, the problems of social dislocation the dramatic rise in inner-city joblessness in the inner-city ghetto did not attract and economic exclusion is a product of serious research attention. This left the the continuous industrial restructuring of study of gl-a-Ato social dislocations to American capitalism. conservative analysts who, without the Lawrence Mead challenges this view benefit of actual field research in the in an argument based on the selective use inner city, put their own peculiar stamp c f secondary sources. Mead maintains on the problem, so much so that the that since opportunities for work are dominant image of the underclass became widely available, the problem of inner- one of people with serious charactzr flaws city joblessness cannot be blamed on entrenched by a welfare subculture and limited employment opportunities; rath- who have only themselves to blame for er, it is inconsistent work, not a lack of their social position in society. jobs, that largely accounts for the high In the early to mid-1980s, however, as poverty and jobless rates in the inner city. the nation's awareness of the problems in Mead speculates that there is a disinclina- the ghetto has been heightened by a tion among the ghetto underclass both to proliferation of conservative studies and accept and to retain available low-wage sensational media reports, the problems jobs because they do not consider menial of inner-city ghettos have once again work fair or obligatory. drawn the attention of serious academic This thesis is seriously undermined by researchers, including liberal social scien- the evidence Kasarda has amassed on tists. Accordingly, an alternative or corn- urban industrial transition. Carefully ana- pet ;rig view to that of the dominant image lyzing data from the Census Public Use of the underclass is slowly emerging, a Microdata Sample Files, Kasarda demon- view more firmly anchored in serious strates that while employment increased empirical research and/or thoughtful in every occupational classification in the theoretical arguments. The work of some suburban rings of all selected Northern of the social scientists responsible for this metropolises, blue-collar, clerical, and different perspective is included in this sales jobs declined sharply between 1970 volume. and 1980 in the central cities even though

I t.k 184 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY there was substantial growth in theWacquant and Wilson point out that number of managerial, professional, and"not owning a car severely curtails [the] higher-level technical and administrativechances [of ghetto blacks when they support positions. These occupationalcompete] for available jobs that are not shifts have contributed to major changeslocated nearby or that are not readily in the educational composition of central-accessible by public transportation." city jobholders: precipitous net declines The arguments put forth by Sullivan in slots filled by persons with poor educa-reinforce those of Wacouant and Wilson tion and rapid increases in slots filled byand of Kasarda on the impact of macro- those with at least some college training.economic changes on inner-city neighbor- These changes are particularly prob-hoods and on poor blacks. Sullivan, like lematic for the black urban labor force,Wacquant and Wilson, is concerned that which remains overrepresented amonga heavy stress on individualcausation those with less than a high school educa-neglects the mounting evidence of the tion--for whom city employment hasrelationship between increasing jobless- sharply declinedand greatly underrepre-ness and the dismal employment pros- sented among those, especially collegepects in the inner city. He notes that too graduates, for whom city employmentgreat an emphasis on structural causation has rapidly expanded. Kasarda pointsleads one to ignore the significance of out that from 1950 to 1970 there wereculture and therefore leaves us unaware substantial increases in the number ofof the unique collective responses or blacks hired in the urban industrial sectoradaptations to economic disadvantage, whe had not gaduated from high school,prejudice, and the problems of raising a but after 1970 "the bottom fell out infamily and socializing children under urban industrial demand for poorly edu-such conditions. Accordingly, Sullivan's cated" labor. As Wacquant and Wilsonarticle relates data on cultural proctsses put it, "A high school degree is a conditioto the structural constraints of the po- sine qua non for blacks for entering thelitical economy and to the different indi- world of work." vidual choices and strategies within these Challenging tl-, e orthodox thesis putneighborhoods. Sullivan attempts to ana- forth by economists that it is entirely racelyze the collective adaptations of different rather than space that determines theethnic groups to similar yet distinctive differential black employment rates,problems in obtaining an income and Kasarda's data show that not only haveraising and supporting children. Whereas blacks with less than a high school educa-he is able to show a strong relationship tion in the suburban ring experiencedbetween poor female-headed households considerably lower unemployment thanand an overall lack of decent jobs in the their counterparts in the central city, buttwo minority neighborhoods under study, that these city-suburban differences havehe does not clearly establish the linkage actually widened since 1969. Finally,between culture and macro-structural con- Kasarda's data reveal that compared withcerns. Nonetheless, his analysis does lesser-educated whites, lesser-educatedstrongly suggest that some of the effects blacks must endure considerably longerof macro-structural constraints may be commuting time in reaching suburbanmediated by traditional ethnic values. jobs and are highly dependent on private Sullivan's subtle cultural analysis vehicles to reach such jobs. Likewise,should not be confused with the culture- ISSUES, PERSPECTIVES, AND PUBLIC POLICY 185 of-poverty perspective on inner-city so-noted, it is debatable, but certainly pos- cial dislocations. The term "culture of pov- sible, that the father's deserting of mothers erty" was introduced by the late Oscarand children, a high tolerance for psy- Lewis to describe the configuration ofchological pathology, and an unwilling- cultural traits that tend to emerge, he ness to defer gratification are products of argued, in class-stratified and highly indi- cultural transmission. It is much more viduated capitalist societies that have difficult, however, to entertain the idea few, if any, of the characteriFtics of athat unemployment, underemployment, welfare state: a sizable unskiL laborlow income, a persistent shortage of cash, force that is poorly paid; high rates ofand crowded living conditions directly unemployment and underemployment; stem from cultural learning.2 few organizations, if any, to protpct the Hannerz argued that Lewis's work on interests of the poor, and advantagedcultural transmission had generated a classes who emphasize the value of upwardgreat deal of confusion because he failed mobility and the accumulation of wealth to draw a clear distinction between causes and who associate poverty with personal and symptoms, between what counts as inadequacy or inferiority. Lewis argued objective poverty created by structural that these conditions constitute powerfulconstraints and what counts as culture as and enduring constraints on the experi-people learn to cope with objective pov- ences of the poor. As the poor learn toerty. By failing to make this distinction live within these constraints they developclear, argued Hannerz, the notion of a a design for livinga culture of pov-culture of poverty tends to be used in a erty-- that is crystallized and is passed on diluted sense as "a whole way of life." from generation to generation. Accord-Emphasis is then placed not on the ing to Lewis's formulation, then, thestructural constraints or the ultimate ultimate cause of the culture of poverty isorigins of culture but on the "modes of the constraints imposed on the poor in behavior learned within the community."3 highly individualistic class-stratified cap- But, as Hannerz noted, it is possible to italist societies, and the principle reasonrecognize the importance of macro-struc- for its stability and persistences thetural constraints---that is, to avoid the transmission of this culture from oneextreme notion of the culture of pov- generation to the next. As Lewis put it,ertyand still see "the merits of a more "By the time slum children are age six orsubtle kind of cultural analysis of life in seven, they have usually absorbed the poverty." The point that Hannerz raised basic values and attitudes of their subcul-20 years ago is still an open and crucial ture and are not psychologically gearedquestion today, namely, whether the. e is to take full advantage of changing condi- a difference between "a person who is tions or increased opportunities whichalone in being exposed to certain macro- may occur in their lifetirne."1 structural constraints" and a person "who h is the cultural-transmission thesis of 2. U lf H anneri, Souisitie: Inquiries into Ghetto the culture of poverty that has received Culture and Community (New York: Columbia the most critical attention. As Ulf Hannerz University Press. 199), 3. Ibid.. pp. 179-80. For an example of the I. Oscar Lewis, "Culture of Poverty." in Ors extendedand thus unrigoroususe of the culture- Understanding Poverty: Perspectives from the So- of-poverty concept as "a whole way of life." see cial Sciences, ed. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (New Edward Bonfield. The Unheavenly C'ily. 2d ed. York: Basic Books. 1968). p. 188. (Boston: Little. Brown. 1970).

Ci 186 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY is influenced both by these constraintsthe inner city, facing limited job pros- and by the behavior of others who arepects, cannot readily assume the roles of affected by them."4 Ghetto-specific prac-breadwinner and reliable husband. They tices such as overt emphasis on sexuality,therefore "cling to the support" provided idleness, and public drinking "do not goby their peer groups, and they back away free of denunciation" in inner-city ghettofrom enduring relationships with girl- neighborhoods. But because they occurfriends. The lack of employment opportu- much more frequently there than in mid-nities not only impoverishes the entire dle-class society, due in major part tocommunity; it stiips the young men "of social organizational forces, the trans-the traditional American way of proving mission of these modes of behavior bytheir manhood, namely, supporting a precept, as in role modeling, is morefamily." Given the paucity of conven- easily facilitated.5 The term I have used totional avenues of success in the isolated refer to this process is "social isolation,"inner city, the young ghetto male affirms which implies that contart between groupshis manhood through peer-group interac- of different class and/ or racial back-tion. His esteem is enhanced, that is, he grounds is either lacking or has becomebecomes a man, if he can demonstrate increasingly intermittent and that thethat he has had casual sex with many nature of this contact enhances the effectswomen and has gotten one or more of of living in a highly concentrated povertythem to "have his baby." area.6 As Anderson emphasizes, casual sex is Unlike the concept of culture of pov-really not so casual. In the inner-city erty, social isolation does not postulatepeer-group status system, itcarries a that ,,heito-specific practices become in-special meaning. Inner-city adolescents ternalized, take on a life of their own, and"engage in a mating game," states Ander- therefore continue to influence behaviorson. The girl dreams of having a home even if opportunities for mobility im-and a family with a husband who can prove. Rather, it suggests that reducing rovide financiA support. The boy, with- structural inequality would not only de-out a job or employment prospects, knows crease the frequency of these practices; ithe cannot fulfill that role. He nonetheless would also make their transmission byconvinces the girl to have sex with him, precept less efficient. often leading to out-of-wedlock pregnan- In this Annals issue, Elijah Anderson'scy, and therefore achieves "manhood in article on sex codes among black inner-the eyes of his peer group." In the subcul- city youths graphically depicts the prob-ture of the ghetto, argues Anderson, lems of social isolation in the inner city people generally get married "to have some- and provides persuasive arguments onthing." This mind-set presupposes a job, the the relationship between ghetto-specificwork ethic, and, perhaps most of all, a practices and structural inequality. Ander- persistent sense of hope for, if not... abelief

son points Jut that young black men inin, an economic future... for so many of

those who . . become unwed mothers and 4. Hanneu, SouLside, p. 182. fathers, there is little hope for a good job and 5. Md.. p. 184. even less for a future of conventional family h. William Julius Wilson. Pre Duly &sad vantage& 77wInner (ity. the Underclass, and Public Policy (ChicagoUniversity of Chhiago The impact of employment in the Press. 1987). inner city is a central theme of the article ISSUES, PERSPECTIVES, AND PUBLIC POLICY 187

by Testa and his coauthors. Drawing aggregate growth of female-headed fatu- upon survey data collected by the Uni-ities, they nonetheless nuentain that its versity of Chicago's Urban Plverty and impact on the poorer half of the popula- Family Structure Project, Test, and his tion is greater. They estimate that between colleagues fmd that employed fati-ers are 20 and 30 percent of the growth of two and a half times more likely thanmother-only families among the lower nonemployed fathers to marry the motherhalf of the income distribution can be of their first child. This finding supports accounted for by "the threefold inerease the hypothesis that male joblessness is ain AFDC and welfare-related benefits central factor in the trends involving between 1955 and 1975." never-married parenthood in the ghetto. But it is difficult really to separate the Indeed, these findings reveal that theeffects of welfare on family formation effect of male employment on marriage isand labor force attachment from the strong not only among inner-city black effects of the overwhelming joblessness men but among inner-city white, Puerto that has plagued the inner city since 1965 Rican, and Mexican men as well. More-and especially since 1970. As David Ell- over, their unique data set demonstrates wood has pointed out elsewhere,"Welfare that high school graduates are morebenefits rose sharply until about 1973, likely to marry than high school dropouts, but they have fallen since then."7 Adjusted suggesting, therefore, that the marriagefor inflation, the welfare package---AFDC decisions of inner-city couples are shaped plus food stamps--was 22 percent less in both by current economic realities and by 1984 than it was in 1972.s During the long-term economic prospects. decade of the 1970s, the decade in which Although McLanahan and Garfinkelthe real dollar value of welfare declined also support the view that the rise in male steadily after 1972, we nonetheless wit- joblessness in the inner city is a majornessed the sharpest rise in inner-city contributor to the growth of female head-joblessness and related social dislocations ship of families, they likewise note thesuch as the concentration of poverty, contribution of welfare to the growth ofpoor female-headed families, and welf.,re mother-only families. More specifically, receipt .9 when analyzing the social and economic Although McLanahan and Garfinkel situations of black single mothers whostate that joblessness is the single most are weakiy attached to the labor forceimportant factor in the rise of mother- and are concentrated in Northern ghettos,only families, they fail to address the they argue that "too heavy a reliance oncomplex relationship between jobless- welfare can facilitate the growth of an underclass." McLanahan and Garfinkel 7. David T. Ellwood,Poor Support: Poverty maintain that Aid to Families with Depen- in the American Family (NewYork.Balk: Bouks, 1988), p. 209. dent Children ( AFDC) and other means- 8. Sheldon Danriger and Peter Gottschalk, tested public assistance programs reduce Powny of Losing (hound," Challenge, May- the likelihood of marriage and promote June 1985. female headship in the inner city and 9. Wilson, Truly Disadvantaged: Low J therefore weaken the labor force attach- Wataquant andWilliam Julius Wilson, "Poverty, Joblessness, and the Social Transformation of the ment of poor single mothers. Recogni7ing innerCity," inReforming Welfare, ed. a Ellwood that the existing research reveals that and P. Cottingham (Cambridge, MA: Harvard welfare has a very small effect on the University Press, forthcoming). Li 188 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY ness, family formation, and welfare.1°the job market. "'We all remember the Joblessness aggravates both single-parent anxiety of geiting our first job," Thomas family formation and welfare receipt. ifCorbett, of the Institute for Research on welfare receipt is related to the formation Poverty, has stated elsewhere. "'For a of single-parent families and labor forcewoman who has been out of the job attachment--although careful empiricalmarket for years, or maybe has never had research has yet to establish this mlation- a job, that anxiety can be greatly com- ship firmlyit is best seen as a mediatingpounded. And many of these people live variable or as part of a matrix of con-in isolated inner-city neighborhoods, straints and opportunities, a matrix thatwhere there aren't many role models to does not necessarily produce a singleoffer skills at coping with the job mar- outcome, but rather a set of behavioralket.'"u As one welfare mother seeking a outcomes, job in Chicago put it, 'I get so nervous As shown in Wacquant and Wilson'sand scared going out looking for a job. article, blacks who live in the ghetto are Meeting all them strange folks, you know. confronted with a different matrix ofAnd I never know how to talk to 'em."13 constraints and opportunities from that Such feelings are likely to be far more confronted by blacks who live in low- prevalent in socially isolated ghetto neigh- poverty areas. These include differencesborhoods than in other areas of the city. in the class structure, availability of em- It is important, therefore, in any discus- ployment, economic and financial capital, sion of welfare's contribution to the poverty concentration, and social capital. growth of an urban underclass, to con- For all these reasons, greater significanm sider public ass:stance programs a part of is attached to the availability of welfare in the overall matrix of constraints and the ghetto than in the low-poverty areas. opportunities. The most important vari- As reported by Wacquant and Wilson, able in this matrix, as so ire ny of the welfare mothers who live in the ghetto are articles in this volume demonstrate, is far less likely to expect to be welfare freeemployment opportunities. within less than a year and far more likely Decreasing employment opportunities to anticipate needing assistance for more are cerarally related to the dramatic than five years than welfare mothers who impoverishment of Puerto Ricans in large reside in low-poverty areas. Wacquant urban centers. !a thisAnnasissue, Marta and Wilson argue, therefore, that "those Tienda points out that since 1970 Puerto unable to secure jobs in low-poverty Ricans have witnessed a precipitous de- areas have access to social and economic cline of jobs that they traditionally filled supports to help them avoid the public- and an overall economic decline and aid rolls that their ghetto counterparts industrial restructuring in areas where lack." Indeed, the mere fact of living in a they are concentrated. As a result, the ghetto or an extreme-poverty area could labor market position of Puerto Ricans increase one's uneasiness about entering represents the bottom of the ethnic hiring queue. Whereas Mexicans have been 10, -Joblessness" here dors not refer simply to preferred laborers in agricultural jobs, at unemploymem hut to non-labor-force participation as well. 12. Quoted in Dirk Johnson, "Anti-Poverty 11. Claude S. Fisher. Networks and Mares! Program Seeks to Build Self-Este-em," New York Social Relations in the tirhan Setting (New York: Times. 21 Feb, 1958, p. 13 Free Press, 1977). 13. Ibid. ISSUES, PERSPECTIVES, AND PUBLIC POLICY 189 least in recent years, Puerto Ricans,migration has not been a miqor factor except for women in the garment andcontributing to the emergence of the textile industries, have never been pre-urban underclass." ferred workers for specific jobs. But The increasing problems of social dislo- Tienda argues that the massive industrial cation among the underclass have been restructuring of the Northeast has wipedaccompanied by a rise in the homeless out many unskilled and unionized blue-population. As Rossi and Wright reveal collar jobs, so much so that not only have in their article, the recent increase of the the employment opportunities of Puerto literally homeless population is associated Rican youths and men of prime workingwith a number of macro processes, includ- age been severely limited, but the job ing changes in the demand for low-skilled prospects of Puerto Rican women in theworkets that has led to a drastic reduction textile and garment industries have dimin-in the market for casual labor and has ished as well. made it more difficult for the homeless to If social scientists tend to emphasizepay rent and buy food; changes in the the impact of changes in the organization level and coverage of income-maintenance of the American economy on the lives ofsupport pri;grams that have decreased urban minorities, the general public hasaccess of the homeless to the cheapest identified the growing presence of immi-available rentals, have discouraged their grants, particularly immigrants from the families from subsidizing them, and have poorer Latin American countries, as areduced their probability of receiving prime factor in the labor market displace-adequate institutional care; and sharp ment of American-born groups, particu-declines in the quality and quantity of larly black Americans. low-cost housing in urban areas across But, as shown in Robert Reischauer'sthe country. succinct article, there is little evidence What is interesting to note is that all of that irnmis,:ants have had any significantthese macro processes have also adversely negative impacts on the employment affeAed the poor nonhomeless population situation of black Americans." Reischauerin urban areas. Accordingly, comprehen- is aware that the data on which thissive programs to address the problems conclusion is based are old and are notassociated with urban poverty in general sufficiently detailed to isolate localized or will benefit not only the nonhomeless regional effects or to capture the effects ofresidents of the inner-city ghetto but the recent immigration in cities such as Losurban homeless population as well. Angeles, Miami, New York, Houston, San Francisco, and Chicago. Moreover, he raises the possibility that the effects of POLICY OPTIONS: immigration could have been much A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT greater on working conditions and in- Several of the articles discussed in the ternal migration, labor force participa-previous section draw out the policy tion, and fringe benefits, which haveimplications of their analyses. Kasarda received less attention from researchers,outlines a series of practical steps to than on the dimensions that have beenreduce the spatial isolation from jobs that the focus of current studies -unemploy-match the skills of inner-city residents, ment, wages, and earnings. Nonetheless, including a computerized job-opportunity "the existing evidence suggests that im- network, job-search asistance, temporary 190 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY relocation assistance, housing vouchersby the respective authors? And if intro- for low-income citizens, stricter enforce-duced, how much support are they likely ment of fair-hiring and fair-housing laws,to receive from the American public? For and a review of public assistance programspossible answers to these questions I turn to determine whether they help anchorto a critical discussion of the articles by the poor to distressed areas. Hochschild, Mead, and Nathan. Sullivan'S article outlines some policy Jennifer Hochschild believes that the initiatives in which inner-city males are"problem of severe poverty and its atten- seen "as important parts of the solutiondant behaviors and emotions can be and not merely as the sources of thesolved only when Americans choose actu- problem." Included among these are thoseally, not merely rhetorically, to open the programs that include males in servicesopportunity structure to all, regardless of designed to prevent unwanted pregnancy,their race, class, or gender."The fervor of more imaginative child support enforce-the 1960s to enhance opportunities for ment in order to encourage young fathersthe disadvantaged did not last long enough to accept paternity, and "an overallto fulfill its promises to all the poor. program of intensive and comprehen-Although all minorities and women bene- sive services for inner-city children andfited in legal and normative terms, only adolescents." the more advantaged tended to benefit McLanahan and Garfinkel believe thatsocially, economically, and politically. By more universal programsincluding fullthe 1980s, little of the 1960s' political employment, health care, child care, childcommitment to erase inequality remained. support assurance systems, and children's What Hochschild would like to see is a allowances--are needed to replace thenew political commitment to promote current welfare system, provide aid tosocial and economic mobility among the single mothers, and thereby "retard theestranged poor. In this regard, she has growth of an underclass." Rossi andlittle faith in programs such as income Wright put forth several recommenda-maintenance, workfare, or social services tions to address the problems of thebecause they do not change the "structural literally homeless, including more gener-conditions that create the gap between ous programs of income maintenance,the promise and practice of equal oppor- broader coverage for disability programs,tunity." S he is also not enthusiastic about increasing the supply of low-cost housing,programs that are designed to pru providing more low-skilled employmentjobs for men and not for women. What opportunities for the extremely poor,she ought to make clear, however, is that developing measures to reduce "the preva-one must be careful not to confuse a now- lence of disabling conditions among youngpopular explanation of the rise of poor adult males," and support for charitablefemale-headed black familiesnamely, organizations that serve the homeless. that the increase of poor black female- Except for Kasarda's notion of theheaded households is associated with need for computerized employment net-male joblessness with a policy prescrip- works, none of these suggestions repre-tion that more jobs should be made sents entirely new recommendations. Theavailable for men. Indeed, some authors question is, How effective are recom-in this volume who used this explanation mended programs such as these likely toand at the same time called for the be in addressing the problems spelled outcreation of jobs for both men and women ISSUES. PERSPECTIVES, AND PUBLIC POLICY 19 I as a major policy recommendation havesive services for inner-city adolescents been unfairly charged with gender bias and children, McLanahan and Garfinkel's because of careless interpretations ofpackage of universal programs, and Ka- their work." Nonetheless, Hochschild issarda's recommendation for stricter en- certainly correct when she emphasizesforcement of fair-hiring and fair-housing that any program that is designed tolaws come closest to meeting the criteria increase the employment of men withoutfor succel!sful programs outlined in Hochs- simultaneously increasing the employ-child's article. ment for women "reifies a patriarchal In direct contrast to Hochschild's com- social structure in which women areprehensive recommendation for bringing dependent upon ..men." the underclass or the estranged poor into What is needed, she argues, is programs the mainstream of American society is that enable the estranged poor to enterLawrence Mead's program of mandatory the mainstream of society, programs thatworkfare. Although, as I have indicated "involve a wide array of activities aimedpreviously, serious questions can be raised at changing skills, views, and life circum-about Mead's assumptions concerning stances." Such programs would includethe reasons for the entrenched poverty in steps to provide employment for inner-the inner city, especially when his argu- city youth, reform public schools andments are contrasted with those of Ka- facilitate the transition from school tosarda, Mead's focus on mandatory work- work, reduce racial and gender discrimina-fare as a solution to inner-city social tion, remove the barriers between jobs indislocations is also problematic. Mead's the primary and secondary labor markets,program is based on the assumption that reduce teenage pregnancies and births,a mysterious welfare ethos exists that increase the political control of previouslyencourages public assistance recipients to disfranchised people, and provide moreavoid their obligations as citizens to be political control over industrial relocationeducated, to work, to support their fami- and plant closings. Such programs would lies, and to obey the law. In other words, be costly, she points out, because theyand in keeping with the dominant Ameri- would be intensive, long lasting, andcan belief system on poverty, "it is the comprehensive. They would also be polit-moralfabric of individuaty, not the social ically vulnerable if they are not "sub-and economic structure of society, that is merged economically and politically intaken to be the root of the problem."1` the horizontally redistributive compo-There is no existing rigorous research to nent." In other words, wherever possible,support this view. As shown in the articles programs that would help the estrangedin this volume by Wacquant and Wilson poor should "build on Americans' supportand by Kasarda, in particular, the spatial for social policies that give everyone apatterning and basic timing of rising chance for at least some success." social dislocations, including welfare re- Of the programs recommended byceipt, in recent years contradict it. contributors to this Annals issue and Aside from the questionable reasoning discussed in the previous section, Sulli-that underlies Mead's recommendation van's proposal of intensive and comprrhen-for mandatory workfare, a work-welfare 14. A typical example of this type of scholarship 15. Wacquant and Wilson, "Poverty, Jobless- is Adolph Reed, "The Liberal Technocrat,"Narinn, ness, and the Social Transformation of the Inner 6 Feb. 1985, pp. 167-70. City" (italics in original).

I4 4 192 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY program that is not part of abroaderpart based on the recognition thatgiven framework to stimulate economic growth the structure of American federalism and and a tight labor market remains at thethe central role of state governments in mercy of the economy. AsRobert Rei-establishing and administering the major schauer has pointed out elsewhere, institutions providing social services--"it will take a long time to achieve change, In recessionary periods, when jobs are scarce that even then only some people will be throughout the nation, a credible emphasis on affected, and that the politics involved work will be difficult to maintain. Unskilled believes there- welfare recipients will realize that they stand are very difficult." Nathan little chance of competing successfully against fore that it is necessary now to concentrate experienced unemployed workers for the few on the institutional dimensionof the positions available. In regions of the countrypolicy changes in order to address the where the economy is chronically weak, this problems of the ghetto underclass, es- dilemma will be a persistent problem. Evidence pecially the implementation of new pro- from one such area, West Virginia, suggests grams and strategies to promoteand that work-welfare programs can do little to facilitate institutional change. He also increase the employment or earning; of welfare believes that both evaluation research recipients if the local economy is not growing. and consultative arrangements could be A public sector job of last resort may be the useful in furthering this process. only alternative in such cases.18 But the history of social change in the I am not suggesting that the so-called United States has not always reflected a n-w-style workfare programs, describedslow incremental process. Despite the in Richard Nathan's paper,that includestructure of American federalism, despite an array of training andemploymentthe American political process, and activities and services are without merit.despite the important role of the in- But they represent, in Nathan's words,dividual states, the major reforms of the "incremental" programs and thereforeNew Deal, the comprehensive legislation fall far short of the comprehensive reformof the civil rights movement, and the package recommended by Jennifer Hochs-broad-based policies of the Great Society

child.Nonetheless, for Nathan the empha- programs were all achieved within ashort sis on new-style welfare reflects a liberal-period of time. As Jennifer Hochschild so conservative consensus that is quiteaptly puts it: compatible with the American process. American citizens may be willing to do more Nathan argues that this consensus is in ...than is normally assumed in order really to open the system to all. So far, the American lb. Robert 1). Reischauer, "Welfare Reform: policymaking system has made a lot of wrong Will Consensus Bc Enoughr Brookings Review, 5:8 (Summer 1987). See also Wacquant and Wilson, choices, but there is no reason why we cannot -Poverty, Joblessness, and the Social Transforma-change our course, and lots of reasons why we tion of the Inner City." should. Book Department

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INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND POLITICS 193 AFRICA, ASIA, AND LATIN AMERICA 199 EUROPE 205 UNITED STATES 211 SOCIOLOGY 216 ECONOMICS 223

INTERN,47IONAL RELATIONS which is made all the more fascinating by the AND POLITICS effort to convince some of the participants, especially from India and Pakistan, to discuss COHEN, STEPHEN PHILIP, ed. The Security the security policies of each other's countries. ofSouth Asia: American and Asian Per- The approach did not entirely work. The spectives. Pp. xiii, 290, Champaign: Uni- Indian security policy analysis of Brigadier versity of Illinois Press, 1987. $29.95. Noor Hussain--a Muslim originally from Uttar Pradesh, in India, whose family settled PARANJPE, SHR1KANT. U.S. Nonprolifera- in Pakistan after partitionconstitutes a tion Policy in Action: South Asia. Pp, viii, scathing attack on India, revealing personal 142. New York: Envoy Press, 1987. $22.50. anger and bitterness. While displaying con- Cohen and Paranjpe have contributed two siderable knowledge of the fourth-century enlightening but distinct types of booksto the Kautilyan treatise of realpolitik, Hussain existing literature on South Asian security. projects India as evil and manipulative and Cohen's book is the product of a remarkable carrying no redeeming qualities. Hussain's conference he staged at the University of analysis is at least useful in gauging the lack of Illinois in 1984 that brought together South objectivity arid the depth of antagonism that Asian security analystsincluding myself, exists among some Pakistanis toward )Ticlia. whose paper was published separately in On the other hand, the analysis of Pakistan's World Politics (January 1986)from the security policy by Eric Vaz, a retired lieutenant United States, India, and Pakistan. Paranjpe's general of the Indian Army and an Indian book is the result of his research visit to the Christian, shows a lack of understanding United States as a Fulbright fellow from about Pakistan's security fears and is further Poona University in India, marred by digressions or discussions that are The nature of the contributions to The spread too thin. SecurityofSouth Asia is disparate, given the There are, however, some penetrating, assortment of participants, which included dispassionate, or simply different viewpoints academics, retired foreign service officers, and provided by other Indian, Pakistani, and military officers. But the variety of perspectives American analysts, including Leo Rose, P. R. also constitutes the strength of the book, Chari, Howard Wriggings, M. B. Naqvi,

193 I .c46 194 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

Pervaiz Cheema, Selig Harrison, R. R. Sub-est possible terms to all social scientists who ramaniam, William Barnds, lieutenant Gen-value history for understanding relations with eral A. 1. Akram, Jagat Mehta, K. Subrahman-Africa and Asia. Darby does a magnificent yam, Thomas Thornton, and Rashid Naim.job of presenting virtually every important While the American analysts tend to leaninsight the standard literature affords on ideas toward India or Pakistan in their assessments,and images that influenced colonial and Third it is refreshMg to read the sensitiveevenWorld policy. objective views of many of the Indian and 'For the purpose of more ordered analy- Pakistani analysts. This incredibly wide-sis," as he puts it, the nine chapters here ranging and startling collection of securityconstitute triads within triads: three eras- perspectives as seen from the inside and the1 870-1914, interwar, 1945-70divided into outside, asit were, has been masterfullythree "faces": political power, moral re- synthesized and organized by Stephen Philipsponsibility, and economic interest. Darby's Cohen in his introduction and conclusion.concern is not the ministerial, legislative, The book will be an indispensable source tocorporate, or sectoral mechanisms by which the security specialist who wishes to understandexplicit policy came to be drawn up, but the passion and prejudices of those whorather the predominant moral assumptions, influence security policymaking in South Asia.cultural outlooks, global power strategies, Paranjpe's slim volume is a useful andand convictions about economic growth and well-researched study of the sources anddevelopment that provided rationales for dynamics of U.S. efforts to prevent the spreadpolicy decisions. His job is to illuminate only of nuclear weapons in South Asia. While"approaches," and not "functions" the work- there have been many books and articlesing components of formal and informal im- written on the topic either from the U.S.perialism- or "consequences," that is, prog- perspective or the India and Pakistan perspec-ress or the lack of it. For his exposition he has tive, this book is in some respects unique indrawn on an immense body of readings, not that it constitutes an effort by an Indianonly by economists, political scientists, and scholar to perceive the problem from thehistorians but also by biographers of key standpoint of the United States. Given hisactors and even some novelists and devotees earlier solid academic work, India and Southof psychohistory. The work is not encyclo- Asia Since 1971 (New Delhi: Radiant, 1985), pedic, however, Latin America is explicitly with this study Paranjpe is rapidly establishing removed from the analysis and U.S. "ap- himself as one of the rising scholars in the field proaches" are almost entirely confined to the of South Asian security studies. cold-war era. RA.II1 0. C. THOMAS The main lesson of this many-sided work, Massachusetts Institute of Technology at least for me, is that as Darby puts it Cambridge what people thought mattered. Policy deci- sions had as much to do with prevailing assumptions about right and wrong and about what, in international relations, works and DARBY. PHILLIP. Three Faces of Imperial-does not work as they did with the nature of ism: British and American Approaches tocorporate capitalism or the imperatives of Asia and Africa, 1870-1970. Pp. vii, 267. realpolitik. Structuralists and economic de- New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,teminists will not approve. 1987. 522.50. Many sections in this work could be cited as examples of superbly cogent, frugal explica- This is a tightly organized, sensibly argued,tion. Some of Darby's sentences are so com- and extremely useful survey of changingpressed they justify a second and third reading. British and American concepts of interna-In chapter 8. "Moral Responsibility III," for tional relations. I recommend it in the strong-example, he shows how until the1970s,

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America% external orientation was based on ment. Pp. xvii, 270. New Haven, CT: Yale overwhelmingly internal features of our own University Press, 1987. 520.00. culture and had little to do with real prospects and needs in Africa or Asia; this helps explain The human right of freedom of move- why, during the cold war, the more thatmentto remain, to depart, and to return externally derived reasons for our obligations after leaving one's countryis the cornerstone to poor nations were aired, the smaller and of personal self-determination. But today this less influential became the constituency that basic right is severely curtailed. Millions are accepted moral terms as the proper way to forced to depart their homelands and become approach foreign aid. refugees, other millions wish to depart their This is not a book for beginning under- homelands but are prisoners within borders. graduates; Darby assumes his readers possess Alan Dowty analyzes this poignant problem much background knowledge. He does not in Closed Borckrs. stop to explain, for example, why the 'develop- Closed Borders is a study of serfdoms. The ment model" is essentially optimistic but old serfdom was a progression from feudalism "development theory" is quite the opposite, or to monarchialism and mercantilism. Mass why Rostow's stages had such an impact on expulsions of Jews, Moors, and Protestants Western liberals. One wishes he would pause occurred, and African slavery was institu- now and then and afford us illuminatingtionalized in the Americas. But by the late examples of his main points; did Darbyor nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, im- Yale University Pressdecide to sacrifice migration restriction had reached its mini- events or systems descriptions in order to mum. This freedom of international move- allow for the maximum topical coverage ment was short-lived; in the twentieth century within the confines of a medium-sized book? the new serfdom took root. More advanced students may wonder why Between the two world wars "most who Darby entirely neglects the United Nations as moved did not want to. and most who wanted a force in modifying American opinion and to move could not." Dowty examines the why he does not so much as mention the policies of the Soviet Union, Fascist Italy, the Peace Corps. Is it because these contradict his creation of refugees and the absence of refuge, "internalized" argument? Another sort of prob- post-World War II forced population move- lem is that because of his trinitarian chapter ments, the creation of international instru- organization, often the same topic or concept ments of protection, European Communist surfaces in two or three places: consideration countries, American policy, and the Ingles of British "imperial trusteeship," for example, U.N. study on emigration. appears in discussions of moral responsibility, Problems in the Third World- the brain economic interest, and power. Teachers ofdrain, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and international relations, however, will certainly Cuba- -are also analyzed. Restrictions on appreciate the way Darby's style of exposition movement tend to be based on political rather makes it easy to locate areas of consensus and than economic reasons, and Dowty proves his debate. Apart from stubborn structuralists or thesis with case studies of East Germany. unreconstructed America-bashers, there will Cuba, Iran, Ethiopia, Bulgaria, and the Soviet be, I feel, infinitely more thankful acceptance Union, than faultfinding for Darby's book, AU states worry about free movement; MARTIN WOLFE some nations do not want to lose population, others do not want to acquire immigrants. University of Pennsylvania Nonetheless, a major objective of U.S. foreign Philadelphia policy should be to guarantee to all the right to remain or to leave. Not everyone will agree that the Jackson-Vanik amendment to the DOWTY, ALAN. Closed Borders: The Con- Trade Reform Act of 1974 was "the single temporary Assault on Freedom of Mow.- most effective step the United States has ever c)S THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY taken against the new serfdom." Refugee arated the state from civil society znd narrowly advocates, however, will support Dowty'scircumscribed governmental power through view that American refugee policy should beconstitutional provisions. Although advocates humanitarian and take precedence over short-of protective democracy, such as Madison tenn considerations. His views on immigrationand Bentham, saw less need for state intrusions policy remain valid even though they wereinto the private sphere than did the spokesper- written before the passage of the Immigrationsons for developmental democracy, both and Reform Act of 1986. The idea he aimsgroups sought to maximize the freedom of for unrestricted movementis a laudable individuals to pursue their diverse interests objective, if not illusory given tealpolitik. without governmental interference. By concen- Closed Bordersis a well-documented, well- trating exclusively upon the reform of electoral written, scholarly book.Itis a welcomeprocedutes and governmental institutions, addition to human-rights literature. liberal models and their twentieth-century NORMAN L ZUCKER variants -competitive elitist democracy, plural- University of Rhode Island ism, and the legal democracy of the New Kingston Rightignored social and economic inequities that made meaningful political participation impossible for large numbers of people. Conversely, the Marxist model of direct HELD, DAVID. Models of Democracy. Pp.democracy viewed the state as embedded in xii. 321. Stanford, CA: Stanford Universitycivil society. Politics, the Marxists argued, Press, 1987. $35.00. Paperbound, $12.95. expressed the interests of a dominant capitalist l)emocratie forms of government, whichclass, whose exploitive power had to be have enjoyed widespread popularity only inbroken before a genuine democracy ceuld the last century, are experiencing reneweddevelop. With the equalizing of economic crises of legitimacy in industrial nations today. relations through worker control of produc- In this timely and thought-provoking study, tion, the organized state would gradually David Held provides a critical reassessment ofdisappear, as all workers would share directly major theories of democracy from ancient in the management of a classless and harmoni- Greece to the present, along with his own ous society. Although twentieth-century neo- prescription for revitalizing contemporary dem- Marxists and New Left advocates of participa- ocratic polities. tory democracy have greatly refined this Held, a senior lecturer in social science at argument, they have also ignored threats to the Open University in Great Britain, identifies democracy that are not based on class, such as four classic models of democracy. In earlybureaucratic power or the suppression of Athens, state and society were indivisible, and dissenters. every citizen participated directly in political Held's own model, which he calls liberal decision making. immigrants, women, and socialism" or "democratic autonomy," would slaves were excluded from the citizen body, give constitutional protection to a broad however, and considerations of size alone range of social, as well as political and made the example of the Greek city-state economic, rights. He promises to develop this unsuitable for later societies. Indeed, Held model fully in a forthcoming volume that, like points out, further democratic theorizing ofthis one, should be read and pondered by any kind languished until the seventeenth anyone interested in the future of democracy. century,whenHobbes and Locke initiated a MAXWELL BLOOMFIELD continuing liberal tradition. Catholic University of America Unlike the Greeks. liheral theorists sep- Washington. D.C. BOOK DEPARTMENT 197

