Is there an underclass in Britain

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2139168
AutoresAlan Buckingham, A D Buckingham (University of Sussex, autor de correspondencia)
Año1999
Volumen50
Número1
Páginas49-75
Fecha de publicación1999-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaBritish Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1468-4446.1999.00049.x
PMID15266674
OpenAlexW2055099746
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas22
Referencias citadas18

This paper sets out to define the underclass and then test the predictions of three competing theories in the underclass debate. Using the National Child Development Study for the analysis it is found that an ‘underclass’ suffering from a lack of qualifications, low cognitive ability and chronic joblessness exists. The validity of making a distinction between the working class and an ‘underclass’ has often been questioned both because of the dubious history of such a distinction and because it is not believed that such a distinction is empirically true. The results in this paper contradict this assertion by finding the underclass to be distinctive from the working class in terms of patterns of family formation, work commitment and political allegiance. The distinct attitudes of the underclass, when coupled with evidence of inter‐ and intra‐generational stability of membership, provide early evidence that a new social class, the underclass, may now exist in Britain

Allegiance · Assertion · Class (philosophy · Criminology · Economics · Epistemology · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Sociology · Underclass · Anthropology · History · Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · School Choice and Performance · Social Psychology · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies