Bagaudae (also spelled bacaudae ) were groups of peasant insurgents in the western parts of the later Roman Empire , who arose during the Crisis of the Third Century and persisted until the very end of the Western Empire , particularly in the less-Romanised areas of Gallia and Hispania . They were affected by the depredations of the late Roman state, wealthy landowners , and clerics.
87-483: The invasions, military anarchy, and disorders of the third century provided a chaotic and ongoing degradation of the regional power structure within a declining Empire. During the chaos, the bagaudae achieved some temporary and scattered successes under the leadership of members of the underclass as well as former members of local ruling elites. The name probably means "fighters" in Gaulish . C. E. V. Nixon assesses
174-427: A gentrifying neighborhood, "The Village" (pseudonym), bordering a black ghetto, "Northton" (pseudonym), in an American city. Anderson provides the following description of the underclass in this ghetto: The underclass of Northton is made up of people who have failed to keep up with their brethren, both in employment and sociability. Essentially they can be seen as victims of the economic and social system. They make up
261-501: A " culture of poverty ". Various definitions of the underclass have been set forth since the term's initial conception; however, all of these definitions are basically different ways of imagining a category of people beneath the working class. The definitions vary by which particular dimensions of this group are highlighted. A few popular descriptions of the underclass are considered as follows. Marxian sociologist Erik Olin Wright sees
348-689: A Bacaudic revolt in Armorica . St Germanus got mercy for the Bagaudae but they later revolted again under a leader called Tibatto. They are also mentioned around the same time in the province of Macedonia, the only time they emerge in the Eastern Empire, which may be connected with economic hardships under Arcadius . By the middle of the fifth century they started to appear in Hispania too, and are mentioned in control of parts of central Gaul and
435-511: A behavioral term (in other words, defining the underclass in reference to rational choice and/or in reference to a subculture of poverty). Gans suggests that the word "underclass" has become synonymous with impoverished blacks that behave in criminal, deviant, or "just non-middle-class ways". Loïc Wacquant deploys a relatively similar critique by arguing that underclass has become a blanket term that frames urban blacks as behaviorally and culturally deviant. Wacquant notes that underclass status
522-422: A black underclass was racial segregation. The decline of manufacturing and the rise of a two-tiered service economy harmed many racial and ethnic groups, but only black Americans were highly segregated, so only among them was the resulting income loss confined to a small set of spatially contiguous and racially homogenous neighborhoods. Given the prominent role of segregation in the construction and maintenance of
609-497: A class or category of people below the core of the working class has a long tradition in the social sciences, such as through the work of Henry Mayhew , whose London Labour and the London Poor sought to describe the hitherto invisible world of casual workers, prostitutes, and street-people. The specific concept of an underclass in the U.S. underwent several transformations during the decades following Myrdal's introduction of
696-405: A greater degree than the general population, and other classes more specifically. Joel Rogers and James Wright identify four general themes by which these characteristics are organized within academic and journalistic accounts of the underclass: economic, social-psychological, behavioral, and ecological (spatial concentration). The economic dimension is the most basic and least contested theme of
783-578: A handful of articles on the underclass in the Atlantic Monthly during the late 1980s and early 1990s. His 1986 writings on "The Origins of the Underclass" argue that the underclass was created by two migrations, the great migration of Southern blacks to the North and West during the early to mid twentieth century and the exodus of middle class blacks out of the ghetto during the 1970s through
870-526: A moment when David Duke , former Grand Wizard of the KKK , campaigned for Louisiana Governor by complaining about the "welfare underclass". The underclass concept has been politicized, with those from the political left arguing that joblessness and insufficient welfare provided are causes of underclass conditions while the political right employ the underclass term to refer to welfare dependency and moral decline. Many sociologists suggest that this latter rhetoric –
957-417: A person lived, at home or abroad, or what his status or class, he was a citizen of the locality in which he was born. The distinguishing characteristic of the municipium was self-governance . Like any ancient city-state, the municipium was created by an official act of synoecism , or founding. This act removed the sovereignty and independence from the signatory local communities, replacing them with
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#17327646887051044-400: A primary institution conceptualizing the underclass for a mass audience. Many suggest that the underclass terminology employed by American journalists in the last quarter of the twentieth-century were partial to behavioral and cultural—as opposed to a structural—definitions of the underclass. While journalists' use of the underclass term is vast, a few popular sources are frequently cited in
1131-413: A program design would evoke behavioral change since permissiveness is replaced with authority. Mead summarizes his call to replace permissive welfare with authoritative welfare: The progressive tradition of extending new benefits and opportunities to the worst-off has made it next to impossible to address the behavioral difficulties at the bottom of society in their own terms. For to do that, authority, or
1218-476: A sure sign of full rights. The second order of municipia comprised important tribal centres which had come under Roman control. Residents of these did not become full Roman citizens (although their magistrates could become so after retirement). They were given the duties of full citizens in terms of liability to taxes and military service , but not all of the rights: most significantly, they had no right to vote. Executive power in municipium
1305-489: A violent "gang banger", a physical threat to public safety, and the underclass female being generalized as "welfare mother" (also see welfare queen ), a "moral assault on American values". Municipia In ancient Rome , the Latin term municipium ( pl. : municipia ) referred to a town or city. Etymologically, the municipium was a social contract among municipes ('duty holders'), or citizens of
1392-413: Is an imaginary cure. In other words, the laissez-faire option assumes that the underclass is generally hopeless, and thus the only public effort given to them should be the bare minimum. The "retail option" includes those in between optimism and pessimism, what Auletta calls "skeptics". The retail option advocates for targeted efforts, recognizing the limits of government intervention, but is also aware of
1479-417: Is debated, so too are the attempts to frame the underclass as members of such a culture. The ecological dimension, a fourth theme in the literature on the underclass, is often used as both a description and an explanation for the underclass. The underclass is concentrated in specific areas. Although there are some writings on the "rural underclass", in general the underclass is framed as an urban phenomenon and
1566-405: Is frequently described as a "discouraged" group with members who feel "cut off" from mainstream society. Linked to this discussion of the underclass being psychologically deviant, the underclass is also said to have low levels of cognition and literacy. Thus, the underclass is often seen as being mentally disconnected from the rest of society. Consider the following: The underclass rejects many of
1653-401: Is imposed on urban blacks from outside and above them (e.g., by journalists, politicians, and academics), stating that "underclass" is a derogatory and "negative label that nobody claims or invokes except to pin it on to others". And, although the underclass concepts is homogenizing, Wacquant argues that underclass imagery differentiates on gender lines, with the underclass male being depicted as
1740-403: Is made up of street hustlers, welfare families, drug addicts, and former mental patients. There are, of course, people who function well – the so-called 'deserving' or 'working poor' – and better-off people who function poorly, but in general low income and serious behavioral difficulties go together. The underclass is not large as a share of population, perhaps 9 million people, but it accounts for
1827-529: Is not a requirement for underclass membership, and thus there are individuals who are non-poor members of the underclass because they live in "underclass areas" and embody other characteristics of the underclass, such as being violent, criminal, and anti-social (e.g., gang leaders). Many writers often highlight the social-psychological dimensions of the underclass. The underclass is often framed as holding beliefs, attitudes, opinions, and desires that are inconsistent with those held by society at large. The underclass
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#17327646887051914-408: Is one of a collection of causes to concentrated poverty and why the "social dislocations" (e.g., crime, school dropouts, out of wed-lock pregnancy, etc.) of the underclass emerge. Thus, the underclass is defined and identified by multiple characteristics. Members are persistently poor and experience high levels of joblessness. However, these trends are generally not seen as sufficient identifiers of
2001-438: Is primarily an outcome of institutionalized racism in real estate and banking, coupled with, and significantly motivated by, individual-level prejudice and discrimination. They provide the following summary, Thus, although we share William Julius Wilson's view that the structural transformation of the economy played a crucial role in creating the urban underclass during the 1970's, we argue that what made it disproportionately
2088-405: Is psychologically disconnected from mainstream society, are occasionally highlighted as evidence that the underclass live in a subculture of poverty . From this point of view, members of the underclass embody a distinct set of thoughts, perceptions, and actions – a "style of life" - that are transmitted across generations. However, just as the conceptualization of a " culture of poverty " in general
2175-587: Is the transformation of the post-civil-rights-era inner city into a "ghetto" whose residents are isolated from mainstream institutions. Wilson proposes a comprehensive social and economic program that is primarily universal, but nevertheless includes targeted efforts to improve the life chances of the ghetto underclass and other disadvantaged groups. Wilson lists multiple examples of what this universal program would include, such as public funding of training, retraining, and transitional employment benefits that would be available to all members of society. With respect to
