1. The Underclass

2. The Underclass
Charles Murray and the American underclass

3. The Underclass Charles Murray and the American underclass
William Julius Wilson
The Truly Disadvantaged (1987)

4. An underclass in Britain?
Murray’s claims:
Growing number of healthy, working age people living in a separate world from the rest of the population

5. An underclass in Britain?
Murray’s claims:
Growing number of healthy, working age people living in a separate world from the rest of the population
They have different values and behaviour and are bringing up their children within this different culture

6. Frank Field – Losing Out (1990)
High unemployment causes rapid downward social mobility

7. Frank Field – Losing Out (1990)
High unemployment causes rapid downward social mobility
Widening class differences

8. Frank Field – Losing Out (1990)
High unemployment causes rapid downward social mobility
Widening class differences
Restricted benefits means poor are being left behind

9. Frank Field – Losing Out (1990)
High unemployment causes rapid downward social mobility
Widening class differences
Restricted benefits means poor are being left behind
Change in public attitudes towards the poor

10. Underclass?
No agreement over whether the causes of an underclass are structural or not

11. Underclass?
No agreement over whether the causes of an underclass are structural or not
Linked to low wages and a dependency on state welfare

12. Underclass?
No agreement over whether the causes of an underclass are structural or not
Linked to low wages and a dependency on state welfare
Contribute to the informal economy (crime/drugs)

13. Criticisms of the concept in Britain
Ruth Lister, The Exclusive Society (1990)

14. Criticisms of the concept in Britain
Ruth Lister, The Exclusive Society (1990)
Hartley Dean and Peter Taylor-Gooby, Dependency Culture: The Explosion of a Myth (1992)

15. Criticisms of the concept in Britain
Paul Bagguley and Kirk Mann, Idle, Thieving Bastards? Scholarly Representations of the Underclass (1992)

16. The underclass, social exclusion and poverty
Terms used interchangeably
Puts onus onto those not poor/excluded
If you want to understand why some people in society are poor then look at why others are rich

17. The underclass, social exclusion and poverty
Takes no account of other divisions – class/gender/ethnicity/age/disability/sexual orientation
Robert MacDonald (ed)
Youth, the ‘Underclass’ and Social
Exclusion (1997)

18. Cinema and the underclass
Riff-Raff (1991)

19. Cinema and the underclass
Riff-Raff (1991)
The Full Monty (1997) and Brassed Off (1996)

20. Cinema and the underclass
Riff-Raff (1991)
The Full Monty (1997) and Brassed Off (1996)
Trainspotting (1996) and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)