SAVIGEAR, PETER. Cold War or Détente in and make sense of these many forces. Con- the 1980s. Pp. xii, 196. New York: St. Mar- sequently, Cold War or Detente in the 1980s tin's Press, 1987. $29.95. suffers from a certain disconnectedness, which is awavated by Savigear's sometimes awk- At the dawn of the cold war, the world was ward prose. frozen into two hostile blocs headed by the This book ialso marred by a large United States and the Soviet Union. Conflicts number of factual misstatements. For in- persisted, but the superpowers' strident relation- stance, Savigear states that U.S. "influence in s hip thawed appreciably during the d6tente the Panama Canel Zone had gone with the period of the 1970s. Meanwhile the bipolar Treaty of 1978 which passed sovereignty to ... world melted away. In its place is a much Panama." But the treaty accords full sov- more complicated, diverse, and rnstable con- ereignty over the canal to Panama in 1999; geries consisting of the two t ,perpowers, even then the Uniterl States willcontinue to regional state powers, new economic powers protect the canaltgbinst external threats. such as Japan and the Pacific Basin econ- Savigear's claim thta "there was no military omies, significant nongovernmental powers engagement"in the Soviet Union's 1968 inva- such as the Palestine Liberation Organization, sion of Czechoslovaki t is belied by the his- and militant ideological powers such as Islamic torical record. He imp.es that there are no fundamentalism. In this polycentric world, U.S. military forces stat, ined in South Korea, the U.S.-Soviet relationship, while still of but, in fact, a U.S. infantty division is deployed paramount importance, no longer dominates there. In discussing Souaeast Asian warfare or controls all other developments in the since 1975, he states th ."Communist in- international arena. This is tit( crux of Peter surgents were active in 1.,84.,s. " The communist Savigear's Cold War or Detente in the 1980s. Pathet Lao took powe7 0.1ere in 1975. Say- The scope of this hook is much broader igear's statement that "Sc via political influ- than the title suggests. Among the topics ence brought an end to the war between India explored are the USSR's recent achievement and Pakistan over the secession of .. . of military parity with the United States; the Bangladesh in 1975" is incorrect on a couple increasing restiveness within the North At- counts. The Bangladesh secession ended in lantic Treaty Organization and Warsaw Pact December 1971 with Pakistani forces sur- alliances; the return to prominence, in Europe, rendering to the Indian army without the of the German question; the nature of the mediation of either superpower. His descrip- international economy in the 1980s; the myriad tion of Iraq as a "radical Islamic nationalist" wars and arms races plaguing the Third regime would shock the Iraqi leader Saddam World; and the decreasing relevance of the Hussein, whose Baath Party is secular, pan- capitalism-versus-communism ideological de- Arab, and socialist. Similarly, the statement bate, which lingers in the rhetoric of the that "strong religious ties" account for Syria's superpowers. The book seeks to analyze the alliance with Iran in the Iran-lraq war is impact of these factors on current Soviet- without foundation. Syria is governed by a American relations. rival wing of the Baath Party; the link with This is a daunting project, and Savigear Iran is mainly a reflection of Syrian president deserves credit for tackling it. But there are Hafer al-Assad's enmity for Saddam Hussein. significant problems. The plethora of forces Nor do the Syrians share with Iran "the more impinging on Soviet-American relations defy populist kind of Islamic organization." In easy or brief explication. The book's purported fact, Assad's government has ruthlessly extir- focus on the evolving relationship between the pated the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni superpowers becomes enmeshed in, and ul- Muslim fundamentalist organization. The in- timately obscured by, the attempt to describe ternationally supervised partial expulsion of 198 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

Palestine Liberation Organization forces fromofficials on U.S. Latin America policy. No Lebanon occurred in August 1982, not, asmatter what caused instability, indigenous Savigear maintains, in 1984 and 1985. Finally, poverty, or Communist agitators, it was widely Savigear errs in stating that Cuban combatperceived that Communists would exploit troops first came to Africa during the 1977unstable situations and, therefore, that this war between Ethiopia and Somalia, when in challenge would have to be contained. During fact Cuban troops arrived in Angola duringthe Carter administration, however, policy- its 1975 civil war. His claim that Cubanmaking on Latin America turned into bureau- military intervention in Africa is based on cratic guerrilla warfare, with officials disagree- racial ties ignores the far more importanting about not only the causes of instability but factor of ideological affinity between Castro's also the consequences. In hopes of imposing a Cuba and the governments of Angola and uniformity on the policy process, the Reagan Ethiopia. administration purged the State Department This book is further harmed by a numberof those area specialists who refused to return of grammatical and typographical errors,to cold-war conceptions in shaping foreign which eluded the scrutiny of the publisher. policy. This purge, however, merely shifted While Savigear's overview of the international the site of the dispute to other political =Las. arena of the 1980s is not without value or With almost 300 interviews, Schoultz under- interest, this book, on the whole, must betakes not only to describe and analyze policy- rated a major disappointment. makers' beliefs, but also, where possible, to SCOTT NICHOLS assess the accuracy of these beliefs. On offi- Southern Illinois University cials' beliefs about the relation between poverty Carbondale and instability, he finds that while most agree that poverty is related to instability, significant differences exist over the consequences of unrest. Also examined are policymakers' be- liefs about communism and, more specifically, SCHOU LT1, LARS.National Security and Soviet intentions in the Western hemisphere. United 5% ates Policy toward Latin Amer- Here, too, widely divergent opinions exist ica. Pp.xx, 377. Princeton, NJ: Princeton about whether to characterize the Soviet University Press, 1987. $42.00. Paper- Union as an aggressive state driven hy a bound, $1230. fundamentally evil ideology or a state with Why do Washington security analysts care interests and values dramatically different about events in Central America? Is instabilityfrom our own, but, nevertheless, one with in the region a serious threat to the United which negotiation is possible. States? Do policymakers really believe that Policymakers' beliefs about the causes and the Sandinistas will overrun their northernconsequences of instability and potential neighbors and threaten the U.S. southern Soviet gains in Latin America are examined in border? Lars Schoultz has provided a thought-several case studies. Particular attention is ful. well-documented, and tightly argued book given to the possible impact on the United to address these questions. States of denied access to raw materials, Schoultes thesis is straightforward. to military bases, and open sca lanes around understand U.S. policy toward Latin America Latin America, along with the potential im- one must consider the link made by policy- pact of Soviet military bases established in the makers between the causes of Latin American region. Schoultes persuasive conclusion is instability and the consequences of instability that, in all of these areas, the threat to U.S. for U.S. security interests in the region. Yet security has been exaggerated. policymakers hold widely differing beliefs Even if some Washington officials under- about these core concerns. Until the mid-stand that denial of access to a part of the 970s, a cold-war consensus prevailed among region would pose no direct threat to the

1 BOOK DEPARTMENT 199 country, the core belief of American foreign This book, a very successful blending of policy toward Latin America remains that a two doctoral theses, is the first full-length loss in our backyard would wan a loss ofstudy of the Egyptian working class. Beinin faith in the U.S. ability to contain the Soviet and Lockman have read a vast amount of Union. For Schou Itz, the root problems in literature in Arabic, English, and French, U.S. policy toward Latin America are thescanned local newspapers, searched several simplistic conceptualization of the region's archives, including Egyptian ones, and con- importance in the global balance of power ducted numerous interviews. The volume makes along with the notion that an ;_adiscriminate a significant contribution to our understanding commitment to stability is the key to ensuring of Egypt's modern history. But the price U.S. security in the hemisphere. charged by tlx publishers is unconscionable. Schoultz expresses guarded optimism that Beinin and Lockman's approach is de- U.S. foreigii policy toward the region may be cidedly marxisant --the current term is -polit- changing. The prospects for transformation ical economy"-- but the timorous bourgeois may hinge upon the prevailing mood ofreader can be reassured that he will not be moderate policymakers who, in the past, have scandalized by the analysis and the purist agreed with liberals on the causes of insta- historian that the narrative has not been bility--poverty- -but have agreed with conser- seriously distorted by the authors' bias. vatives on the consequences -a Soviet gain. The first half of the book traces the Sehoukz has rendered an accurate and even-evolution of the labor movement up to 1942. handed description of the range of views on The embryonic working class, employed in Latin America's importance for the United the railways, tramways, and a few large States. Significantly, though, he has not pre- factories established before World War I, sented these beliefs, especially the dominant carried out various strikes and set up a few beliefs that are based on cold-war conceptions, loose unions. Two features of the labor move- without discussing their consequences. For ment in this period and through the 1920s may most of the period since World War 11, U.S. be noted. First, many or most of the organizers officials have focused on stopping Soviet and leaders were foreignGreeks, Italians, expansion in Latin America. This has pro- Jews, Syrians. Second, the movement received duced an unalterably negative policy that hasmuch support from the nationalist parties, at harmed Latin Americans while also damaging first the Nationalist Party and then the Wafd. our national self-image. The antidote is aThe hardships of Woad War I and the positive approach to foreign policymaking nationalist uprising of 1919 greatly stimulated guided by a desire to promote justice and working-class militancy, and the early 1920s equality in the region. saw a wave of strikes and agitation. The labor SHERRIE L. SAVER movement remained closely tied to the Waft; City University of New York until the late 1930s, sharing its ups and downs. During World War 11, industry expanded greatly and there was a large increase in the number of workers; the sharp rise in prices far outstripping that in wages- and wartime FRICA, ASIA, AND shortages stimulated labor militancy and the LATIN AMERICA formation of trade unions. The Wafdist govern- ment of 1942-44 was supportive of labor but REININ, JOEL and ZACHARY LOCKMAN. thereafter lost control of the movement, which Workers on the Nile: Nationalism, Com- fell increasingly under the influence of the munism, [slam and the Epptian Working Communists and their opponents, the Muslim Class, 1882-1954. Pp. xix, 4138. Princeton, Brotherhood. In the years 1946-48 there were NJ: Princeton University Press. 1988. massive strikes, which were eventually ended $75.00. by the martial law imposed at the outbreak of

2 i 200 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICANACADEMY the Palestine war. After the 1952 Revolution when he dissects the institutional or individual the trade unions, along with much else, were interests and ideological motives that shaped taken over by the government and the working the U.S. policy toward Iran, both before and class ceased to engage in either political or after the 1979 revolution. Hc is also well industrial action, but working conditions were versed in the ways in which the late shah and improved and wages raised. Beinin and Lock- his elite used and were used by Washington. man are probably right to conclude,however, When it comes to Iran's postrevolutionary that the working class "retains a potential for politics, however, Billis on less familar mob.lization and collective action which will territory. For instance, his reference to class insure it a part in shaping Egypt's future." interest as the cause of conflict between CHARLES ISSAWI religious extremists and thc secularists is an oversimplification that misses the crucial im- New York University portance of the secularists' defense of political Princeton University rights and cultural pluralism against the ad- New Jersey vocates of religious totalitarianism, many of them quite educated and wealthy. On a more fundamental level, Bill shies away from subjecting the claims andbehavior of the Islamic leaders to the same kind of BILL, JAMES A. The Eagle and the Lion: The rigorous scrutiny that he uses in his treatment 7).agedy of American-Iranian Relations. of U.S. policymakers and, to a lesser degree, Pp. xii, 520. New Haven, CT; Yale Uni- the Iranian secularists. He is particularly soft versity Press, 1988. $25.00. on Ayatollah Khomeini. He seems to suggest, In 1979, shortly after the seizure of the for example, that Iran's rulers were surprised American embassy in Tehran, President when they learned Oliver North had lied to Carter was asked whether the U.S. govern- them in their 1985-86 secret contacts. Such a ment would be willing to apologize to Iran for belief attributes a kind of naivete or innocence the 1953 coup engineered by the Central to the Iranian clerics that is completely false. Intelligence Agency against Prime MinisterThe Iranians who met North had no illusion Muhammad Musaddiq. Carter replied that about him. T hey had nicknamed him sarhanq "1953 Ls ancient history." At the time, due to bemokh ("brainless colonel") after their first the anger caused by the hostage crisis, the meeting and so long as he could deliver TOW insensitivity of Carter's remark was lost evenand HAWK missiles they were prepared to on the most liberal elements of the American hear his lies and reciprocate in kind. public. But now, nearly a decade later, James Such minor deficiencies in the book do not Bill convincingly shows that for the vast diminish its academic value or political signifi- majority of Iranians Mr. Carters "ancient cance. For by fairly placing the current es- history" was a vivid reminder that the United trangement between the United States and States was hostile to popular rule in their Iran in its complex historical context, Bill has country and that moderation in thc face of made a commendable effort to demystify the this hostility was futile. Even Ayatollah Kho- foreign-policy behavior of revohnionary Iran meini did not know the intensity and pervasive- for his American readers. The chances am ness of this anti-American feeling among the that the Iranian government will within a year Iranian populace. It was not until a week or publish the Persian translation of the book. two into the hostage crisir that he discovered His thorough research, lucid narrative, and America was more useful to him as an enemy impressive knowledge of both the Iranian and than as a friend. the American political cultures have combined The Eagle and the Lion is a history, as well to produce an indispensable source not only as a systematic analysis, of U.S.-Iranianrela- for specialists but also for policymakers and tions since World War II. Bill is at his best general readers. This achievement ought to be

i3 BOOK D:PARTMENT 201

appreciated in both Washington and Tehran Buthelezi Commission's view of white participa- of the because it can help create a favorable climate tion in a future South Africa and that for the emergence of nounal relations between ANC, Brewer says, "The irony of the position the Is lamk Republic and the United States. of the ANC is that its vision of the futureis MANSOUR FARHANG much the same but it has chosen revolutionary terrorism to realize it, feeling that future peace Bennington College eat, only be earned through presentstrife." Vermont This both conjure* up the wrong images of the ANC and leaves out the fact that mostof the leadership of the ANC, in prison and outside BREWER, JOHN D. After Soweto: AnUn- of it, are nonviolent men, who turned to the finished Journey. Pp. xvi, 448. New York: use of force and theestablished strategy of Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press, liberation in final despair that peaceful tactics 1987. $62.00. alone would not bring down the unreformed John Brewer, of the University of Belfast, South African apartheid structure. has provided us with an extremely useful This is not a small matter of interpretation insight into the varied politics of African because there have been so muth propaganda groups in South Africa. He hascertainly and calculated attempts by both the South refuted Kane-Berman's assertion that nothing African government leaders and the outside came out of the Soweto uprisings, ashe shows sympathizers to place the ANC in the same the growth of a diverse revolutionary eon-nonacceptable category in the West as the ' sciousness that has been spreading and grow- Palestine Liberation Organization. The work ing steadily, as Sam Nolutshungu has arguedof Tom Karis in two articles in Foreign for years. Affairs in explaining the ideological and or- The problem with this study is that it isganizational strategy of the ANC has been limited to inside South Africa and leaves out a very important incounteracting these myths. thorough analysis of the African National This book, however, has great merit in the Congress (ANC). This revolutionary organiza- careful study and distinction it makes between tion has become the major oppositionforce, other major black groups, trade unions, and as Brewer recognizes, and operatesinside writers in South Africa. The chapter on black South Africa through the varied groups, such literature and the black press is a gem of as the United DemocraticFront, who reflect insight, in which Brewer shows how writers its views, though not its strategies. like Bloke Modisane, La Gums, Ezekiel It is surprising that such a thorough book Mphalele, and Nkose changed African con- would not examine the ANC in the same way sciousness and contributed to the enormous that insights and details are provided aboutcourage in resisting the system ofoppression. the Black Consciousness Movement, theHis interpretation of the origins of black Azanian People's Organization, and Inkatha. consciousness is the best since Gail Gerhart's And it is unfortunate that he seems to have Black Power in South Africa (1978). Brewer bought the liberal South African view of appropriately quotes the old African proverb terrorism as a tactic of the ANC. It i5 not to characterize this work: "Wisdom is greater appropriate to describe the use of violence by than force." a liberation movement asterrorist and not GEORGE W. SHEPHERD similarly describe the state use of illegitimate University of Denver force as terrorism. One would have thought Colorado this would be obvious to someone writing in Belfast about these matters. The term is so fraught with political bias that it should not be used by social scientists whn are trying to DITTMER, LOWELL China's Continuous Rev- make precise distinctions, in comparing the olution: The Post- Liberation Epoch, 1949- 202 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