2262-423: Is to build prisons, to cordon off the zones of cities in which the underclass live. In such a situation the main potential power of the underclass against their oppressors comes from their capacity to disrupt the sphere of consumption, especially through crime and other forms of violence, not their capacity to disrupt production through their control over labor. This quote partly concerns the spaces and locations for
2349-462: Is too permissive and provides benefits to the underclass without requirements for its members to change their behavior and lifestyle. Mead's diagnosis that permissive welfare is a primary cause of the underclass problem is followed by a prescription for a more authoritative welfare program that combines benefits with requirements. This proposal is often called " workfare ", which requires welfare recipients to work in order to receive aid. For Mead, such
2436-535: The Ebro valley . In Hispania , the king of the Suevi , Rechiar (died 456 AD), took up as allies the local bagaudae in ravaging the remaining Roman municipia , a unique alliance between Germanic ruler and rebel peasant. That the depredations of the ruling classes were mostly responsible for the uprising of the bagaudae was not lost on the fifth-century writer of historicised polemic Salvian ; setting himself in
2523-534: The Roman Republic the practical considerations of incorporating communities into the city-state of Rome forced the Romans to devise the concept of municipium , a distinct state under the jurisdiction of Rome. It was necessary to distinguish various types of municipia and other settlements, such as the colony . In the early Roman Empire these distinctions began to disappear; for example, when Pliny
2610-617: The bagaudae uprisings of 284–285 AD in the districts around Lugdunum (Lyon) , "simple farmers sought military garb; the plowman imitated the infantryman, the shepherd the cavalryman, the rustic harvester of his own crops the barbarian enemy". In fact they shared several similar characteristics with the Germanic Heruli people. Mamertinus also called them "two-shaped monsters" ( monstrorum biformium ), emphasising that while they were technically Imperial farmers and citizens, they were also marauding rogues who had become foes to
2697-514: The bagaudae , from the official Imperial viewpoint, as "bands of brigands who roamed the countryside looting and pillaging". J. C. S. Léon interprets the most completely assembled documentation and identifies the bagaudae as impoverished local free peasants, reinforced by brigands, runaway slaves and deserters from the legions, who were trying to resist the ruthless labor exploitation of the late Roman proto-feudal colonus manorial and military systems, and all manner of punitive laws and levies in
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2784-453: The laissez-faire option) and one middle-of-the-road position (the retail option), but these are more discussions concerning the amount of public resources that should be dedicated to fixing, or attempting to fix, the underclass problem, rather than specific strategies. Auletta seems to support the retail option, which would provide aid to underclass members deserving and hopeful and withhold aid to members undeserving and hopeless. For Wilson,
2871-467: The underclass problem have been highly debated. Gunnar Myrdal is generally credited as the first proponent of the term underclass. Writing in the early 1960s on economic inequality in the U.S., Myrdal's underclass refers to a "class of unemployed, unemployables, and underemployed, who are more and more hopelessly set apart from the nation at large, and do not share in its life, its ambitions, and its achievements". However, this general conception of
2958-512: The Elder served in the Roman army, the distinctions were only nominal. In the final stage of development, all citizens of all cities and towns throughout the empire were equally citizens of Rome. The municipium then simply meant municipality, the lowest level of local government . The munera and the citizenship and its rights and protections were specific to the community. No matter where
3045-563: The Empire. The phenomenon recurred in the mid-fourth century in the reign of Constantius , in conjunction with an invasion of the Alemanni . Although Imperial control was re-established by the Frankish general Silvanus , his subsequent betrayal by court rivals forced him into rebellion and his work was undone. In around 360 AD the historian Aurelius Victor is the sole writer to note
3132-558: The above definitions are said to conceptualize the same general group – the American underclass – but they provide somewhat competing imagery. While Wright, Wilson, and Anderson each position the underclass in reference to the labor market, Auletta's definition is simply "non-assimilation" and his examples, along with Mead's definition, highlight underclass members' participation in deviant behavior and their adoption of an antisocial outlook on life. These controversies are elaborated further in
3219-484: The academic literature on the underclass and journalism. Ken Auletta employed the underclass term in three articles published in The New Yorker in 1981, and in book form a year later. Auletta is arguably the most read journalist of the underclass and many of his ideas, including his definition of the underclass, are included in this Misplaced Pages entry. Another notable journalist is Nicholas Lemann who published
