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When Work Disappears: New Implications for Race and Urban Poverty in the Global Economy

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  • William Julius Wilson

Abstract

This paper discusses the impact of growing joblessness and dwindling work opportunities on inner-city areas in America. The lack of low-skilled manual work in the inner city is linked to poverty, crime, family dissolution and the social life of neighbourhoods. The paper discusses this impact at a neighbourhood-wide, family and individual level, noting the interaction between these levels and the intergenerational repercussions that result. The paper goes on to look at race in this context, identifying a new form of cultural racism. It examines the way race becomes an issue as black people become disproportionately represented in neighbourhoods where there is a high ratio of joblessless and very few work opportunities. The paper shows how this segregation plus its interaction with other changes in society, escalates rates of neighbourhood joblessness and compounds existing problems in these neighbourhoods. Finally the paper examines the role of public policy, the way it has exacerbated inner-city joblessness and how it attempted to resolve the problem, but failed. The paper concludes by pointing to a way forward to improve work opportunities for all sectors of society that are struggling to make ends meet, including inner-city poor and the working- and middle- classes.

Suggested Citation

  • William Julius Wilson, 1998. "When Work Disappears: New Implications for Race and Urban Poverty in the Global Economy," CASE Papers 017, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    • Handle: RePEc:cep:sticas:017
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    File URL: https://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/cp/paper17.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Keith R. Ihlanfeldt & David L. Sjoquist, 1991. "The Effect of Job Access on Black and White Youth Employment: A Cross-sectional Analysis," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 28(2), pages 255-265, April.
    2. Lawrence F. Katz, 1996. "Wage Subsidies for the Disadvantaged," NBER Working Papers 5679, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Harry J. Holzer, 1991. "The Spatial Mismatch Hypothesis: What Has the Evidence Shown?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 28(1), pages 105-122, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Roger Vincent Patulny & Alan Morris, 2012. "Questioning the Need for Social Mix: The Implications of Friendship Diversity amongst Australian Social Housing Tenants," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(15), pages 3365-3384, November.
    2. Jenny Phillimore & Lisa Goodson, 2006. "Problem or Opportunity? Asylum Seekers, Refugees, Employment and Social Exclusion in Deprived Urban Areas," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 43(10), pages 1715-1736, September.

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    Keywords

    joblessness; race; urban poverty;
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