This book was recommended by one of my Splash ESP teachers, after a class on food deserts. Though the book is a bit outdated (published in 1996), Wilson takes a scholarly look at the world of the inner-city poor - the causes of poverty, the disproportionately African-American profile, and the circumstances maintaining the divide.
I liked Wilson's book very much - although it was full of facts and figures, it balances out with anecdotes, quotes, and is moderately easy to read (although it did take me a few months to finish). His main explanation for the cause of so much inner city poverty is racism - this may sound a bit racist to begin with, but I found that Wilson gave equal credit to both blacks and whites in his language and attitude. Basically, when integration of the big cities began, the white people (the ones with businesses, homes and jobs) moved out, leaving a jobless, economically downtrodden inner-city area, which the majority of relocating blacks moved into. Due to civil rights issues, it was incredibly difficult for black entrepreneurs to get loans to start businesses, further sinking the area into economic despair. As the area spirals downward, crime arises, and new businesses don't want to start there, fearing the safety of their investments and their families.
Now, while this makes plenty of sense, one big question posed by many people today is: Why is that still the case? These places are just as bad as, if not worse than, they were fifty years ago. Well, Wilson doesn't have a quick fix. He doesn't have a simple solution, which I like - like so many issues of our day, there is no quick fix, no easy solution. He doesn't blame it on racism, the moon cycles or the Republicans, or suggest throwing more money into the cities as a solution. Instead, he carefully explains the problems many black people face getting (and keeping) jobs, and also addresses issues of single parenthood, drugs and crime. It's hard to say where the cycle of poverty really begins, so I'll start with the example of a child.
A child in the inner city is extremely disadvantaged compared to a privileged, or even simply middle-class child in the suburbs. Black inner city children go to underfunded schools with low-quality teachers, who often don't believe in the child's success and don't bother to teach them well. When they come home, they are surrounded by their only role models - for the most part, single parents, drug dealers and other "participants in the informal economy", as Wilson calls them. If they are lucky enough to make it through high school and graduate, a significant accomplishment in such a difficult school environment, their prospects of going to college are limited.
Ignore the funds issue for a moment, as financial aid is available to most individuals, especially those with extreme need. A college or university is much less likely to take a student from Detroit with Bs and As than a student from Quincy, MA with Bs and Cs. Because of the low quality of education in the inner cities, those good grades aren't worth quite as much. Even putting THAT aside, take the standardized tests. Even assuming the student is prepared, their prospects are slim. For example, I'm scheduled to take my SATs in early 2012. I am prepared to purchase the study guide, take a prep course, and take the test 2-3 times in order to get my highest possible score. A disadvantaged high school sophomore or junior doesn't have that opportunity. They have one shot.
So our graduate has made it out of high school with a diploma and acceptable grades, but no college degree. He has no car, and bus transportation is both costly and unreliable, so he has to take a job in his immediate area. He doesn't have money to buy business clothes, so it will have to be something relatively unskilled, but also casual, like a manufacturing plant. But wait - the majority of our manufacturing has moved to China, and blue-collar jobs are nowhere to be found. Surrounded by drug dealers, who can make anywhere from $20-100 for a gram of cocaine on the street, you can see how prospects for a true career are instantly limited, and "informal economy ventures", like drugs and prostitution, are an attractive option - or a necessary one. If our graduate was supporting perhaps a mother and a younger sibling (a common occurrence), it would be much easier to submit to a career as a crack runner (and feed his family) than struggle to find a minimum wage job at a much higher real cost (clothes, transport, etc).
To take a different road, assume our graduate is lucky enough to find a job. He has a difficult time getting one, due to preconceived notions or negative employer experiences with inner-city employees. Because of the lack of job-holding role models in his like (a statistical probability), he is lacking in basic knowledge like dress code, employer-employee relations and job expectations. Statistically, even if he does obtain the job, he won't hold it for very long.
Wilson also addresses issues of teen pregnancy, related to the role model issue. A lot of these things are cyclical. Girls grow up without a father present (they probably also have many friends without fathers). Due to the virtually complete dissolution of a black inner-city family dynamic, they have no clue how to act in a relationship, and men have no clue how to treat their partners. Additionally, having a baby is something of a stamp of responsibility - in a way, it "proves" that you are mature and is a mark of womanhood. It also gives girls who may have been abused as children (statistically, girls who grow up in homes with "intermittent male role models" are many times more likely to be abused than their suburban counterparts) something to love, that loves them back. Teen pregnancy is also not as big of a deal in the inner-city. Whereas a teen pregnancy might scandalize a suburban neighborhood, inner-city girls really don't have much prospect for a future. Therefore, they aren't really "ruining their lives". Just like our high school graduate above, they don't have much hope for a real future.
He also talks briefly about welfare and welfare fraud. Wilson cites facts and figures about different welfare benefits in our country, comparing them to the minimum wage at the time, and over time, welfare benefits have gone up (in 1990 dollars). Now, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that economically, it makes more sense for a mother with a child to go on welfare and receive food stamps than work two minimum wage jobs without benefits.
Wilson does more than just address these issues - he suggests innovative public policy changes and programs that would help reduce welfare dependency, joblessness and single parenthood. For example, he cites a city in the U.S. (in Iowa?), which changed their public policy so working parents were still eligible for public assistance like welfare and food stamps. This led to a decrease in the number of people on welfare, because it closes the gap between wage earnings and welfare benefits.
I would absolutely recommend his book to anyone interested in studying public policy, nonprofit work, inner-city work or politics. It is a great, albeit heavy read, and I think it will really change the way you look at inner city politics today.
Overall: 10/10
Details:
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Vintage (July 29, 1997)
ISBN-10: 0679724176
ISBN-13: 978-0679724179
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