3306-510: The approach embraced by Auletta as he closes his book with reflections on some of the people he interviews throughout preceding pages. He says, "I have no difficulty giving up on violent criminals like the Bolden brothers or street hustlers like Henry Rivera. But knowing how a government helping hand made it possible for Pearl Dawson and William Mason to succeed, would you be willing to write them off?" Social scientists often point to journalism as
3393-501: The attacks of bagaudae in the peripheries of the larger towns and walled cities. In the fifth century Bagaudae are noted initially in the Loire valley and Brittany , circa 409–417 AD, fighting various armies sent against them by the last seriously effective Western Roman general, Flavius Aëtius . Aetius used federates such as the Alans under their king Goar to try and suppress
3480-497: The black urban underclass. Wilson defines the underclass as "a massive population at the very bottom of the social ladder plagued by poor education and low-paying jobs." He generally limits his discussion to those trapped in the post-civil-rights ghetto in the American rust belt (see "Potential Causes and Proposed Solutions" section of this entry for a more detailed summary of Wilson on the underclass). Elijah Anderson's , Streetwise (1990), employs ethnographic methods to study
3567-406: The cause of the underclass is structural. In The Truly Disadvantaged , Wilson highlights a conglomerate of factors in the last half of the twentieth century leading to a growing urban underclass. The factors listed include but are not limited to the shift from a goods-producing economy to a service-producing economy (including deindustrialization ) and the offshore outsourcing of labor not only in
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3654-466: The city of Rome. The partial synoecism took the form of a charter granting incorporation into the city of Rome and defining the rights and responsibilities of the citizens. The first municipium was Tusculum . The citizens of municipia of the first order held full Roman citizenship and their rights ( civitas optimo iure ) included the right to vote , which was the ultimate right in Rome, and
3741-709: The competitiveness of American goods on both the domestic and international market; and a national labor market strategy to make the labor force more adequate to changing economic opportunities. On the other hand, this program highlights a child support assurance program, a family allowance program, and a child care strategy. In their 1993 book, American Apartheid , sociologists Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton concur with much of Wilson's suggested causes and proposed solutions, but introduce racial residential segregation (as an outcome of both institutionalized and individual-level discrimination ) as an explanatory factor. Massey and Denton argue that racial residential segregation
3828-406: The context of Marxist class warfare . Underclass The underclass is the segment of the population that occupies the lowest possible position in a class hierarchy , below the core body of the working class . This group is usually considered cut off from the rest of the society. The general idea that a class system includes a population under the working class has a long tradition in
3915-417: The diagnosis of concentration and isolation, Wilson suggests the promotion of social mobility , through programs that will increase employment prospects for the underclass, will lead to geographic mobility . Wilson describes his proposed program as having a "hidden agenda" for policy makers "to improve the life chances of truly disadvantaged groups such as the ghetto underclass by emphasizing programs to which
4002-534: The diagnosis of, and prescription for, the underclass often mirror debates concerning first world poverty more generally. However, in many writings on the specific notion of the underclass, some particular causes and solutions have been set forth. A few of these propositions are outlined below, including those developed by William Julius Wilson , Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton, Lawrence M. Mead , and Ken Auletta . The work by these authors' certainly do not compile an exhaustive list of suggested causes or solutions for
4089-468: The disappearance of quality work (for example, via deindustrialization and offshore labor outsourcing ) for ghetto residents, while Mead highlights an overgenerous and permissive welfare state . Massey and Denton link the creation of the underclass to racial residential segregation and advocate for policies encouraging desegregation . Auletta provides a different policy framework discussion by highlighting two extreme positions (the wholesale option and
4176-519: The early 90s. In 1991 Lemann also published an article titled "The Other Underclass", which details Puerto Ricans, and particularly Puerto Ricans residing in South Bronx, as members of the urban underclass in the US. Following the popularization of the underclass concept in both academic and journalistic writings, some academics began to overtly criticize underclass terminology. Those in opposition to
4263-430: The educational underclass, the violent underclass, and the criminal underclass, with some expected horizontal mobility between these groups. Even more divergent from the initial notion of an underclass are the recent journalistic accounts of a so-called "genetic underclass", referring to a genetic inheritance of a predisposition to addiction and other personality traits traditionally associated with behavioral definitions of
