From Institutional to Jobless Ghettos
William Julius Wilson
Introduction
The social deterioration of the ghetto is the central concern expressed by America's poor. The loss of neighborhood (i.e., infrastructure) and the loss of neighboring (i.e., social cohesion among residents) has declined according to residents of lower-income neighborhoods.
The Chicago social scientists in the early twentieth century saw the ghetto as a geographic place of future assimilation between blacks and whites. By 1945, this view had changed. Research indicated instead the existence of a color line that effectively blocked black occupational, residential, and social mobility. A "new urban poverty" of segregated neighborhoods and blocked opportunities emerged instead of an assimilated melting pot.
Key Points
- By social organization, Wilson means to the extent to which the residents of a neighborhood are able to maintain effective social control and realize their common goals.
- There are three major dimensions of neighborhood social organization:
- the quality of social networks,
- the extent of collective responsibility for solving problems, and
- the rate of resident participation in voluntary and formal organizations.
- The rise of new poverty in neighborhoods represents a move away from institutional ghettos--whose structure and activities parallel those of the larger society, but with lower incomes--and jobless ghettos, which features a severe lack of basic opportunities, resources, and social controls.
Discussion Questions
- Why is it important to distinguish between institutional and jobless ghettos? Explain your answer from a structure-functional perspective.
- In what ways does racial segregation matter? Explain your answer from one of the three philosophies of sociology.
- Why is it important to understand escalating rates of joblessness in urban ghettos?