1981.Pp. xv, 320. Berkeley: University of consklered at some length, the 1968-76 phase California Press, 1987. 535.00. of the Cultural Revolution is analyzed much more exhaustively than are the other four. By Explanations of the constant turmoil in the last stage the functional requisites are Maoist China frequently place conflict between depleted and the revolution burns out; changes twoor more--ckarly defined policy lines at in China during the 1980s therefore reflect not the heart of the political process. Lowell the restoration of a tradition temporarily Dittmer looks beyond this conflict, emphasiz- submerged in radical excess but rather the ing instead the underlying consensus among dawning of a new postrevolutionary era. Chinese leaders that continuing the =volution Dittmer presents his case in a clear and was to take top priority on the political systematic fashion, supporting it by appeal to agenda. In rectifying past neglect of continuing documentary sources, visitors' reports, and 48 revolution as an "actual phenomenon," rather lengthy interviews with emigres. Intriguing than a theoretical innovation, he provides a details and pithy characterizations make the wide-ranging and persuasive reinterpretation book more readable than the plane of argu- of Chinese politics. ment might suggest. Attempts to =construct Dittmer begins with a concise presentation the perceptions and motives of key actors are of his analytical framework Revolution, smash- generally judicious., however, forays into psy- ing the structure of political authority, haschoanalytical speculation will not appeal to three functional requisites. First, charismaticsome readers. leadership entails the performance of a salva- In sum, this is a careful, creative, and tionary mission and the personal means nes= thought-provoking contribution and deserves sary for this performance. Second, an illegit- a wide audience. imate and vulnerable authority structure THOMAS P. LYONS provides the target against which revolutionary Cornell University forces array in self-clefinition. Third, a mobiliz- Ithaca able mass constituency can be induced to New York engage in new political activities by prospects of self-betterment rationalized in terms of the public interest. After the revolutionaries seize power, these functional requisites are perish- JANETTA, ANN BOWMAN, Epidemics and able assets, and continuing the revolution tends Mortality in Early Modem Japan. Pp. to become increasingly problematical. xxii, 224. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Uni- The bulk of Dittrner's study examines the versity Press, 1987. 830.00. interplay of charismatic leadership, authority structures- both residual and emergentand The central question this book poses is mass mobilization during successive stages of whether epidemic diseases played the same the postliberation period: the first decade, the role in stabilizing population growth in prein- Great Leap and its aftermath (1958-65), two dustrial Japan that they are thought to have phases of the Cultural Revolution (1966-68 played in preindustrial Western Europe. and 1968-76), and the early post-Mao years. J anett a concludes that epidemic diseases were The revolutionary tactics of the leadership or much less important in containing population of its dominant factions are of central concern. growth in Japan than they were in pre- These lurch along a spectrum defined by an industrial Europe. This conclusion is signifi- "engineering" or bureaucratic approach atcant for the demographic history of Japan, one pole and a "storming" approach at the particularly for attempts to account for the other, with the heyday of engineering during ptizzling population stability in Japan between the 1950s and that of storming during 1966-68 1725 and 1850. There is reason to believe that and with modified or transitional approaches mortality crises were less important in pre- during the other stages. While each stage is modern Western Europe than they are thought BOOK DEPARTMENT 203 to have been (Watkins and Menken, Popida-tributed prominently to the transformation of tion and Development Review, [19851); in thisSin Paulo from a provincial backwater to the carefully documented, well-reasoned, andmost metropolitan, industrial city in Brazil. It gracefully written book, Janetta shows thatexplores the careers arui characters of Prado their role was probably even less significant inmen and women, who included coffee plant- Tokugawa Japan, and she attributes this toers, railway and banking entrepreneurs, politi- the deliberate attempts of the Tokugawacians, intellectuals, and society mavericks. rulers to limit contacts with foreigners. The family was representative not in the sense Janetta traces the history of smallpox,of being average but rather, as the word is measles, cholera, typhus, and plague in Japanused in Brazil, in the sense of being exemplary. using desc:riptive sources by contemporariesCarefully noting the difference, this case study and two death registers from Buddhist tem-of the Prados connects Brazilian social change ples. References to smallpox and measles areto patterns of elite family organization. abundant, but plague, typhus, and cholera The story of the Prados follows a trajectory were ram or unknown until the opening up ofof rise and fall, or fusion and dispersal The Japan in the mid-nineteenth century. Shefirst half of the book describes the rise of the makes a persuasive argument that contem-family in the Second Empire, 1840-89, empha- porary obseivers were able to identify smallpoxsizing the relation of three brothers, Antonio, and measles and that they would have beenMartinico, and Eduardo, and their mother, able to identify plague, typhus, and choleraVeridiana. It analyzes family customs of had they been present. The temple deathendogamous marriage that assembled a core registers are limited in coverage; however, theof interrelated kin, family ventures into coffee recording of age and date at death, importantplanting and railways, and family politics in for establishing epidemiological patterns,both monarchist and republican camps. The seems to be accurate. second half of the book deals with the fission Given the nature of the sources, Janettaof the brothers and their families in the Old cannot establish the proportion of deaths dueRepublic of 1889-1930. Exogamous marriage to epidemics of these diseases in the period ofunraveled the Prado extended family into population stability. But she does show thatseparate lines, and branches of the family their incidence did not increase during thispursued separate businesses rather than form period, and using the temple registers, dateda family conglomerate. Unreconciled to the 1771-1852, she shows thet epidemics accountauthoritarian republic, the brothers retreated for only 11.8 percent of deaths to people overinto opposition journalism or city polities. 10 and for 26.7 percent of deaths to thoseWhile individual Prados remained rich, power- under 10. Thus her conclusion that theseful, and creative, the family lost its cohesive epidemic diseases cannot account for popula-identity and its strategic position. tion stability in this period is quite persuasive. The most attractive and singular aspect of SUSAN COTI'S WATKINS the book isits portrayal of the creative Australian National University activities of the Prados. In two paired chap- Canberra ters, Levi shows the Prados grappling with the Australian Capital Territory contrast between civilized Europe and back- ward Brazil, first as travelers abroad and then as nationalist essayists. The critical, compara- tive leverage of knowing Europe may have LEVI, DARRELL E. The Prados of Sao Paulo, contributed to their cynicism and solitude, Brazil: An Bite Family and Social Change, and it certainly informed the self-searching in 1840-1930. Pp. xiii, 284. Athens: University major essays such as Paulo Prado's Portrait of Georgia Press, 1987. S3200. qf Brazil (1928). This book is a group biography of two Some of thc arguments of this book have generations of the Prado family, who con-previously been available to specialists in a

t 6 204 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

Brazilian edition, A familia Prado 09Th. The Pearson volume itself is divided into This revised edition adds an introduction on seven chapters, followed by a bibliographical Brazilian family studies and reevaluates the essay and an index. Useful tables atthe Prados as failed elites who could not extend beginning provide us lists of rulers of Portugal, progress to poor Brazilians. General readersand of the viceroys and governors of Portu- will find this an accessible introducti. a to the guese India. There are also three maps,where Brazilian elite, as its clear narrative and rich "Silo Tome" is consistently misspAled. The anecdotes compensate for careless editing,chapters themselves deal with official and which has left some incoherent paragraphs unofficial trade in the sixteenth and seven- and awkward phrases. teenth centuries, Indo-Portuguese society in DAIN BORGES Goa over the same period, and, to conclude, a University of Pennsylvania somewhat cursory review of post-seventeenth- Philadelphia century developments. While reading the book, I was struck immediately by the fact that it is squarely aimed at the nonspecialist. Anyone who has read Boxer's Portuguese Seaborne Empire PEARSON, M. N. The Portuguese in India, and the chapters on trade in volume I of the vol.I, pt.1. Pp. xx, 178. New York: Cambridge Economic History of India will Cambridge University Press,1987. No find little here that is new. This is somewhat price. disturbing, given that Boxer wrote his survey It would appear that the syndics of the nearly two decades ago, while the Cambridge Cambridge University Press have decided to Economic History essays are by historians give the reading public a new version of who do not work with Portuguese sources Indian history from the sixteenth century to Ashin Das Gupta and K. N. Chaudhuri. It the present, to replace the original Cambridge seems to me that Pearson has not integrated History of India, published from 1922 to into the body of his monograph, or into the 1937. Unlike the earlier volumes, the present arguments adopted, most work done after series is conceived as being well over thirty about 1975-76. Instead, he lists these works monogris2hs, to be produced under the general summarilyand partiallyin the bibliograph- editorship of Gordon Johnson, assisted by ical essay and for the most part relies on his C. A. Bay ly and J. F. Richards. These volumes own work of the 1970s and that of Niels are to be organized under four heads: "The Steensgaard dating from the same period. Mughals and Their Contemporaries"; Indian Some of the more general criticisms both States and the Transition to Colonialism"; of Steensgaard and of Pearson's earlier work 'De Indian Empire and the Beginnings of have come only in very recent times, perhaps Modern Society"; and "The Evolution of too late to be included in this volume. But this Contemporary South Asia." The preliminary cannot be said of, say, C. H. H. Wake's telling list of titles presented at the end of the present critique of Steensgaard (Journal of European volume is puzzling, representing as it does a Economic History [1979D, which Pearson haphazard congeries of idiosyncratic themes. refers to in his bibliography but of which he Also, I was unable to understand why, in the fails to take account. More seriqus still is the late 1980s, historians must conceive of the failure to absorb four or five major essays by period 1500-1750 as "The Mughals and Their Luis Filipe F. R. Thomaz, most notably "Les Contemporaries"-- or for that matter, why Portugais dans les mers de l'Archipel au XV le the doab-centric view of the Aligarh school siecle" (in Archipel, 18 [1979D, which renders must haunt ir forever after. In sum, the the discussion of "country trade" rather ob- general editor may be optimistic in his belief solete. Moreover, Pearson is content to discuss that these volumes will be "an essential voice what were in the mid-1970s the relatively well- in the continuingdizeourse" on Indian history. studied parts of India: Goa, Gujarat, and, to a

2 1 205 BOOK DEPARTMENT

and shorn of its limited extent, Malabar. The Kanara coast been published a decade ago, Bay of bizarre bibliographical note, onewould have finds little or no mention, and the As things Bengal is treated in a cursory fashion,given recommended it unreservedly. the journals that Pearson does no more thansummarize a stand, the reader must go back to in the gaps. pedestrian, as well as distorted, accountof of the period 1975-88 to fill that region by George Winius(Itinerario SANJAY SU BRAHMANYAM University of Delhi [198311 The unevenness persists into thebiblio- India graphical essay, which finds Pearsongiving expression to his somewhatidiosyncratic Cambridge University opinions. While the Paris schoolJean Au- England bin, Genevieve Bouchon, and othersare rapped on the knuckles for being"pedestrian," houquets are freely handed out to worksof limitedand on occasion negligiblemerit. EUROPE To say that Winius's essay, citedearlier, is and "excellent on the subject of private trade AGANBEGYAN, ABEL.The Economic Choi- informal empire" is to exaggerate, and totell lengeof Perestroika. Pp. xxvii,248. Bloom- us that Teotonio DeSoiva's Medieval Goa is ington: Indiana UniversityPress, 1988. a "splendid studyof Goa" is perhaps over- $18.95. stating the case But most startlingof all is economic Pearson's assertion that "for the early pepper Abel Aganbegyan, the chief Mathew's adviser to Gorbachev andinitiator of peres- trade by far the best source is K. S. in excellent recent monograph, PortugueseMade troika (economic restructuring), presents Century." This last this book the case for economicreform and in India in the Sixteenth The case for book is fraught with almost everyconceivable his set of restructuring strategies. Soviet growth error, ranging from largeconceptual distor- perestroika is fairly well known: labor morale is low, in tions to inaccuracies in convertingweights rates have stagnated; goods are scarce; and and measures. Readers art bestadvised to part because consumer standards. ignore Pearson's opinions here and usethe technology is antiquated by world known in both French and While the problems are generally magnum opus, available Aganbegyan's ideas for Portuguese, of Vitorino Magalhafs Godinho. and agreed upon, into smaller, Equally, on Goa, the useful study by L.F. breaking up the Soviet economy have generated much Thomaz, "Goa: Um sociéte luso-indienne" more independent units (Bulletin des etudes portugaises etbre- heated discussion and even dissent.Aganbeg- siliennes, numbers 42-43), may be used to yan's presentation of the caseitself is interest- forecaster. balance De Souza's somewhat naivetheo- ing; he is an economic modeler and In an appendix, he discussesthe technical retical perspective. the econ- If all these criticisms are made here, it isfor procedures that he used to analyze his strategy flowed from two reasons. First, a booksuch as this will be omy and the way that everywhere, the structural analysis. used by courses in universities much in and its view of the historiography maywell be The strategies themselves, so and intellec- absorbed in toto. Second, they are meant'to dispute, build on the ideological of regret that a tual underpinnings of socialismbut shape convey a very real sense Aganbegyan is the historian of Pearson's undoubtedintelligence them to meet new needs. from the work and ability has chosen to politicizethe his- ultimate pragmatist. He draws economists, who tonography, with all the dangers thatthis of Western market-oriented producers brings. The veadability of this bookis its would foster direct links between z from Janos principil merit, as ist.i competent handling of and consumers, but he also hypothesized writinjp of the period 1950-75. If only it had Kornai, a Hungarian who has 21 )6 206 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

that shortages in a plarmd economy elicit Comparative Study in Legal Reasoning, hoarding and other uneconomic behavior. Legal Theory, and Legal institutions. Pp. Aganbegyan would bring socialism into a xx, 437. New York: Oxford University modem age, with both high productivity and Press, 1987. 565.00. social justire. He would substitute intensive growthhigher productivity from existing Atiyah and Summers's thesis is that the English and American legal systems, for all resourcesfor extensive growth, ormore resources. He would allow employees to hirt their similarities, differ profoandly. The En- glish system is highly formal, and the American their own management, select theirown tech- nology, and bring democracy into the work- highly substantive. English law derives its place. He would make management itself validity merely from source-oriented stan- more responsive to consumers and workers. dards, rather than having also to satisfy The question is whether his strategy will work. content-oriented standanis. English case law Aganbegyan, even in translation, exudes is applied in light of strict notions of the ratio abundant enthusiasm and élan. It is hard to decidendi, whereas in America it is commonly applied in the light of substantive find fault with the principles that heespouses, reasons on but in my judgment he only weakly under- which the precedent is based. stands the nature of entrepreneurship, which Atiyah and Summers hold that statutes tend to be interpreted in England in accord is so critical to a modern economy. Inan understandable attempt to make his reforms with literal or plain meanings of the words used, whereas in America judges much palatable to a bureaucracy thatwas sure to more oppose them, he has not recommended the readily consider the purposes and rationales steps that would unleash a spirit of risk taking, behind the words and even consult theirown a supply of venture capital. I cannot imagine political morality in the process. They referto the ideas of Apple Computer's Steve Jobs "a rather narrow law-making role for the surviving a workers' Technology Review courts in England, as compared with the Committee. much larger law-making role in America." Aganbegyan, however, has left one window The English legal tradition is dominated bya positivism that tends to be highly formal while of technology opportunity. the voluntarycon- tract collective. Aganbegyan would use this America has been much influenced by natural new form of economic organization, best law and, latterly, by instrumentalist theories that are much more substantive. known for providing small-scaleconsumer services, for bringing together like-minded, Both countries recognize the concept of venturesome producers. This idea, virtually binding precedent, but their conceptions of untested in the Soviet Union, raises good precedent differ. The English conception is more formal: precedents bind because of their questions: Can a cooperative obtainraw materials? What prices can it set? What source, because they are decisions of higher income tax will it pay? It is the most revolu- courts, ir.espective of their content. In America tionary suggestion froma path-breaking the authority of precedents is less exclusively book. source oriented. Precedents tend to bind because the principles they embodyare widely ELIZABETH CLAYTON thought to be tight and good, and if they University of Missouri are St. Louis not right and good, they are less likely to be treated as binding. In their conclusion, Atiyah and Summers criticize the English positivist thought about the separation of law and morals. A highly ATIYAH, P. S. and R. S SUMMERS, Form and formal vision of law has the unhappycon- Substance in Anglo-American law: A sequence "that the law may become less useful

4-fa BOOK DEPARTMENT 207 in guiding or reinforcing social morality." system, and hardly as 'alienated' from it as so Further, the formal vision of law held in many have claimed." England may encourage a deeply skeptical LaPalombara, however, does not seriously attitude toward all law, good and bad. Theconsider the possibility that Italians may more substantive vision of law in America simultaneously feel a deep attachment to "may have more desirable social results." A democracy, as opposed to an authoritarian healthier public attitude toward law is likely system, and may be deeply dissatisfied with to result in a society "where it is believed that the policy outcomes their democracy pro- the law and judicial decisions are probablyduces. In fact, the finding that Italians feel grounded in good substantive moral (and their individual well-being is better off than other) reasons." At the same time, Atiyah and that of the collectivity is not necessarily a Summers believe it would be impossible to paradox nor does one need to use the notion export American judicial activism to England. of politics as spettacolo to understand it. ANTHONY TRAWICK BOUSCAREN The well-known characterization of the Le Moyne College postwar United States as exhibiting private Syracuse wealth and public squalor might be well New York applied to Italy. In Italy's case, however, the reason lies in ineffective rather than insuf- ficient public expenditure. Although LaPalom- bara notes some policy failures, he does not LaPALOMBARA, JOSEPH. Democracy Italian seriously consider that policy performance Style. Pp. xii, 308. New Haven, CT: Yale might account for much of the criticism University Press, 1987. 525.00. Italians direct toward their institutions. That failure, however, is extensive and glaring, for Joseph LaPalombara has written an analy- many policy areas are not delivering services sis of Italian politics and society that anyone equivalent to those enjoyed by citizens of who has ever wondered how Italy manages to other industrialized countries. The lack of work must read. A distinguished analyst of effective service delivery may well explain why Italian politics, LAPalombara rejects many of many Italians are dissatisfied with the public his own previous negative assessments of the goods their democracy produces while, by Italian polity. Whereas in 1965 he described contrast, enjoying the private goods the Italy as characterized by "fragmentation, isola- flourishing economy produces. Dissatisfaction tion, [and] alienation," he now argues that with policy performance does not necessarily "Italian democracy is alive and thriving." lead to a search for an authoritarian solution- LaPalombara's basic argument about blacks in America are a case in point--and Italian democracy is widely accepted by special- criticism combined with support does not ists on Italian politics. Much more contro- need to be explained by interpreting criticism versial is his explanation of why Italians are as contributing to theater. constantly criticizing their government and In sum, LaPalombara has written a truly their "political class," endlessly debating "the provocative book for the intelligent reader. crisis," and telling pollsters that although they His understanding of the dynamics of Italian are improving their own lives, their nation is politics, however, is too driven by a cultural in decline. In criticizing their polity, Italians explanation of Italian political life and not are actually showing satisfaction with it. LaPal- concerned enough with the quality of the ombara argues, for Italian politics must be public goods produced by the system. understood as spettacolo, as an ongoing drama. ALBERTA SBRAGIA Italians, in their role as critics, are actually performers in the spettacolo. "This being the University of Pittsburgh case, the Italian is deeply 'inside' the political Pennsylvania 208 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

REICHMAN, HENRY. Railwaymen and Revo- don in history to a proletarian revolution." lution: RUSSiA 1905.Pp. xv, 336. Berkeley This thesis, while not new in all respects, may University of California Press, 1987. 538.00. claim by its pointed clarity some origmafity and illuminates the whole subject of the McDANIEL, TIM. Autocracy, Capitalism. and Russian Revolution. The text contains few Revolution in Russia. Pp. xi, 500. Berkeley slipsthough the names Pobedonostsev, Sko- University of California Press, 1988. 545.00. belev, and Tsereteli are misspelled over and Paperbound, $14.95. over--and the very complkated bibliography Reichman's book is a rewritten dissertation is nearly without flaw. The book's chief based on extensive use of Soviet archives. It is weakness is the burden it bears of sociological a thorough and competently written account jargon and theoretical musings, complete with of the part organized railway employees played the footnoted ascription of commonplaces to in the Revolution of 1905. When William other writers. McDaniel wishes to acknowl- Rosenberg of the University of Michigan edge theoretical indebtedness to the seldom- completes his work on the railwaymen in 1917 paired duo of Tocqueville and Trotsky. It is and after, we shall know all we need to know not clear that he needs to do so. on the subject. DONALD W. TREADGOLD My only criticism is that the topic is too University of Washington narrowly ctaceived by Reichman. He does Seattle not explain, for example, that the Russian term profsoiuz (shortened from professionalliyi soiuz) derives not from some imagined pro- fessionalization of the All-Russian Union of Railroad Employees and Workersthere are SHINN, WILLIAM T., Jr. The Decline of the some obscure lines to that effectbut from Russian Peasant Household. Pp. xvii, 122. New York: Praeger, 1987. $29.95. Paper- the fact that the Union of Unions, a politically significant group formed in the spring of 1905, bound, $9.95. actually consisted mainly of professionals William Shinn's engaging monograph has doctors, lawyers, and the like. He refers to the a most unusual provenance. Shinn spent a Union of Unions only once and does not even year as a graduate student at Moscow State mention that the Railroad Union was a University just before joining the U.S. Foreign member. His wish to avoid retelling the story Service. His research on the customary law of of 1905 is understandable, but the result is to the peasant household led to a December 1961 abstract his subject too far from the overall article in the Slavic Review, but further work course of events. Minor errors are almost had to be laid aside until his retirement. Now absent from the text, though several mar the he has amplified and updated his study under bibliography. the auspices of the Center for Strategic and McDaniel's volume is a quite different sort International Studies at Georgetown Uni- of work. Its core is an interesting narrative of versity. The original article appears as an the history of the Russian labor movement appendix, along with a lively description of a from the 1890s to 1917. The central thread of Christmastime visit in December 1960 to a interpretation is that there was a powerful and collective farm some 50 kilometers east of almost unique contradiction between autoc- Moscow. racy and capitalism, or "a largely unrecon- Shinn's central concern is the social and structed autocratic regime" and "rapid indus- economic institution that shaped peasant fife trialization based on private initiative,"though for many centuries until overlaid by the Soviet the former sponsored the latter. Moreover, collective farm after 1929. The peasant house- McDaniel declares, it was that contradiction hold, governed by an elder, controlled family "that generated a revolutionary labor move- life in rural villages, and initially it was not ment and so gave rise to the closest approxima- much disturbed by the new Bolshevik regime.

2 1 BOOK DEPARTMENT 209

Though many of its rights were abrogated among the Stalin biographers, has provided under forced collectivization, some limited the best appreciation of Stalin's obsessive self- independence survived in connection with the image as a revolutionary. He has had to swim garden plot permitted each household. Shinnagainst the stream of much Western literature follows legal developments regarding the that insisted on seeing in Stalin a mediocre garden plots into the 1950s, by which time bureaucrat. Tucker was at first influenced by Khrushchev was pushing for their abolition. his interest in psychology, but in these essays Nevertheless the private plots have survived to he puts the role of personal leadership into the this day, and in modified form they may larger framework of Russia's unique historical continue to form the basis for some agricul- tradition. The political-culture approach causes tural activities in Gorbachev's Russia, him to draw a firm line between Lenin's ideas This rambling essay reminds one of Geroid on cultural revolution and Stalin's imposition Tanquary Robinson's Rural Russia under thefrom above of a "neo-Tsarist Marxism." But Old Regime (1932), with its vivid descriptions rather than deny the continuity entirely, he of rural life as he saw it in 1926. Shinn shares adds the qualification that there were two Robinson's nostalgia for a vanishing way of Leninisms: one associated with the mild regime life. The nostalgia was not shared by the of the New Economic Policy (NEP) in the author of a 1969 Soviet study of peasant life 1920s and the other with the war communism cited by Shinn, Raisa Maksimovna Gor- of the Russian civil war. When Stalin intro- bacheva, though perhaps she and her husband duced the collectivization of agriculture and will be open to new ways of combining rural his purges, he was still hewing to the tradition family initiative with modern mechanized of the Leninism of the earlier period. farming. The approach of the two Leninisms strikes HOLLAND HUNTER me as a particularly useful way to retain the Haverford College lessons of the early period of American Pennsylvania Sovietology, to which Tucker was an im- portant contributor, without maintaining against all reason that the madness of the Great Purge was already foreordained when Lenin wrote What /s to Be Done? in 1902. A TUCKER, ROBERT C. Political Culture andrelated view, however, argued today by Soviet Leadership in Russia: From Lenin to writers such as Fedor Burlatsky, according to Gorbachev. Pp. 214. New York: Norton, which Soviet history should be seen as a 1987. 522.50. choice between war communism and NEP, gives what I think is too broad and undiffer- BARRY, DONNA. Outside Moscow: Power, entiated a description of the Soviet historical Politics, and Budgetary Policy in the Soviet alternance. ft underestimates the turns within Republics. Pp. 236. New York: Columbia the NEP and indeed throughout Soviet his- University Press, 1987. $30.00. tory. Tucker does refer to the "Stalinist holo- The conviction is widespread that much of caust of 1934-39" without noting the neo- interest in Soviet studies is to be gleaned from N EP of 1933-37. Perhaps it is best to integrate studying matters other than the struggle for the struggle for power into these fertile explo- power. These two books, quite different in rations of political culture. Tucker finds post- scope and content, concerned, in the first case, Stalin communism to be an "extreme Com- with Soviet political culture as shaped by amunist conservatism of strong nationalist unique historical tradition, and, in the second, tendency," with the nomenklatura "service with the evolving relationship between Moscow nobility" becoming a ruling class under Brezh- and the periphery, will help to reinforce that nev. He finishes with a sensitive and insightful view. analysis of the glasnost literature. The firstis a collection of previously In her valuable study of Soviet budgetary published essays by Robert C. Tucker, who, policy, Donna Bahry calls attention to the 212 210 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY local revolution" dating from the sovnar-examination of Zionia and Bi-itish diplomacy khosy reforms of 1957, which, in doubling theduring the war itself. The promotion of a republice budgets, has greatly increased theirpro-British position within a largely unsym- role in economic decision making. Bahrypathetic Tionist movement by figures such as cautions that the me!' at the top have not Chaim Weizmann, Nahum Sokolow, and Vla- become pork-barrel politicians, at least not at dimir Jabotinskyon the assumption that the Politburo level, where republic representa- support for the victorious allies would bear tion offers little advantage in appropriationpolitical fruitwas an important step in battles. Yet structured appeals processes and a advancing Zionist goals and securing the balkanization of the central bureaucracy offerBalfour Declaration of 1917. Vital weaves a few windows through which persistent repub- through the intricacies of British intentions lic and local officials can coax more resources. and Zionist initiatives, showing how Britain's It comes as a surprise to read that not much inpro-Zionist turn was accompanied by doubts the economic agenda outside Moscow has almost immediately. Stall, the war yews opened changed as a result of the beginnings of"a window of opportunity" for the Zionists, perestroika. This is from the perspective of albeit one that was "in its way a fluke, an event 1986. Perhaps Bahry will review developments none could have soberly predicted, let alone again after the passage of a reasonableengineered," for it was a function of a very interval. complex array of circumstances tied to the ANTHONY D'AGOSTINO global conflict. San Francisco State University Vital's books are informed by a defined California perspective rooted in Zionist political history. At the turn of the century a fierce debate arose between political Zionists--those who believed the movement's priority ought to be diplomat" aimed at attaining a charter and support from VITAL, DAVID. Zionism: The Crucial Phase. a great power for their projectand those Pp. 392. New York: Oxford Universitywho emphasized practical Zionismestablish- Press, 1987. $65.00. ing Jewish settlements in Palestineand/ or With Zionism; The Crucial Phase David cultural nationalism. Vital clearly sides with Vital completes his trilogy on the early years political Zionism, which was championed of the Jewish national movement. The Origins initially by Herz! and later embraced in his of Zionism (1975) examined Zionism% emer- own way by Jabotinsky, who became the gence, culminating in the birth of the World leader of the Zionist right wing in the 1920s Zionist Organization in 1897 under Theodorand 1930s. Consequently, the cultural Zionist Herzl% leadership. Zionism: The Formative Ahad Haam receives an excessively negative Years (1982) covered developments through assessment in Vital's first two books, and the the aftermath of Herzl's death in 1904. Theachievements of Weizmann, who was the final volume presents Zionism's political for- most prominent synthesizer of political, prac- tunes until the establishment of the British tical, and cultural Zionistns, are belittled in mandate for Palestine. the third. Furthermore, Vital's diplomatic Vital defines his projeet as "a contribution focus leads to at least one important lacuna: to the political history of the Jewish peopk"there is no discussion of the shift in the Labor and he dissects his subject with erudition and Zionist movement in Palestine between 1909 finesse. He begins with an analysis of theand the outbreak of the world war from a floundering of the World Zionist Organization strategy partly based on class struggle to one in the years immediately before World War 1 of constructivist socialism, that is, one of and insightfully delineates its complicatedestablishing the infrastructure of an autono- problems with the Young Turk government. mous Jewish workers' community in Pales- The real centerpiece of the book is a masterful tine. Not only is this an essential part of the 2 3 BOOK DEPARTMENT 211 period Vital covers; it later provided Labor public in 1965, the nature of which Fulbright with the means to become the dominant force believed Johnson had misrepresented, Ful- in the struggle for statehood. But if in fact he bright began his break with the president. gives us a chapter in a crucial phase of Repelled by the prospect of a protracted war, Zionism rather than the full story, his rich Fulbright concluded that the preservation of a presentation of that chapter is an outstanding non-Communist regime in South Vietnam contribution. was not vital to the national interests of the MITCHELL COHEN United States. At the same time, Fulbright City University of New York began to question the effects of the war on the United States, in particular, the growing militarization of American society and the shift of the power to wage war from Capitol Hill to the White House. UNITED STATES While sympathetic to Fulbright, Berman exaggerates neither his influence nor his saga- HERMAN, WILLIAM C. William Fulhright city. After Richard M. Nixon became presi- and the Vietnam War: The Dissent of a dent in 1969, Fulbright's opposition to con- Political Realist. Pp. x, 235. Kent, OH: tinued American involvement in Vietnam was Kent State University Press, 1988. $24.00. tempered by his respect for the abilities of In August 1964, Arkansas Senator J. Henry Kissinger and by his support for the William Fulbright served as floor manager for Nixon administration's pursuit of detente the Guff of Tonkin Resolution, giving Pres- with the Soviet Union. Indeed, Berman argues ident Lyndon B. Johnson broad powers to that, during the Nixon years, more outspoken respond to an alleged North Vietnamesesenators like Frank Church and George attack on American warships. By the end of McGovern eclipsed Fulbright as an antiwar 1965, however, Fulbright, from his position as leader. And, Berman concludes, Fulbright chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations had no workable plan to end the war as an Committee, had emerged as one of the leading alternative to the precipitate American with- congressional critics of the Johnson administra- drawal that he opposed. Berman, in short, tion's policy in Southeast Asia. In 1974, after offers a balanced and judicious study of the nearly a decade of articulate opposition to the Arkansas senator as a "political realist." war in Vietnam, Fulbright lost a bid for JEFF BROADWATER renomination in the state Democratic primary Vanderbilt University to Arkansas's popular governor, Dale Bump- Nashville ers. In William Fulbright and the Vietnam Tennessee War: The Dissent of a Political Realist, University of Toronto historian William C. Berman traces Fulbright's public career from the senator's chang, of heart toward American OREFN, DAVID Shaping the Political Con- involvement in Vietnam to his eventual polit- sciousness: The Language of Politics in ical demise. America from McKinley to Reagan. Pp. Originally sharing a widespread concern xi, 277. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University about Communist expansion in Southeast Pim, 1987. $29.95. Asia, Fulbright at first acquiesced in adminis- tration policy. According to Berman, Ful- In this book, Green discusses the impact of bright hoped to preserve his influence with words used in politics before and after elections Johnson and hesitated to undermine LBJ in from William McKinley to Ronald Reagan. his 1964 campaign against the apparently He starts off by what to me is a false more militant Barry Goldwater. After the statement. He maintains that language is the American intervention in the Dominican Re- most powerful of human weapons; but the old

2.; 4 212 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY adage that actions speak louder than words is In sum, Shaping the Political Conscious- as true as ever. Obviously, words and politics ness is a disappointing attempt to address the are inseparable, but that does not mean that topic of language in politics. the old adage does not hold. Actions continue EDWARD L. BERNAYS to speak louder than words. Language can lie Cambridge and the public knows this. Actions cannot lie. Massachusetts For instance, Lincoln's act of freeing the slaves was more convincing :han discussion of advocating emancipation was. The book falls short in many other ways. The sentence structure employed in it is most POLLACK, NORMAN. The Just Polity: Pop- difficult to understand. Here is an example: ulism, Law, and Human WeYare. Pp. xi, 376. Champaign: University of Illinois Only immersion in the historical data can provide Press, 1987. $29.95. thr clues to which labels, phrases or verbal formulas are politically significant in a given situation, only a New Left historians of the 1960s and sustained analysis of this usage by specific in- 1970s, such as William Appelton dividuals can shed light on who are the primary Gabriel Kolko, and Norman Pollack, probed shapers of public consciousness to a given era. the historical record for evidence of an Amer- Professor William Strunk, a the same uni- ican radical tradition in opposition to corpo- versity as Green's, and E. B. White outlined a rate soeial, economic, and political domina- formula for writing that Green does not tion. In his earlier classic, The Populist Re- follow. It called for one idea to a sentence, sponse to Industrial America (1962), Pollack sentences not exceeding 16 words, and mono- found Populism proffering just such a radical syllabic words. Almost every sentence in the alternative to capitalism. In The Just Polity, book needs to be changed to follow The however, Pollack revises his earlier view of Elenwnts of Style. Populist radicalism. Through an exegetical In addition, the viewpoints about the reexamination of the writings of key Populist public's beliefs expressed in the book arethinkers, including James B. Weaver, Tom based on Green's assumptions and conclu- Watson, William A. Peffer, Thomas Nugent, sions. Absence of further substantiation may James H. Davis, and Ignatius Donnelly, have befm appropriate up to the 1930s, but Pollack seeks to restore scriptural purity to since then, pol:ing has been a common method the debate over Populist identity. His principal to measum the public's attitudes. There is nocontention is that Populism represented a reference tu polling in this volume, and the critical political and ideological movement in names of such distinguished pollsters as American history, a movement whose signal- George Gallup, Louis Harris, and others are Cart= has been obfuscated by distracting not even mentioned. debates concerning regional ideological differ- interestei readers would have benefited ences and the extent of xenophobia in Populist from the inclusion of a bibliography in this rhetoric. volume. They would also have gained if Green While Pollack never totally disavows his had done more than identify by surname the 1962 contention that Populism offered a individuals he mentions. For instance, George radical alternative to capitalism, he does Orwell's name appears five times, but without seriously modify it. Borrowing heavily from further description of him. Similarly, S. I. Louis Hartz's thesis that "Lockean consensus" Hayakawa's book, Language in Thought andexplained the historically weak "counterthrust Action, is mentioned only in a footnote; 1 to [American] institutions and values," Pollack would think a lengthier treatment would be in labels Populism as more antimonopolistic order, given that it pioneered the subject ofthan anticapitalist. But, insists Pollack, while Green's book. Populism may not have been radical, a "pro- 213 BOOK DEPARTMENT

at work in the repetitive, occasionally even redundant.Never- cess of radicalization" was grist movement making it "anideological powder theless, Polliwkss study provides needed Populism. It is keg" restrained only by themovement% patri- for a desirable reassessment of by one of the giants of otic commitment, constitutionalism,and a an important statement Populist historiography and should beread firm belief in the temporariness of the present students of painfully cppressive system of corporate monop- carefully and with profit by all olism. Moreover, althoughantimonopolistic American political thought. capitalists, Populists passionatelyembraced JOHN F. BAUMAN public ownership and thereforetranscended California University of Pennsylvania "mere reformism." Pollack's exegesis of writers such asPeffer, Weaver, Lloyd, and Watson girdshis main argument about thehistorical significance of SMITH, GkAHAM. When JimCrow Met Populism's ideological critique ofindustrial- John Bull: Black American Soldiers in ism, modernization, and the structureof World War 11 Britain. Pp. 265. NewYork: American democracy. His analysis,for ex- St. Martin's Press, 1987. 824.95. ample, discloses a generalizedfear among Populist writers of impending social upheaval. During World War II, 130,000 black soldiers were stationed in Britain as partof the But his reading of IgnatiusDonnelly revealed that Populists like Donnelly neverdesired contingent of American troops. They were civilization's overthrow but soughtinstead to serving in an army that was still segregated few blacks prevent le deluge byimploring an end to and in a country where until then had ever been seen except asoddities. This corporate abuses. by Pollack's new analytical frameworkis ex- book offers a series of vignettes that are and wryly amus- trapolated from seemingly disparatePopulist turns saddening, horrifying, of the rhetoric that flowed freely from the pensof an ing. It puts together a detailed picture equally diverse body of social andpolitical reactions of the British to American segrega- reactions of thinkers. In this rhetoric Pollackbrilliantly tion and racial friction, and the hos- and insightfully discerns acomprehensible, Americans to the variously bewildered, unified body of complex thought aboutthe tile, and self-righteous British. Smith nature of the American economy,constitu- It suffers from a lack of focus. tional government, and popularsovereignty. apparently could not decide if his topic was blacks in Clearly Pollack's exegetical methodology racial segregation and its impact on American has enabled him to tease newinsights about the American army, the impact of the Populism from literary sourcm and to propose blacks on the British population, or framework for the study of impact of American segregationistattitudes a new holistic first, he hould Populism.. But Pollack himself admitsthe on the British. If it was the limitations of this approach.His study is have dealt systematically with the social con- that time, confined to a relatively small group ofPopulist text of the American South at writers. His is, moreover, anunscientifically because it explains the background of segrega- much chosen sample. It therefore remains tobe seen tion. If it was the second, he devoted too of whether more rigorous and exhaustiveanalysis time to the American army's practice segregation. If it was the third, it should have of the archival record will vindicatePollack's new insights. Then, too,subjecting a limited focused on British attitudes toward all racial Welsh, number of Populist writings tomicroscopic and ethnic minoritiesincluding the have textual analysis and topicallystructuring the the Scots, and the Irish. Smith seems to analysis hazards stylistic nightmares. Atbest, allowed the volume of his material to over- Pollack belabors his points about thecapital- whelm him and to compel him simply to he istic strains in Populism; at worst,he is throw in every detail on the situation that 214 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