4350-436: The ghetto underclass can be most meaningfully addressed by a comprehensive program that combines employment policies with social welfare policies and that features universal as opposed to race- or group-specific strategies. On the one hand, this program highlights macroeconomic policy to generate a tight labor market and economic growth; fiscal and monetary policy not only to stimulate noninflationary growth, but also to increase
4437-402: The government to "get tough" on underclass crime and welfare dependency. The " laissez-faire option" is pessimistic and its proponents are extremely wary of proposed solutions to a problem they see as unsolvable. Proponents of this perspective call for a drastic withdrawal of public aid for the underclass and are concerned with "quarantining the patient" instead of hunting for what they believe
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#17327646887054524-416: The hostile street criminals who terrorize most cities, and who are often school dropouts and drug addicts; (3) the hustlers, who, like street criminals, may not be poor and who earn their livelihood in an underground economy, but rarely commit violent crimes; (4) the traumatized drunks, drifters, homeless shopping-bag ladies, and released mental patients who frequently roam or collapse on city streets. Each of
4611-469: The industrial sector but also in substantial portions of the remaining service sector. These factors are aggravated by the exodus of the middle and upper classes from the inner city (first the well-known " white flight " and later the less-studied departure of the black middle class), which creates a " spatial mismatch " between where low-income people live (inner-city neighborhoods) and where low-skill service-sector jobs are available (the suburbs). The result
4698-483: The jurisdiction of a common government. This government was then called the res publica ('public affair'), or in the Greek world the koinon ('common affair'). The term municipium began to be used with reference to the city-states of Italy brought into the city-state of Rome but not incorporated into the city. The city of Romulus synoecised the nearby settlements of Latium , transferring their populations to
4785-443: The lion's share of the most serious disorders in American life, especially in the cities. Ken Auletta , often credited as the primary journalist who brought the underclass term to the forefront of the American consciousness, describes the American underclass as non-assimilated Americans, and he suggests that the underclass may be subcategorized into four distinct groups: (1) the passive poor, usually long-term welfare recipients; (2)
4872-651: The making of demands on people, would have to be seen as the tool, and not the butt, of policy. Ken Auletta closes his book, The Underclass (1982), by highlighting three typologies of solutions: "the wholesale option", "the laissez-faire option", and "the retail option". The "wholesale option" includes both conservatives and liberals who are optimistic that government action can solve the underclass problem. According to Auletta, left-wing wholesale proponents call for increased public aid while right-wing wholesale proponents call for government to reduce taxes to increase jobs (inspired by trickle-down economic theory ) and charge
4959-612: The marginal areas of the Empire . After the bagaudae came to the full attention of the central authorities around 284 AD, the re-establishment of the settled social order was swift and severe: the peasant insurgents were crushed in 286 AD by the Caesar Maximian and his subordinate Carausius under the aegis of the Augustus Diocletian . Their leaders are mentioned as Amandus and Aelianus , although E.M. Wightman, in her Gallia Belgica proposes that
5046-490: The more advantaged groups of all races and class backgrounds can positively relate". Universal programs are more easily accepted within the US' political climate than targeted programs, yet the underclass would likely experience the most benefit from universal programs. Wilson notes that some means-tested programs are still necessary, but recommends that they be framed as secondary to universal programming efforts. The following quote summarizes his policy call: [T]he problems of
5133-403: The next section ("Characteristics of the Underclass"). As evident with Mead and Auletta's framing, some definitions of the underclass significantly diverge from the initial notion of an economic group beneath the working class. A few writings on the underclass distinguish between various types of underclass, such as the social underclass, the impoverished underclass, the reproductive underclass,
5220-401: The norms and values of the larger society. Among underclass youth, achievement motivation is low, education is undervalued, and conventional means of success and upward mobility are scorned. There is widespread alienation from society and its institutions, estrangement, social isolation, and hopelessness, the sense that a better life is simply not attainable through legitimate means. Not only is
5307-513: The opportunity for their economic exploitation is minimal for the classes above. Unlike the working class, which he believes is routinely exploited for their labor power by higher classes, the underclass in Wright's view, do not hold the labor power worthy of exploitation. Wright argues his highly doctrinaire opinion of class malevolence that: The material interests of the wealthy and privileged segments of American society would be better served if these people simply disappeared…The alternative, then,
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#17327646887055394-427: The phrase, urban underclass , are, for the most part, used interchangeably. Studies concerning the post-civil rights African American ghetto often include a discussion of the urban underclass. Many writings concerning the underclass, particularly in the U.S., are urban-focused. William Julius Wilson's books, The Declining Significance of Race (1978) and The Truly Disadvantaged (1987), are popular accounts of
5481-417: The phrases "ghetto poverty" and "inner-city poverty" are often used synonymously with the underclass term. However, many scholars are careful not to equate concentrated poverty with the underclass. Living in areas of concentrated poverty is more or less framed as a common (and often necessary) condition of the underclass, but it is generally not considered a sufficient condition since many conceptualizations of
5568-651: The poor to join the bagaudae and flee for shelter to the barbarian invaders (v. 5 and 6). The reputation of the bagaudae has varied with the uses made of them in historicised narratives of the Late Roman Empire and the Middle Ages. There has been some speculation that theirs was a Christian revolt, but the sparsity of information in the texts gives that little substance although there may well have been many Christians among them. In general, they seem to have been equal parts of brigands and insurgents. In
5655-429: The positive impact social policy can have on efforts to fix specific problems of the underclass. This middle ground perspective requests that aid be given to members of the underclass considered to be deserving of aid, but withheld from members considered to be undeserving. However, proponents of the retail option often disagree on which members of the underclass are considered deserving and which are not. This appears to be
5742-479: The right-wing perspective – became dominant in mainstream accounts of the underclass during the later decades of the twentieth-century. Herbert Gans is one of the most vocal critics of the underclass concept. Gans suggests that American journalists, inspired partly by academic writings on the " culture of poverty ", reframed underclass from a structural term (in other words, defining the underclass in reference to conditions of social/economic/political structure) to
5829-610: The second half of the 19th century, interest in the bagaudae revived, resonating with contemporary social unrest . The French historian Jean Trithemié was famous for a nationalist view of the "Bagaudae" by arguing that they were an expression of national identity among the Gallic peasants, who sought to overthrow oppressive Roman rule and realize the eternal "French" values of liberty, equality and brotherhood . E. A. Thompson in Past and Present (1952) portrayed this rural discontent within
5916-580: The seven hills, where they resided in typically distinct neighbourhoods. And yet, Sabines continued to live in the Sabine Hills and Alba Longa continued even though synoecised. The exact sequence of events is not known, whether the populace was given a choice or the synoecised sites were reoccupied. As it is unlikely that all the Sabines were invited to Rome, where facilities to feed and house them did not yet exist, it seems clear that population transfer
6003-423: The social sciences (for example, lumpenproletariat ). However, the specific term, underclass , was popularized during the last half of the 20th century, first by social scientists of American poverty , and then by American journalists. The underclass concept has been a point of controversy among social scientists. Definitions and explanations of the underclass, as well as proposed solutions for managing or fixing
6090-432: The term. According to sociologist Herbert Gans , while Myrdal's structural conceptualization of the underclass remained relatively intact through the writings of William Julius Wilson and others, in several respects the structural definition was abandoned by many journalists and academics, and replaced with a behavioral conception of the underclass, which fuses Myrdal's term with Oscar Lewis 's and others' conception of
6177-545: The town. The duties ( munera ) were a communal obligation assumed by the municipes in exchange for the privileges and protections of citizenship. Every citizen was a municeps . The distinction of municipia was not made in the Roman Kingdom ; instead, the immediate neighbours of the city were invited or compelled to transfer their populations to the urban structure of Rome, where they took up residence in neighbourhoods and became Romans per se . Under
6264-407: The treatise De gubernatione Dei the task of proving God's constant guidance, he declares in book iii that the misery of the Roman world is all due to the neglect of God's commandments and the terrible sins of every class of society. It is not merely that slaves and servants are thieves and runaways, wine-bibbers and gluttons – the rich are much worse (iv. 3); it is their harshness and greed that drive
6351-399: The two belonged to the local Gallo-Roman landowning class who then became " tyrants " and most likely rebelled against the grinding taxation and garnishing of their lands, harvests, and manpower by the predatory agents of the late Roman state (see frumentarii , publicani ). The Panegyric of Maximian , dating to 289 AD and attributed to Claudius Mamertinus , relates that during
