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What is the underclass theory sociology?
The underclass is the segment of the population that occupies the lowest possible position in a class hierarchy, below the core body of the working class. The general idea that a class system includes a population under the working class has a long tradition in the social sciences (for example, lumpenproletariat).
Why did sociologists develop the concept of the underclass?
New Right sociologist Charles Murray developed the idea of an underclass. He suggested that the welfare state created welfare dependency and that there were perverse incentives in the welfare system that could encourage lone parenthood and discourage work.
What does Charles Murray say about the underclass?
He suggests that three different kinds of ‘underclass’ are, in fact, being talked about: an economic (those of working age unable to get steady work); a moral (those with deviant behavioural norms) and an educational (those lacking in cultural and social skills).
Why do we have an underclass?
The concept of an ‘underclass’ is undeniably a social construction, which serves as a political weapon, and bifurcates the poor into the ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’. The underclass is an ambiguous, impudent as well as provocative term. In order to fight poverty, one needs to firstly understand poverty.
What does Charles Murray say about family?
Charles Murray argues that the decline in the nuclear family is a direct result of the welfare state. This is due to the welfare state undermining personal responsibility, self help and family support.
What is the New Right view on the underclass?
The New Right see high divorce rates as undesirable as it undermines the nuclear family and helps to create an underclass of female lone parents, leaving boys without a role model. . The New Right are in favour of only one family type; the conventional patriarchal nuclear family.
Who is the founder of the underclass theory?
An American Sociologist Charles Murray (1989) first coined the term ‘the underclass’ to refer to that group of people in America who were long term unemployed and effectively welfare dependent. In the late 1980s he argued that the first generation of underclass were then having children and socialising…
Is there such a thing as an underclass?
The class theory of Runciman and the meaning of underclass according to Murray are not the only theories in existence. The complexity of it means one fixed definition cannot be attributed to it. Critics of Murray suggest that there is a tendency in his work to blame the underclass themselves, whereas societal factors need to be considered.
What is the sociological concept of the underclass?
The sociological concept of underclass is a relatively new. As group the underclass are those people who due to lack of employment, skills, income, wealth or property appear to stand outside ordinary society.
How did the development of the underclass affect the UK?
He saw an increase in violent crime, a rise in the number of illegitimate births and people dropping out from the labour force, it was on this basis that he formed his theory of a developing underclass. He then attempted to apply this theory to the UK where he observed similar phenomenon taking place.