could find. If he had mastered the material, his Planters. Pp. xviii, 309. Baltimore, MD: book would have beena tightly focused piece Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987. of historical research. As it stands, itis an $29.95. inflated article. Smith repeatedly distorts the American The planter elite of the Old South has historical context of racial segregation. There intrigued students of American history and is insufficient explanation of Roosevelt'sdeci- culture for generations. Economists have sion to maintain a segregatedarmy. This analyzed their plantations, historians have decision, in spite of Roosevelt's personal dissected their defenses of slavery, and polit- efforts to desegregate civil service offices in ical scientists have traced their political Washington and his wife's vigorous public machinations. In recent years, cultural and intellectual historians such as Bertram Wyatt- efforts on behalf of civil rights,was taken in Brown and Drew Gilpin Faust have examined the interests of military efficiency and thefact that the professional officer and noncommis- the social and cultural lives of the planters, sioned officer corpswas disproportionately adding another dimension to our understand- composed of white Southerners. Smith also ing of this most unusual elite. Following the refers to segregation as if itwere a universal same path, Steven M. Stowe, a professor of humanities in the College of Medicine at condition of blacks in the United States andto white American attitudesas if they were Pennsylvania State University, utilizes the uniformly segregationist. This is patently findings of linguists, sociologists, and anthro- false segregation by lawwas a Southern pologists to dissect the rituals and language of phenomenon; I attended a fully integrated Southern aristocrats. school, church, and Boy Scouttroop in The book is divided into two parts, with the first half outlining three important rituals Boston in the 1940s. Furthermom,white Americans, as they do now, had widely in the lives of the planters: the affair of varying attitudes about blacks. honor the duelcourtship, and the coming The reason for this distortion is that Smith of age. The second half of the book examines in some detail the lives of three planter is engaged in what can be called the fallacyof historical transposition. This exercise isan families, illustrating with particular cases the themes developed in the earlier sections. invitation to the reader to judgeevents in the past by contemporary stand anis. Smith invites Stowe concludes that "sex and gender (not race or class) was the [planters') most satisfying present-day readers to be shockedat segrega- tionist practices in the Americanarmy over explanation for human values and action." four decades ago. If practiced today,of This view will certainly raise eyebrowsamong course, such a policy would be unacceptable. more traditional historians of the South. He At the time, it may have been practical, also stresses the importance of hierarchy in however much we may condemn it. But Smith family and social life, the conflation of the makes no attempt to put the policy in its personal with the social, and the planters' historical context. The result isa series of tendency towand ostentatious displays of their beliefs. titillating anecdotes, without systematicexpla- nation, like a historical version of the National Stowe's subject is more interesting than his Enquirer. treatment of it, unfortunately. Long, involved analyses of seemingly trivial statements and WILL IAM R. BEER complex explications of planter 'conscious- Brooklyn College New York ness" require an intense interest in cultural expressions on the part of the reader. A second criticism is that Stowe does not demon- strate in any detail that the ideals and beliefs of the planters were different from those of SiONVE, STEVEN M. Intimacy and Power in Northern elites. Perhaps Boston merchants the South: Ritual in the Lives of the conflated the personal and the socialas much BOOK DEPARTMENT 215 as South Carolina planters. In short, we liberal than those elected by other cannot be sure whether the patterns Stowe means", and describes are Southern or American. --conflict exists in all councils regardless Nevertheless, this is a useful book that of the electoral system employed. complements the work of other cultural his- torians and takes us deep inside the lives of the Structure, however, apparently is not asso- planters. When other scholars carry the subject ciated with council members' views on policy further with comparative studies, our under- issues. standing of the Southern elite will be further The study's fmdings differ in many in- enriched. stances from earlier research findings, and the RICHARD LOWE differences are attributed to the increasing University of North Texas importance of campaign funds, the media's Denton greater impact, lack of a working-class polit- ical party, a higher level of education, and progressive-era reforms, including the primary election, voter-registration requirements, and secret ballots. One cannot quarrel with the WELCH, SUSAN and TIMOTHY BLEDSOE. conclusion that city politics in the late twentieth Urban Reform and Its Consequences: A century is significantly different from politics Study in Representation. Pp. xx, 154. in a typical city at mid-century. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, The concluding chapter breaks important 1988. $27.50. Papzrbound, $10.95. new ground by referring to the changes that This short book contains the results of the have occurred in the world of municipal latest in a series of research studies focusing politics and raising the question whether a list upon the impact of electoral-system changes, or single transferable vote system of propor- promoted by urban reformers at the turn of tional representation (PR) would have a the century, upon city politics. Specifically, significant impact upon the composition and Welch and Bledsoe examine the effects of at- policies of city councils. Unfortunately, Welch large electoral systems versus district systems and Bledsoe do not evaluate the experience of and nonpartisan elections. Cambridge, Massachusetts, relative to the use Data for the study were collected from of the single transferable vote system of PR to approximately 1,000 city council members in elect its council and school committee, or the 218 municipalities over 50,000 population in ;ise of this system to elect members of com- 42 states. The surveyed municipalities were munity school boards in New York City. divided equally into cities with at-large elec- Evidence from the latter city reveals that PR tions and cities with district or mixed election does produce school boards that are descrip- systems. Cities over I million population were tively more representative of their constit- excluded from the study. uencies than members of the city council Welch and Bledsoe conclude "election elected by single-member districts. structure does matter" and report that It is unfortunate that the short review of urban reform in the 1890s and early I900s nonpartisanship no longer favors Re- contains two errors of fact. Contrary to the publican candidates; statement that "all cities of significant size nonpartisan council members spend were members" of the National Municipal more time on servicing constituents League, membership in the leaguenow the than partisan council members do and National Civic League- was open to in- are more apt to favor increasing taxes dividuals and not to cities. Furthermore, the than levying user chat ges; National Municipal League did not endorse partisan and district elections produce the city-manager syuem of administration "at members who "are not clearly more the turn of the century (1899)" or restate its

2 ; 216 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY endorsement '"each year in the Model City historyis effective. Keeping the shop floor Charter." The first city-manager charter was at center stage, he persuasively argues that not drafted until 1909, and the Model City welfare capitalism was more than what em- Charter, in its sixth edition (1964), is not ployers said and did; it also revolved around issued each year. These errors of fact, however, how workers accommodated themselves te do not detract from the value of this study. and used this paternalistic approach for their JOSEPH F. ZIMMERMAN own ends. Welfare capitalism was essentially State University of New York successful in warding off strong unionization Albany and disruptive strikes among the thousamis of Endicott Johnson workers. Until the changing world economic conditions since the late 1960s altered labor-managensmt relations con- siderably, putting almost all American in- ZAHAVI, CERALD. Workers, Managers, and dustrial workers in a much more vulnerable We Nue Capitalism: The Shoeworkers and position, the officers at Endicott Johnson as Tanners of Endicou Johnson, 1890-1950. well cs other corporate practitioners of welfare Pp. xiii, 261. Champaign: University of capitalism were also trapped, to some degree, Illn 3is Press, 1988. 524.95. by the labor-management system that they Gerald Zaliavi, assistant professor ofhad created. They could not abrogate the history at the State University of New York at implicit or explicit expectations of the workers Albany, has made a significant contribution without some repercussions. to a better understanding of labor-manage- Zahavi has done his research thoroughly ment relations in the United States. Workers, and has used oral history as well as other Managers, and WePre Capitalism is a volume sources advantageously. He is a capable in the Working Class in American History writer, and this volume is readable. It should series, edited by David Brady, David Mont- be of particular interest to social historians, gomery, Alice Kessler-Harris, and Seanlabor and economics specialists, eclectic Wilentz. This case study of the workers of scholars, and thoughtful general readers. Un- Endicott Johnson, centered in the Bingham- doubtedly, this book will appeal to the sur- ton, New York, area, and the practice ofviving Endicott Johnson workers and their welfare capitalism from 1890 to 1950 is a descendants, for Zahavi has told their story in valuable and highly useful study, his con- interesting fashion. cluding chapter contains comments on the MARGARET RIPLEY WOLFE 1960s as well. East Tennessee State University Zahavi finds Eugene D. Genovese's model Kingsport of nineteenth-century plantation paternalism as set forth in Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made (1974) useful to his own SOCIOLOGY study of twentieth-century corporate paternal- ism. Indeed, the "dialectic struggle for control ARON ICA, MICHELE TERESA. Beyond Char- over definition of paternalistic obligations ismatic Leadership: The New York Catho- and rights" as manifested in this shoe-manu- lic Worker Movement. Pp. xi, 197. New facturing industry is central. As Zahavi ex- Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Press, 1987. amines the origins, development, limits, and No price. demise of worker solidarity under the umbrella of welfare capitalism, he argues that the HORNSBY-SMITH, MICHAEL F. Roman Cath- struggle of labor has occurred within and olics in England: Studies in Social Structure without formal labor organizations. since the Second World War. Pp. xiii, 253. Zahavi's study, which he calls a hybrid New York: Cambridge University Press, neither pure labor history nor pure business 1987. No price.

1'1 40 217 BOOK DEPARTMENT

The Catholic Worker Movement began Aronica concludes that since Day's death with the publication of the CatholicWorker in 1980Maurin died in 1944the movement vision: new in 1933. Dorothy Day, a leftist journalistwho has lost sight of the founders' had converted to Catholicism,edited the recruits are attracted by the history of service little familiarity paper to publicize theideas of Peter Maurin. to the poor, but they have Maurin advocated "primitive communism," with the ideas of Maurin or Day. Some particularly procedures have been standardized but per- rooted in a Catholic framework, that in the social encyclicals of Popes LeoXIII and haps not enough: Aronica suggests it Pius XI (1891 and 1931, respectively).To- order to carry on the vision of the founders, gether Day and Maurin founded urban may be necessary to alter someof the forms. Houses of Hospitality, as well asseveral While Aronica looks at a small groupof communal farms. Dwing Maurin andDay's radical Catholics in the United States, Michael lifetimes there were no rules for membership, Hornsby-Smith gives us a report on the and a community exercised littlediscipline majority of Catholics in England and Wales. over the lives of tlz members:Maurin believed Roman Catholics in England reports on exten- that people should contribute to the lifeof the sive research Hornsby-Smith has conducted community as they felt called to do so. over the last 15 years. Theresearch projects of Yet the Catholic Worker Movement had a attempt to capture various populations significant impact. In the l930s the Housesof Catholics: a general national survey, surveys four Hospitality were on the forefront of providing of various activist groups, surveys of food and shelter to indigent people. Withher parishes, plus interviews with Catholics who radical heritage, Day led the movement to attended public events during Pope John Paul little participate in antiwar activities: Catholic Work- ll's visit to England in 1982. He finds ers did draft counselingfrom World War II evidence for the traditional stereotype of the through the Vietnam war, in the 1940s they English Catholic Church as a distinctive sub- formulated the conscientious-objector option culture; rather, the mainstream is remarkably for Catholics and provided funds for alterna- heterod ox. tive service camps. Aronica sees the Catholic From 1850 to 1950 the metaphor "fortress Catholic Worker Movement as instrumentalin forcing church" was used to describe the Catholic thinkers to reconceptualizetradi- Church in England. Observers characterized tional arguments about just wars. the Church of that period as "united and In Beyond Charismatic Leadership Aronica insulated." Hornsby-Smith argues that the uses the Catholic WorkerMovement as a case metaphor is no longer appropriate due both War II in the study for examining Weber's theoryof the to social changes after World the routinization of charisma. Weber argued that. secular world and to the changes in after the death of a charismatic leader, an Church introduced by Pope John XXIII and organization develops routines and bureau- Vatican II. Hornsby-Smith sees the Church of cracy in order to continuethe organization the 1980s in a transition period, withtensions and to handle day-to-day activities.Aronica between traditional Catholic elites and new argues that Catholic Workerideology. based middle-class progressives. in anarchism and agrarian traditionalism A major theme of the book is investigating precludes bureaucratization; she asks how the the social mobility of Catholicsespecially movement can survive. Her primary sources Irish immigrants, who contributed greatly to include archival materials, interviews, and the growth of the Catholic Church in England two and one-half months ofparticipant obser-from around 5 percent of the population in vation at Saint Joseph's House in New York 1850 to 11 percent in 1978. The findings in 1984. The first half of the book tellsthe cannot be easily summarized in this space, story of the movement under thefounders; the but, in contrast with the United States, it does second half focuses on Saint Joseph's House not seem that Catholics in generalexperienced as it operated in 1984. 218 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

greater gains than the rest of the population but prevailing notion that immigrants and during the postwar years. their counterparts in the labor marketblack Both If these books are concerned with men, women, and teenagersare low-skilled, Catholic institutions in transition, albeit very interchansgable components. What character- different institutions. Readers concerned with izes immigrants, according to Bailey, is not organizational supports for peace and justice that they are low skilled, though, indeed, they activities will find Aronica's account of this may sometimes be. The defining attribute, underresearehed arena well worth reading. rather, is the social structure of immigration. Hornsby-Smith brinp to the American reader The argument that Bailey develops in this data not easily accessible elsewhere. Less careful, well-written study is that immigrants provocative than his American counterpart are transitional workers: they come from Andrew Greeley, Hornsby-Smith can be tedi- societies with very different attitudes and ous, even repetitious. But his book provides orientations toward work from ours; they the reader with necessary information for arrive uncertain as to whether to stay or comparing the Catholic Church in England return; and only gradually and unwittingly do and Wales with what we know about the they put down roots. For these reasons they Church in the United States. take jobs that native-born workers often will MARY JO NEITZ not accept. Later on, when the dream of University of Missouri return has faded, it turns out that employment Columbia at the bottom Hs unintended consequences: immigrants pick up a few skills; they make contacts with other workers or with employers who might promote them. Equally important BAILEY, THOMAS. Immigrant and Native is the fact that from the start, newcomers are Workers: Contrasts and Competition. Pp. embedded in social networks of other members xvi, 168. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, of the immigrant community. These networks 1987. $34.50. help immigrants find jobs, acquire skills, and move up the job ladder in the absence of MacLEOD, JAY. Ain't No Makin' It: Leveled formal training programs, seniority systems, Aspirations in a Low-Income Neighbor- hood. Pp. ix, 198. Boulder, CO: Westview and the like. Because immigrants work in environments where their coworkers, and Press, 1987. $26.95. Paperbound, $12.95. often their bosses, are from the same home- With the passage of the Immigration Re- land, they have role models that provide form and Control Act in 1986, Congress encouragement for upward mobility. Conse- marked the end of an almost twenty-year quently, self-employment is an important debate over how the flow of immigrants to the component of the immigration employment United States is to be controlled. What lay situation. behind the law was the concern that immi- Through case studies of the restaurant, grants were slipping across the borders and construction, retail, and garment industries, taking jobs away from low-skilled natives. Bailey documents these characteristics and The conventional wisdom suggested that dis- shows how they produce a labor market role placement could be ended by prohibiting the for immigrants that makes them different employment of undocumented immigrants; from other lower-skilled groups. The case after endless wrangling, Congress finally studies provide the first, close-up comparison followed svit. of immigrants ssith blacks, women, and youth. The message of Thomas Bailey's important In addition, they convincingly demonstrate book, Immigrant and Native Workers: Con- that the competitive impact of immigrants- trasts and Competition, is that Congress had whether they are illegal or o therwise- is much it all wrong. Bailey argues against the simplistic less severe than Congress ever thought. ROOK DEPARTMENT 219

Immigration is, at first glance, far removed ments are modest, and unlike the Hangers from the concerns of Jay MacLeod, a sensitive who neither play the game nor accept its and sophisticated ethnographer, whose book, rulesthe Brothers blame themselves for Aint No Making It: Leveled Aspirations in a their limited performance. Low-Income Neighborhood, is a revised ver- It is in exploring the source of variation sion of his Harvard College senior honors between the two groups that issues of ethnicity thesis. What MacLeod wants to know and migrationreminiscent of Bailey's work following in the tradition of Bourdieu, Willis, emerge in MacLeod% account. Race, MacLeod and Girouxis why working-class and lower- suggests, gives the Brothers an out that the class youths develop the attitudes and expecta- Hangers cannot share. While the Brothers can tions that allow social inequality to be repro- at once blame racism for their families' mod- duced from one generation to the next. est status and believe that hard work and MacLeod seeks to answer that question by education will yield future progress, the Hang- looking at two groups of lower- or working-ers can only attribute their misfortunes to class youth inhabiting a decaying housing their parents' shortcomings or to society's raw project in some unnamed, Northeastern city. deal; no surprise, therefore, that they view the One group is nicknamed the Hallway Hangers. world as rigged against them. More important, The Hangers are a mainly white group ofin my view, is a difference in the social adolescents, heavily into drugs, alcohol, and structure of these two groups. Whereas most petty and not so petty crime; more out of of the Brothers are either migrants or immi- school than in; episodically involved in work; grants- -for whom moving to MacLeod's un- and marked by a tendency toward violent named city and thence to the housing project behaviors. The Brothers, in an inversion of the he studied were steps up--the Hangers are the expected pattern, is a mainly black group that remnants of a now heavily suburbanized inhabits the same physical world but does not white working class. Also gone are the con- partake of the subculture of the Hangers. tacts, role models, and sources of informal For MacLeod, the key differences between support that would have given the Hangers the groups lie in their attitudes toward school reason to aspire to more than what they have. and their expectations of social mobility. The That is their tragedyand ours. Hangers view their prospects of getting ahead ROGER WALDINGER as remote and see school as incapable of City University of New York delivering on its promise of providing the skills needed to obtain a good job. Rejected by school, and rejecting it in turn, the Hangers develop their own value system: what counts DENCH, GEOFF. Minorities in the Open are physical toughness, emotional resiliency, Society: Prisoners of Ambivalence. Pp. vii, quick-wittedness, masculinity, and, above all, 275. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, solidarity with the group. The pathos of the 1986. $29.95. Hangers is that these norms effectively keep them in their place: without skills, the search Gunnar Myrdal, in the monumental study for survival forces them to take jobs that are of race relations conducted under his guid- shameful, and because loyalty counts so much, ance, concluded that the United States was the Hangers do not aspire to roles that would caught in midst of a profound "dilemma." inevitably involve a break with the group. Racist beliefs and discriminatory practices Aspirations are not so leveled among the flagrantly contradicted a popular allegiance Brothers, by contrast. They are achievement to the "American Creed" a social ethos oriented; they prize accomplishments in rooted in a common set of egalitarian values school; they measure success in conventional that "the cement in the structure of this ways. The problem is that their accomplish- great and disparate nation." Sur:h a dilemma,

222 220 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

Myrdal assuredly predicted, would eventually dominant majority group who interpret be resolved in favor of the "Creed," and the avowed ideals in ways that benefit them. Part assimilation and successful incorporation of 2 examines how "minority clients" are often minority groups would follow. It is optimistic called upon to provide integrative leadership analyses and commentaries in this liberal vein during periods of social change and political that British scholar Geoff Deneh finds grossly crisis. Brief sketches of Pierre Trudeau misleading. Dench argues that the presumed (Canada), Joseph Stalin (the Soviet Union), eventual triumph of universalistic, egalitarian John F. Kennedy (United States), and Benja- values and social justice obscures the complex min Disraeli (Britain) illustrate how they set of interests that lie behind public af- came to the fore, with the backing of modern- firmations of commitment to equality and izing elites, during periods in which the con- integration. flicts endemic to pluralistic societies were For Dench, the real dilemma in openparticularly acute. Part 3 deals with the societies is the tension between promises of political, cultural, and personal dilemmas that free and equal participation of all individual confront minority-group members. In each members and the continuing reality of com-realm, agonizing choices between an integra- munalism, that is, of group identity and tionist or communalistic path render it difficult solidarity forged around notions of common to gain empowerment, avoid marginal status, origin, race, and/or culture. Unlike otherand construct a satisfyin personal identity. analysts, Dench does not regard this tension Part 4 summarizes and extends Dench's argu- as a moral dilemma, nor as intrinsicallyment that communalist values continue to be destabilizing to the social order. Beneath the a major force in modern states, shaping veneer of a national commitment to universal- domestic conflicts and international relations. istic principles and individual equality, he sees While each part raises intriguing themes, the playing out of majority- and minority- their connection to the book's overall argu- group communalistic sentiments that funda- ment is often muddled and lost. This, along mentally shape the nature of ethnic and race with the level of abstraction, tends to rob the relations. book of clarity and coherence. This is un- Dench's book is an attempt to theorize and fortunate, given Dench's effective refutation extend observations made in his previous of d ominant liberal wisdom and the compelling study of the Maltese community in Britain. In way he illustrates that the dilemmas of minority- the Maltese in London (1975), Dench foundgroup, and indeed majority-group, existence that the majority group's expectations for the extend far beyond a simple affirmation or Maltese to assimilate were, somewhat ironi-negation of egalitarian and integrationist cally, a fundamental factor contributing to ideology. social disorganization among the Maltese. MICHAEL OMI Universalistic creeds weakened the social con- University of California trols that the Maltese community had exerted Berkeley over its own members, leading to deviant behaviors, which, in turn, underscored, in the eyes of majority-group members, the inferior GILMORE, DAVID D. Aggression and Com- minority status of the Maltese. munity: Paradoxes of Andalusian Culture. Drawing on this insight, Dench presents a range of historical and contemporary ex- Pp. xvi, 218. New Haven, CT: Yale Uni- amples from several open societies. H is discus- versity Press, 1987. 524.50. sion is thematically divided into four parts. COLLIER, GEORGE A. Socialists of Rural

Part 1 exam:nes the "dual character" of Andalusia: Unacknowledged Revokaion- modern states that profess a formal allegiance aries of the Second Republic. Pp. ix, 253. to progressive, universalistic values while in Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, reality serving the interests of members of the 1987, 53230.

4n. BOOK DEPARTMENT 221

Drawing fin Durkheim, Simmel, and been stood on its head! Collier's population others, Gilmore argues that the formal polite- pyramids are so crammed with data that they ness and pew:dulness of Fuenmayor is comple- are virtually useless. mentary to its sub rosa conflicts. That is, the Each side of the Civil War committed betrayal of confidences, scandal mongering, atrocities; atrocities breed atrocities. The derisive nicknames, and raucous and obscene moral issues ofinjustice and inhumanity hang vilifications during Carnaval are integral toheavily over both the Second Republic and the community's system of social control. At the Falangist regime. Nonetheless. Collier another level, what begins as the malicious deserves our thanks for bringing us a history gossip of one person becomes shared knowl- that the Falangists had repressed. edge; and the hostility of the victimwho LEONARD BLUMBERG inevitably is tokl shifts from "thou" to Temple University "they." Gilmore thereby brings together micro- Philadelphia sociology and macrosociology and reasserts the validity of the currently disfavored collec- tive-behavior approach to public-opinion formation. He discusses at length the phallicism GINZBERG, ELI, HOWARD S. BERLINER, of Fuenmayor's males, using a psychoanalytic and MIRIAM OSTOW. Young People at approach; the work of David McClelland and Risk: Is Prevention Possible? Pp. ix, 140. his associates on the power motive, alcohol. r, Boulder, CO: Westview PTCSS, 1988. $29.95. and sex would have been more useful. Gilmore tries to put his conclusions into a larger As the personal and social costs associated theoretical framework but gets lost in the with the difficulties of adolescents have risen, process. there has been growing interest in trying to The pre-Republican village of Los Olivos prevent these problems in the first place. was dominated by an elite of large landhold- Based upon a study commissioned by the ers, according to Collier. The Second Republic Commonwealth Fund, the authors of this gave the Socialists control. Contrary to the book evaluate the current efforts to prevent theory of peasant land hunger, the Council drunk driving, teenage pregnancy, drug use, changed the relations of economic production and dropping out of school among teenagers. through restructuring the hiring practices of They conclude that specific, targeted interven- the large landholders; it was an attack on their tions designed to prevent these problems are autonomy and hence on their honor. The very difficult and that the "prevention para- oligarchs had their revenge during the Falang- digm" borrowed from the medical sciences is ist forty-year reign of terror. Is this why the not directly applicable to the social arena. peasants of Fuenmayor were anxious to avoid Instead, they call for dealing with the broader public conflict? The widows and daughters of and more basic causes of these problems: the more than fifty men of Los Olivos who racism, unemployment, and the malfunction- were executedthe "vanquished" were com- ing of schools. pelled to beg for menial jobs, and their Although Ginzberg, Berliner, and Ostow children had a minimal education; they were address an important issue, they do not debased and lost honor. When the United provide the necessary careful and in-depth States ended Spain's isolation, the policy of analysis to answer satisfactorily the excellent autarky was abandoned, and the vanquished questions they nor . The book is really an led a massive emigration from Los Olives. extended essay rather than a detailed examina- This caused labor shortages, and the local tion of each of the four problem areas they oligarchs lost honor because they new had to explore. The chapter on adolescent pregnancy, do their own field work. Former residents, for example, attempts to cover this complex who were now prosperous urban proletarians, problem in only 17 pages. Missing from the ironically observed that the status system had discussion are numerous relevant published 224 222 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY studies, which are not even mentioned. In overview of American socioreligious change addition, when social-science studisi of preven- dating back to the 1730s. This book presents tion efforts are referenced, almost no effort isan interesting discussion of Protestantism, in made to evaluate the conceptual and method- particular, its emergence in American society ological soundness of these works. Instead,and the development of Pentecostal groups, Ginzberg, Berliner, and Ostow concentrate on which points out the connection that exists reporting only selected findings. As a result, between these religious phenomena and the even if the reader agrees with some of theirCharismatic Renewal Movement. Neitz ex- observations in any of the four case studies,plains the transitions that took place within one has little confidence that the authorsthe Catholic tradition as its status changed arrived at their conclusions based upon afrom that of an immigrant church to an systematic review of all of the major studies inestablished religious denomination in society, each of those fields. and the impact that Vatican II had upon the Because the book is organized by looking believen. One becomes aware that the Catholic at each of these problem areas separately,Charismatic Renewal Movement was not a Ginzberg, Berliner, and Ostow devote littlecult, sect, or splinter group but rather another attention to whether or not many teenagers expression of Catholicism. By using interviews may be experieneing more than one of theseand observation strategies, Neitz presents an difficulties at the same time. Are preventionin-depth study of the Precious Blood Prayer programs designed to focus on only a specificGroup from 1977 until 1980 as a case study problem, such as dropping out of school orwithin the Catholic Charismatic Renewal teenage pregnancy, less effective than those Movement. Neitz acknowledges the general- that try to address several of them simultane-izability limitations inherent in using field ously? Furthermore, missing almost entirelymethodology. Nevertheless, she makes a strong from this consideration of the problems ofand well-documented argument that religion teenagers is an appreciation of the importancehas the power to become the dominant value of adolescent development from a life-spansystem around which the believers organize perspective and bow this might affect thetheir social environment. Turner's levels of design of current policies and programs formeaning to interpret symbol systems were yout h. used in collecting ethnographic data on the While the authors are to be commendedfollowing topics: knowledge and belief in for undertaking such an ambitious and im-doctrine, experiences of God, expressions of portant project, the results are disappointing. religious experience, and the process of con- The question of whether or not prevention isversion. Essentially this study provides a possible for young people at risk awaits acontemporary application of both Durkheitn's more rigorous and systematic analysis befe.eand Weber's ideas: that religious beliefs pro- we should hazard any definitive conclusiohi. vide for its believers a unifying force and a MARIS A. VINOVSKIS meaningful way to interpret as well as live out University of Michigan their social reality. In this book, however, Ann Arbor Neiu draws little from their writing. Neitz clearly indicates that, though the Second Vatican Council mandated renewal within the Church, the Charismatk expression of renewal was not hierarchically based; NEITZ, MARY JO. Charisma and Community: rather, it originated among the laity. In other A Study of Religious Commitment within words, the common f91k, prompted by their the Charismatic Renewal. Pp. xxi, 275. new experiences of G6d, attempt to organize New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, their social reality in a new way that places 1987. $34.95. these God experiences at the core of their life. Neitz situates the development of theAs a result, Neitz raises and answers questions Charismatic Renewal Movement within an such as: What are the relationships that exist 7 5 BooK DEPARTMENT 223 between membership in the Charismatic Re- restrictions, but they make no attempt to newal Movement and family life? How is estimate these benefits. Thus the reader is left membership within Charismatic Renewal with the impression that export restrictions groups connected to the self-awareness and impose a significant cost on the U.S. economy. self-help groups present in society? These costs will be less if the labor and some Because the Charismatic Renewal Move- part of the other resources that would have ment as a separate social movement within the produced the arms for export are used for Church has declined in the last ten years, this alternative production. The costs will be more study leaves open for further exploration an if current arms-export restrictions have detri- examination of commitment, its intensity, the mental effects on these export industries in the mechanisms utilized to nurture it, and its future as present buyers shift brand loyalties durability. to the arms of other countries. MICHELE TERESA ARONICA But the availability of arms from other Saint Joseph's College suppliers than the United States poses still North Windham another issue. From a position of supplying as Maine much as 60 percent of world arms exports in the 1960s, with the USSR adding another 30 percent, the United States supplies just over 20 percent of arms exports in the 1980s. The ECONOMICS Russian share has not risen, but a number of other suppliers have come up, including Brazil, China, and Korea among the low- to :middle- BAJUSZ, WILLIAM I). and DAVID J. income countries and France, Germany, and LOUSCHER. Arms Sales and the U.S. the United Kingdom in Europe. The potential Economy: The Impact of Restricting Mili- foreign-policy benefits to the United States of tary Exports. Pp. xii, 145. Boulder, CO: export restrictions would be more if no alter- Wesiview Press, 1988. 519.95. nate suppliers of the equipment were available. Bajusz and Louscher ask what the costs While alternate sellers for some sophisticated are to the U.S. economy of restricting arms items are not available, there are today many exports by U.S. firms. In their book they more potential sellers; in some cases this may focus on the Middle East, and in particular, mean that restrictions on arms exports may Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab have costs, but few if any benefits. By making Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar. clear that the cost in terms of sales and They conclude that direct and indirect costs of employment can be quite large, Bajusz and export restrictions of just F-16 aircraft to Louscher put the burden of proving substan- Jordan and Saudi Arabia by the year 2000 tial benefits on those who would restrict U.S. would be around $14 billion, involving roughly arms exports. 400,000 worker-years of employment. The ALAN HESTON direct costs are the lost sales, and the indirect University of Pennsylvania costs are the support persons for the primary Philadelphia workers. In addition, the U.S. government loses tax revenue, and the U.S. firms have higher costs of producing aircraft because they must spread fixed costs over a smaller quantity produced. CARFUNY, ALAN W. Ruling the Waves: The Political Economy of International Ship- While all who support restrictions on arms exports recognize that there may be costs to ping. Pp. xvii, 323. Berkeley: University of the U.S. economy, rarely are these spelled out California Press, 1987. 840.00. in the detailed manner of this book. Bajusz Shipping is as long-established and as and Louscher acknowledge that there must be important a global industry as they come and perceived benefits to the United States of such is of obvious interest to students of interns- 226 224 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY tional relations and international political COX, ROBERT W. Production, Power, and economy. That is why they will welcome this World Order: Social Forces in the Making book for the mine of material that it offers on of History. Pp. xii, 500. New York: that industry, its place in the world of transna- Columbia University Press, 1987. $45.00. tional corporations, and as a case study of a This book is an ambitious but failed long-standing international regime. Carfuny attempt to create a conceptual framework has evident command of his subject, and his that will generate flesh insiOts into recent presentation is detailed, surefooted, and knowl- economic and political history. There is no edgeable. His description of the post-1945 pleasure in having to say that itfails so regime dominated by shipping firms as completely that there is not even anything "privatization"rather than liberalism"is interesting about the failure. persuasive, as is the organization of the The beginning point is to define types of exposition along the two main axes of "bulk work--Cox calls them "modes of social rela- trades" and "the liner sector." His discussion tions of production." These are found in of such contentious issues as those of flags of different combinations in different states and convenience or the United Nations Conference include peasant/ lord, self-employment, enter- on Trade and Development's Code on Con- prise labor market, state corporatism, and duct is frequently illuminating. central planning. Polities entails class tensions This confident marshaling of an impressive across these categories, and class formations amount of industrial information is cast, sustain and transform states. States in turn however, within the framework of the theory generate world orders. This all works in of "begernonie stability," and that framework reverse and interactively world orders con- shows procrustean tendencies. The book opens strain and influence states, state organization with an account of the several regimes that affects classes and work types. Ho hum. have governed shipping since the Dutch per- The 12 modes of production and three iod. But it is a pity that it does not start even "successive structures of world order"the earlier, with the Maritime Revolution of the liberal international economy (1789-1873), thirteenth century in the Mediterranean, and the era of rival imperialisms (1873-1945), the the Genoese and Venetian regimesand ship- neoliberal world order (post-1945)--create an ping linesit spawned, and that it dismisses extensive taxonomy into which the emergence as a "quasi regime" the system instituted by and histories of modem states can 5e put. Portugal and Spain for the governance of the Some key words jotted down during read- ocean spaces in 1494. For if it had, the ing permit me to indicate lines of criticism: "correlation between free trade and the presence of a hegemonic power" would not 1. Method. Do we need another quasi- have been so "obvious." Marxist review of labor history? Classes? It is Carfuny's key finding that despite Surpluses? Core-periphery? World economic predictions of "hegemonic decline" the ship- crisis? Hegemony? Even with admix- ping regime continues to be characterized by tufts from Karl Polanyi, Antonio Gramsci, "America's predominanw": itis currently and others, Cox never breaks away from a being refashioned by the United States' be- watery Marxism- and we have all seen this coming "a revisionist power, capable of main- before. taining its superiority if not of restoring 2. Taxonomy. Most of the game is to put hegemony." Carfuny makes an effort at recon- states-- Germany, Italy, England, France, the ciling this dissonance between theory and United Statesinto "typical" categories. The evidence by introducing new distinctions. activity to explain is how the states move--or Maybe it is the framework as a whole that are moved by classes and their position in the needs rethinking. world order--from one branch of the tax- GEORGE MODEISKI onomic tree to another. The problem is that University of Washington there are not enough countries to determine Seattle the validity of the branches of the tree. Usually 7 ROOK DEPARTMENT 225 a single country exemplifiesthe "typical" case, hegemonic order and the principal regulator and many cells of the taxonomy are empty. By of the political and productive organizationof the frequent use of "or" constructions, Cox a hegernonic world economy."Other instances constantly creates new branches in the logic. can be found throughout the book. For example, world-order "transformations 5. Columbia Univenity PreSS. Congratula- may be in the direction either of aunified and tions to its editorial committee, as there are consensual, homogeneous, hegemonic order three more volumes to follow this one. For the or toward a fnigmented andconflictful, hetero- worst printing error in this volume, see pags geneous, nonhegemonic order."Wow! 269 and 273. 3. Retrodetermination. Cox uses hindsight 6. Advice to scholars and libraries. I urge to write with an irritatingly ponderouscerti- them to ignore this book. The last thing we tude. Predicting the past is not very exciting. need is another Wallerstein industry. 4. Economics. Cox's economic pronounce- JOHN ADAMS ments arc not acceptable to mosteconomists. University of Maryland An example is: "International finance isthe College Park preeminent agency of conformity to world- 226 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

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WORTZEL, LARRY M. CisinaMilitary lar Fiction. Pp. x, 200. Westport, CT: Modernization. International Implica- Greenwood Press, 1988. 537.95. tions. Pp. 224. Westport, CT: Greenwood ZAGARE, FRANK C. The Dynamics. of Press, 1988. $37.95. Deterrence. Pp. xiii, 194. Chicago: Uni- WU, YUAN-L1 et aL Human Rights in the versity of Chicago Press, 1987. $22.00. Peopkr Republic of China. Pp. xi, 332. ZINN, MAXINE BACA and D. STANLEY Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1988. 535.00. EITZEN. Diversity in American Families. YANARELLA, ERNESTJ. and LEE SIGEL- Pp. xv, 474. New York: Harper & Row, M AN, eds. Political Mythology and Popu- 1987. No price. INDEX

Abortion. 53, 54-56, 77 effect on the probability of marriage, 85, 86, 87 ABSENT FATHERS IN THE INNER CITY, (Table 3), 88-89, 90, 187 Mercer L Sullivan, 48-58 Ellwood, David, 36-39 Anderson, Elijah, 186 EMPLOYMENT AND MARRIAGE AMONG ANDERSON, ELIJAH, Sex Codes and Family INNER-CM FATHERS, Mark Testa, Nan life among Poor Inner-City Youths, 59-71 Marie Astone, Marilyn Krogh, and Kathryn Asian immigrants to the United States, 43, 44 M. Neckerman, 79-91 ASTONE, NAN MARIE, see TESTA, MARL Employment and unemployment, 13, 14 (Table 2), coauthor 17, 20, 44, 45 (Tatde 9), 55, 56, 57, 58, 96-97, Automobiles, ownership of or access to, 21, 22 104, 139, 141, 183, 18849 (Table 4), 40, 41 (Table 7) in the cities, 78-36, 37 (Table 6), 4647, 61, 63, 65, 66-67, 72, 73, 75-76, 77, 183-84, 186-87 Bean, Frank, 129 effect of on the probability of maniage, 81-82, 85, Blacks 86, 87-88, 89 (Table 5), 90, 186-87 blacks in the ghetto, 8-25, 188 of the homeless, 136 education, 33-36, 17 (Table 6), 45-46 of poor men, 153-54, 167-68, 190-91 employment and unemployment, 34 (Table 5), in the suburbs, 30, 183-84 35-42, 43-45, 121, 125-26, 127 (Table 1), 129. of young, poor mates, 51-52 130, 149, 184, 189 spatial factors affecting, 36-42, 4647 income, 39, 121, 126, 127 (Table 1), 128, 129, 130, see also Blacks, employment and unemployment; 149 Labor force, attachment to; Residential prox- labor force participation, 1214.2, 126, 127 (Table imity to jobs; Spatial mobility; Workfare 1), 129 Equal opportunity, 143-55. 158, 190-91 mother-only families, 100-101 EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND THE ES- sexual activity among young people, 59-78 TRANGED POOR, Jennifer L. Hochschild, single mothers, 104 143-55 Borjas, George J., 128 Ethnic hiring queues, 108-9, 116, 117, 118 Evaluation researth, 176-78 California economic impact of immigration, 129-30 Family, importance of in the inner city, 68 workfare, 179 Farley, Reynolds, 82, 85, 88, 89, 90 Chicago Fathers, unmarried ghetto, 8-25 marriage to mother of their children, 79-91 homelessness, 132-42 young fathers in the inner city, 48-58, 59-78, 190 Child support assurance system, 103 young fathers' relationship with their children, 54, Complementary factors of production, 122-23, 128, 71, 72-73 129 Federalism, 180, 192 Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA), 163 Garfinkel, Invin, 187, 190 Contraception, 52, 33, 65 GARFINKEL, IRWIN, see McLANAHAN, COST OF RACIAL AND CLASS EXCLUSION SARA, coauthor IN THE INNER CITY, THE, Loic J.D. Wacquant and William Julius Wilson, 8-25 Harmer; Ulf, 185-86 Crime, 54, 56 Health, state of among the homeless, 136-37, 142 and unemployment, 52 Hochschild, Jennifer, 190-91 Cubans in the United States, economic status of, HOCHSCHILD, JENNIFER L., Equal Oppor- 105-19 tunity and the Estranged Poor, 143-55 Culture, role of among the poor, 49-50, 57, 161-62, Homelessness, 13242, 189, 190 184 Housing, for the poor, 136, 140, 142 see also Culture of poverty Culture of poverty, 9, 25, 49, 50, 162, 184-86 immigration, effect on native workers, 120-31, 189 IMMIGRATION AND THE UNDERCLASS, Economic and financial capital, 20-22 Robert D. Reischauer, 120-31 see also Income Income, 13, 21, 111, 118 Education, 17-18, 30-36, 37 (Table 6), 45-46, 52, effect on the probability of marriage, 82 85, 90 111, 114, 160, 184 among the homeless, 135, 136

231 :4 4 2,32 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

see alsoEconomic and fmancial capital Olsen, Johan P., 176 INSTITUTIONAL CHANG E AND THE CHAL- LENGE OF THE UNDERCLASS, Ricaard Paternity, establishment of, 66-67, 71-72, 73 Public assistance, receipt of, 18-20,44-45, 6647,69, P. Natiran, 170-81 Institutional dimension of social policy on the 77, 141-42, 160 effect on the probability of marriage, 81, 87 underclass, 170-81 (rabic 3) Kasarda, John D., 183-84, 189-90 see alsoUniversal program% Welfare KASARDA, JOHN D., Urban Industrial Transi- Puerto Ricans, economic status of, 105-19, 188-89 tion and the Underclass, 26-47 PUERTO RICANS AND THE UNDERCLASS DEBATE, Marta Tienda, 105-19 KROGH, MARILYN.seeTESTA, MARK, co- author Race and ethnicity Labor force, attachment to, 94-95, 97-99, 101, V3, differences in social isolation, 100, 101 187 effect on the probability of marriap, 80-81, 84 (Tables 1 and 2), 85-87, 88 (Table 4), 89 (Table see alsoEmployment and unemployment Labor market concentration, 109, 116, 118 5), 91 "- Labor market detachment, 1L9-14, 118-19 seealsoEthnic hiring queues Racism, 149-50, 160 Lieberson, Stanley, 108 LOGIC OF WORKFARE: THE UNDERCLASS Reischauer, Robert, 189 REISCHAUER. ROBERT D., Immigration and AND WORK POLICY, THE, Lawrence M. the Underclass, 120-31 Mead, 156-69 Residential proximity to jobs, 36, 39-40, 41 (Table Los Angeles, economic impact of immigration in, 7), 159-60, 184 129-30 see alsoSpatial mobility Rossi, Peter H., 189, 190 Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC), 178-79 ROSSI, PETER H. and JAMES D. WRIGHT, March, James G.. 176 The Urban Homeless: A Portrait of Urban Dislocation, 132-42 Marriage among inner-city fathers, 79-91 as a response to early pregnancy, 53-54, 55, 56, SEX CODES AND FAMILY LIFE AMONG 65-66, 67, 73-75 POOR INNER-C1TY YOUTHS, Elijah An- McLanahan, Sara, 187, 190 derson, 59-78 McLANAHAN, SARA and IRWIN GAR- Sexism, 149-50 FINKEL, Single Mothers, the Underclass. Sexual -r_tivity of inner-city young people, 52-53, 59-78, 186 and Social Policy. 92-104 education concerning, 76 Mead, Lawrence. 183. 191 MEAD. LAWRENCE M., The Logic of Workfare: SINGLE MOTHERS, THE UNDERCLASS, AN D The Underclass and Work Policy. 156-69 SOCIAL POLICY, Sara McLanahan and Irwin Garfinkel, 92-104 Mexicans in the United States, economic status of. Social capital, 22-24, 42-44, 51, 55, 140-41 105-19 Social ecology, 50 Mother-only households, 44, 190 Social isolation, 95-96, 99-101, 119, 138, 139, 186 see alsoMothers, single Mothers see alsoSocial capital Social mobility, 44, 45, 95 single, 96-99, 153 Social structure, 8-25 young, in the inner city. 59-78 Spatial mobility, 35, 46-47. 55, 171-72 see alsoMother-only households see alsoEmployment and unemployment Murray, Charles. 81, 85, 88, 90, 96-97 Substitute factors of production, 122, 123, 128 Nathan. Richard, 192 Sullivan, Mercer L., 184. 190 NATHAN, RICHARD P., Institutional Change SULLIVAN, MERCER L., Absent Fathers in the Inner City, 48-58 and the Challenge of the Underclass, 170-81 Neckerman, Kathryn M., 81-82, 88 Testa, Mark, 186-87 NECKERMAN, KATHRYN M.,seeTESTA, TESTA, MARK, NAN MARIE ASTONE, MAR- MARK, coauthor ILYN KROGH, and KATHRYN M. NECK- INDEX 233

ERMAN, Employment and Marriage among Wacquant, Laic J.D., 183, 184, 1118 Inner-City Fathers, 79-91 WACQU ANT, LOIC J.D. and WILLIAM JU- Ticnda, Marta, 188-89 LIUS WILSON, The Cost of Racial and Class TIENDA, MARTA. Puerto Ricans and the Under- Exclusion in the Inner City, 8-25 class Debate, 105-19 Welfare, 187-88 means-tested programs, 101-2, 187 UNDERCLASS: ISSUES, PERSPECTIVES, welfare reform, 166-68 AND PUBLIC POLICY, THE, William work policy, 162-66, 168-69 Julius Wilson, 182-92 see alsoPublic assistance, receipt of; Universal United States, economy of, 118 progranng Workfare Universal program, 102-4, 190 Wilson, William Julius, 8142, 85, 88, 90, 97, 104, see aLsoPublic assistance, receipt cd.; Welfare 183, 184, 188 URBAN HOMELESS: A PORTRAIT OF URBAN WILSON, WILLIAM JULIUS, The Underclass: DISLOCATION, THE, Peter H. Rossi and Issues, Perspectives, and Public Policy, 182-92 James D. Wright, 132-42 WILSON, WILLIAM JULIUS,seeWAC- URBAN INDUSTRIAL TRANSITION AND QU ANT, LOiC J.D., coauthor THE UNDERCLASS, John D. Kasarda, Workfare, 163-66, 168-69, 173-74, 177-79, 19142 26-47 Wright, James D., 189, 190 Urban Institute, 129, 130 WRIGHT, JAMES D.,seeROSSI, PETER H., Urban Poverty and Family Structure Survey, 83 coauthor Publisher's Nobs The following information la printed in accordance with U.S. postal regulations: Statement of Ownership, Maneoement and Circulation (required by 39 U.S.C. 3695). 1A. Title of Publication; THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF POUTICAL AND SOC:AL SCIENCE. 18. Publication No.: 028080. 2. Date of Filing: October 1, 198& 3. Frequency of issue: Bi-monthly. 3A. No. of issues Published Annually: 8. MI Annual Subscription Price: Paper4nst., $88.00, Cloth-inst., $84.00 Paper-Ind., $30.00, Coth-ind., $45.00. 4. Location of Known Office of Publkation: 2111 West Hiltons* Drive, Newbury Prwk. CA 91320. 5. Location of the Headquarters or Goner& Business Offices of the Put:abhors: 3837 Chestnut Stmet Philadelphia, PA 19104. O. Names and Complete Addresses of Publisher, Editor, and Managing Editor Publisher Sara Weer McCune, 889 Kenwood Ct., Thousand Oaks, CA 91380 Editor Richard D. Lambert, 3937 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104. Managing Edttor None. 7. Owner (If owned by a corporation, its name and address must be stated and also immediately thereunder the names and addresses of stockholders owning or holding 1% or more of total amount of stock. If not owner' by a corporation, the names and addresses of the individual owners must be given. If owned by a partners.* or other unincorporated firm, ita name and address, as well as that of each incilviduat must be given.): The American Academy of Political and Social Schimce, 3997 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104. 8. Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders Owning or Holding 1% or More of Total Amount of Bonds, Mortgages or Other Securities: None, 9. For Completion try Nonprofit Organizations Authorized to Mall at Speckil Rates (Section 423.12, DMM only): Has not changed during preceding 12 months.

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Since thepublicationofthefirsteditionofBlack Familiesin 1981, the status of the Black Family in America has changed dramatically. .In turn, this has given rise to a host of questions: What is the current economic status of the Black family in America today? What educational opportunities exist today for Blacks? What roles do Mad( fathers play in the socialization of their children? How does teenage pregnancy affect the Black family? This revised second edition provides the most comprehensive overview available to date on the state of the Black family. Topics addressed include: historic and theoretical conceptualizations of Black families; demographic, economic, mobil- ity, and educational patterns; male-female relationships; socialization within families; and family policy and advocacy. Sage Focus Editions, Volume 41 1988 (Summer) / 328 pages / $35.00 (c) / $16.95 (p)

BLACK CHILDREN 3rd printing Social, Educational, and Parental Environments edited by HARRIETTE PIPES MCADOO, Howard University & JOHN L. MCADOO, University of Maryland "A valuable and welcome contribution to dispelling the kinds of myths and generalizations that abound in this area of study." Ethnic Minority Digest

"This fine book will be of particular interest to researchers, both for the issues that appear to be laid to rest and for the compelling and nagging questions that emerge: the differential infloence of ecological ystems on black males and females, and what environmental characteristics may account for these differ- ences. But this book will also be of great interest to practitioners and graduate students in education, social work, nursing, and mental health." The Journal of Negro Education Sage Focus Editions, Volume 72 1985 / 280 pages / $35.00 (c) / $16.95 (P)

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2,18 s flanSoW COMMUNICATING RACISM Ethnic Prejudice In Thousht and Talk by MIN A. van DLIK. Duvet-say of Amsterdam How do members of "in" groups talk about minoritygroups? HOW does everyday talk contribute to the spread, and acceptance, of ethnicprejudice? These are but two among the many fundamental questions raised in this revealinglook at ethnic stereotypes and the way in which they are diffused throughinterpersonal corirmunication and intergroup mterac bons. By analyzing informal discourse about ethnic minorities,and the reproduction of racism within the white majority, Conmtunicating Racism offers us a newunderstanding of many deeply-rooted and poorlyunderstood patterns of prejudice. In a clearly written and methodologically elegant analysis of conversation as an mtegraland revealing mirror of human behavior, the author teaches us far, reaching lessonsabout the cognitive, social, and communicative dimensions of racism. Communicating Racism will be essential readingfor a wide variety of social science and humanities professionals and their students, includingspecialists engaged in the study of discourse, cognition, persuasion, and communicaton.As a result it will be especiaPy useful as background reading for upper divisionand graduate courses in linguistics, discourse analysis, cognitive and social psychology,microsociology, anthropology, speech communication, and ethnic studies. CONTENTS: Preface , AcknowledgmentsI. Introduction I Background and Goak of This Study2 Data and Methods3 The Structure of the Problem 11. Structures of Prejudiced Discoune ./ 1 Introduction / 2 Some Pnnc ;pies of DiscourseAnalysts .3. The Discourse Emoron ment of Prejudiced Talk4 Topics of Conversation 5 Storws About Minoritiesty Argumentation 7 Semantic Moves / 8 Style , 9 Rhetorical Operations10 Pretudoced Talk as Conversation 11 2 Analysis of Conclusions M. Sourcn o( Prejudiced Talk 1 Methodologacal Prehminanes Source Types 3 Description &Source Reproduction4 Topics of Talk5 The Media 6 Further Facts About Sources and Topics of Talk IV. The Cognitive Dimension: Structures and 2 Ethrtic Preiudrce as Group Strategies of Ethnic Prejudice 1 Cognitions and Attitudes Altitude3 Prejudiced Opiruons and Their Organization 4Ethnic Prejudice in Other Countries 5 Strategies at Pretudwed Information Processlog V. The biterpersonal Communicatkni of PriejudiceI Communication and Persuaslon 2 CommunicatogPreiudice 3 Understanding and Representing Prejudiced Communication4 Prejudiced Opinion and Altitude (Trans Ito/matron VI. The Socia1 and Ideological Contest of Prejudke 1 Introduction2 Social Correlates of Prejudice3. Bites, Media, and the I Rehyroduction of Prejudice4 Social Functions ot Pietudiced 3 Talk VII. Conclusions I What Did We Want to Analyze. and Why) 2 Discourse Analysts Talk5 Interpersonal Comrnuni Sources4 The Cognitive Dimension ol Prejudice and Prejudiced canon 6 The Social Context7 Open Problems and F utuie Research Appendix References Index 1987 (February)376 pages 1135 00 (c)

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DIVIDED NEIGHBORHOODS Cho Ighlg Pattern of ReddSogdian *Oaf by GARY S. TOBIN, amok& Ussivintily Housing segregation is as real today asit has been through mixt of this century. Ttw landmark openhousing legislation of the 1960s changed patternsof housing dis- ctimination, but segregation, while moresubtle, is still pervasive in the United States. This original ,controvetsial collection proviiks an exceptional analysisof the nature of housing segregation. It clearly ckmonstratesthe role of institutims in segregation: federal andlocal government and market actots such as realtors,insurers, and bankers. It forcefully dismisses the mythsthat segregation exists because minorities prefer to live withtheir own kind, or that segregation is a side-effect of lowincome, not discrimina- dm Further, this compelling volumeconvincingly argues that tlx failure to act on the partof federal authorities remains the key and most damaging aspectof continued segregation. Divided Neighborhoods is essential readingfor schol- ars, students, and professionalsinterested in urban studies, civil rights, and race relations. Wow Atkin Annual Raviews, Van* 32 1987 (Autumn) / 218pars t $35.00 t$16.95 CP)

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24 0 efromScry THE DECLINE OF URBAN POLITICS Politkal Theory and the Crisis of the Local State bs, M.GOTTDIENER, University of California. Riverside "With this book, M. Gottdiener continues his development as one of the most incisive and original interpreters of theurban andmetropolitan scene. Gottdiener provides researchers and students of the city withanimportant contemporaryanalysis ofthe local state and urban politics. His treatments of the content and thedeclineof local politics will be of wide interest, well beyond the confines ofthe urban field" -Ira Katznelson,The Graduate Faculty, New School for SocialResearch "Hisbookbringssoc al theory into the study of urban politics,brilliantlychronicling the decline of political culture and local democracy." Dennis Judd,Center for Metropolitan Studies, University ofMissouri, St.Louis Got tchener's contribution comes at two different levels. On one hand, this book is a cogent examination of the decline and death of political culture and power at the metropolitan level. On a more theoretical level, it is a critique of mans -4 the reigning theoretical paradigms of political sciencepublic choice theory, neo-Marxism, the "new" political economy,new.Weberianism. - showing their inadequacies in explain. ing this transformation of urban politics. Also evaluated in this conceptually important monograph are current theories of the state, with a special emphasis on the local state. Gottdiener's conclusions force us to reevaluate both our conventional under- standing of the workings of local political processes and our views on political theory itself. The book should be of interest to professionals and students of urban studies, politicalscience,urban sociology, and public administration. "The study of the cityisonce againemerging asa respected intellectualenterprise. Gottdiener's book is animportant contributionto--and result of this development. He eloquently documents how cities are purr of a seamless web of economic and social relationships." -.Dennis Judd. UniversityofMissouri, St. Louis CONTENTS:1 introduction The Decline of Polittcal Culture ,2 The Nature of Local Govern ment3 New Theorws of Urban Politics. Part 1 / 4 New Theories ot Urban Polaws. Part 115 The Local State, Part 1: A Theory of the Local State 6 The Local State, Part 11: State Power and State Apparatus 71 ocal Governnwnt and the Play of Power8 Politics Without Pitlitws Sage Library of Social Research. Volume 162 1987 (Spring, 344 pages$29.95 (c) i $14.95 (p)

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ETHNIC CONFLICT International Perspectives rdited by JERRY BOUCHER. East West Colter DAN LANDIS & KAREN ARNOLD CLARK both at Unfversav of Misstssrpot Group conflict is among the most pressing issues facing society today, This volume analyzes conflicts between ethnic groups in order to understand the fundamental issues surrounding conflict, using a theoretical and conceptual basis that is applicable to analyzing all levels conflictincluding minipower and superpower rivalry and violence. The contributors identify themes common to all forms of interethnic conflict, and discuss various models of conflict. They identify factors that predict such conflicts, provide a theoretical framework which identifies crucial variables in interethnic disputes; and hypothesize the consequences of manipulating these variables. They examine the critical variables in a cross section of group conflicts, and then consider political, economic,Ind social solutions which decrease the probability of such conflicts. Scholars and students in political science, ethnic studies, sociology, and anthropolow will find this approach gives them unique insights Into the probiems and processes of group conflict. CONTENTS: Ackrrowledgments Foreword R S1 AG NER1 Themes and Models of Conflict 0 LANDIS & J BOUCHER 2 Sinhala Tamil Relations in Modern Srt 1..anka (Ceylon) S ARASARATNAM3 Intergroup Relations in Hong Kong. The Tao cif Stability M H BOND 4 Ethnic Confirct Management in Yunnan. China Z. SHIFU& D Y H WU5 Interethnic Conflict in the Malay Peninsula B PROVENCHER b Fuskadi. The Count; y and Culture of the Basque PeripkiJ M RAMIREZ & B SIAM VAN 7 Black White Relattons in Mississippi R BAILEY 8. Puerto Ricans and Intereihnic Conflict A B GINORIO 4 American Indtans and Interethrm Conflict J F. TRIMBLE 10 Interet hnic Conflict in the Phillippine Archipelago F S CASINO 11. Interethnx Conflict in N.Zealand M J ARMSTRONG 12 Twenty Four Gerwra lions of Intergroup Conflicts on Bellona Island (Solomon Islands) R KUSCHEL. 13 Ethnic Antagonism and Innovation in Hawaii J KIRKPATRICK 14 Some Thoughts on Ethnic Conflict W D JORDAN 1987 (Sommer) / 336 pages / $33.00 (c)816.95 (p)

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ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING AND POLITICAL RESPONSE edited by ROBERT A. BEAUREGARD, Rutgers University In Econoenk Restructuring and Pu Mks/ Response. Beauregard brings together distinguished contributors from diverse disciplines to examine the nature of postwar economic restructuring in the United States and the political response to these transfor- mations. This innovative volume incorporates a temporal as well as spatial perspective, taking a broad hiok across and within neighborhoods, commumities, and regions. The first sct of essays are devoted to contemporary economic restrucwring, addressing such issut3 as economic restructuring as either a continuation of long-term trends or a disjuncture in capitalism, and economic restructuring's impact on the Pittsburgh and New York City areas. The second section focuses on ths political response to economic restructuring, particularly how local regional upheaval contributes to a region's political temperament and action. Specific cases studied include Philadelphia and Chicago. Finally, Robert A. Beaurcgard concludes this volume with a theoretical analysis of economic restructuring and the means by which it has shaped political response. Al- though it would appear that economic restructuring would encourage political action, this is found not always to be the case.

1988 (Autumn) 1 312 pages (tent.)835.00 (c) 1 516.95 (p)

PLANNINt; LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: THEORY AND PRACTICE by EDWARD J. BLAKELY, University of California, Berkeley Blakely covers both the conceptual and specific program issucs of local ceonomic developmer -unlike most other texts or guides on national industri al policy. Planning Local Economic Development: Theory and Practice clearly and concisely outlines the planning processes, analytical techniques, institutional approaches, and selection strategics in improving local economic development. An experienced professor and active practitioner of city and regional planning, Blakely back; up conceptual issues with case studies offering practical guidance. This is the first complete analysis of the forces at work at the local level, and of approaches local leaders can takc to improve the economic and employment base of their locales. Sage Library ofSOcial ReseSTCh, Volume 168 1988 (Autumn) / 320 pages (tent.) / 535.00 (c) 1 516.95 (p)

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THE HOMELESS IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY edited by RICHARD D. BINGHAM, ROY E. GREEN & SAM41S B. WHITE. all at Uruversuy ofWisconsinMtiwauker To emphasize the problems of the homeless, the United Nations designated 1987 as the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless. Many of today's homeless are young and well-educated, unlike those of the past. This coke, tion addresses these "new" homeless in two parts: (1) Understanding Homelessness, which describes the "new" homeless with historical context. and (2) Program and Policy Options, a discussion of the role of government and various other institutions in alleviating the condition of homelessness. "A powerful and important contribution to the growing body of knowledge concerning the hcmeless in America. The text provides a comprehensive. indeprh analysts of the dimensions of homelessness and an assessment of programs intended to confront this problem. It will prove to be a valuable resource to policy analysts, practitioners, and scholars seeking to design and impierrtertI socially responsible programs and policies to alleuiate homelessness in contemporary society." Earl R. Jones, Univer. :y of Illinois. Urbana,Champoign "The persistence of poverty in America is sapping our cofiective strength arid self esteem. One face of that poverty is homelessness, and itI:: a monstrous face. Bingham, Green, and White have described homelessness as it touches every sector of society. Wideranging, their analysis moves from the internationat scale to the individual instance, from official rhetoric to street-level experience. The contributors vary as much as the subject matter; they are policyrnakers. social scientists, planners, and activists, . . The Homeless in Contemporary Society wilt command attention and increase understanding. More important, it wilt help us move from shame to responsible action." Paul L. Neibanck. University of California, Santa Cruz 191117 (Spring) / $29.95 (z)$14.95

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