6438-512: The underclass and reflects the leftist view of the other classes as acting against the underclass in unison, as opposed to other sociological views seeing class actors behaving as individuals reacting to individual incentives within society. The underclass generally occupies specific zones in the city. Thus, the notion of an underclass is popular in Urban Sociology , and particularly in accounts of urban poverty. The term, underclass , and
6525-447: The underclass as a "category of social agents who are economically oppressed but not consistently exploited within a given class system". The underclass occupies the lowest possible rung on a class ladder. According to Wright, the underclass are oppressed. He believes this is because they are generally denied access to the labor market, and thus they cannot rise above their status easily but also thus are "not consistently exploited" because
6612-514: The underclass as a group that is poor and behaviorally deficient. He describes the underclass as dysfunctional. He provides the following definition in his 1986 book, Beyond Entitlement , The underclass is most visible in urban slum settings and is about 70 percent nonwhite, but it includes many rural and white people as well, especially in Appalachia and the South. Much of the urban underclass
6699-402: The underclass concept generally argue that, on the one hand, "underclass" is a homogenizing term that simplifies a heterogeneous group, and on the other hand, the term is derogatory and demonizes the urban poor. Many who reject the underclass concept suggest that the underclass term has been transformed into a codeword to refer to poor inner-city blacks. For example, Hilary Silver highlights
6786-411: The underclass frequently said to think differently, they are also said to behave differently. Some believe that the underclass concept was meant to capture the coincidence of a number of social ills including poverty, joblessness, crime, welfare dependence, fatherless families, and low levels of education or work related skills. These behavioral characteristics, coupled with arguments that the underclass
6873-502: The underclass highlight behavioral and psychological deviancy that may not necessarily persist in high-poverty areas. In Wilson's writings on the underclass – a term he eventually replaces with "ghetto poverty" (see section titled "Critiques of the Underclass Concept")– the underclass is described as a population that is physically and socially isolated from individuals and institutions of mainstream society, and this isolation
6960-516: The underclass – the underclass is overwhelmingly poor. The underclass experiences high levels of joblessness, and what little employment its members hold in the formal economy is best described as precarious labor. However, it is important to note that simply being poor is not synonymous with being part of the underclass. The underclass is persistently poor and, for most definitions, the underclass live in areas of concentrated poverty . Some scholars, such as Ricketts and Sawhill, argue that being poor
7047-475: The underclass, because, for many, the underclass concept also captures dimensions of psychological and behavioral deviancy. Furthermore, the underclass is generally identified as an urban phenomenon with its members typically living in areas of concentrated poverty. Similar to issues of defining and identifying the underclass, the outlining of potential causes and proposed solutions for the "underclass problem" have also been points of contestation. Debates concerning
7134-403: The underclass, but they are arguably the most read proposals among social scientists. The contrasting causes and solutions highlighted by Wilson and Mead in particular have been popular points for debate. However, because prescription is dependent on diagnosis, much of the debates between Wilson and Mead have been on the causes and conditions of the underclass. Wilson highlights social isolation and
7221-600: The underclass. However, such distinctions between criminal, social, impoverished, and other specified underclass terms still refer to the same general group—those beneath the working class. And, despite recent journalistic accounts of a "genetic underclass", the underclass concept is primarily, and has traditionally been, a social science term. The underclass is located by a collection of identifying characteristics, such as high levels of joblessness , out-of-wedlock births, crime , violence , substance abuse , and high school dropout rates . The underclass harbors these traits to
7308-399: The unemployed, the underskilled, and the poorly educated, even though some hold high-school diplomas. Many are intelligent, but they are demoralized by racism and the wall of social resistance facing them. In this context they lose perspective and lack an outlook and sensibility that would allow them to negotiate the wider system of employment and society in general. Lawrence M. Mead defines
7395-513: The upholding of the Fair Housing Act , including speedy judicial action against violators (to strengthen deterrent effects of the legislation). Mead argues that the core cause of the underclass problem (or at least the perpetuation of the underclass problem) is welfare . Mead argues that most welfare programs encourage social dysfunctions, including welfare dependency , illegitimate births, joblessness , and crime . For Mead, welfare
7482-406: The urban underclass, Massey and Denton call for policies that promote desegregation . They provide a detailed list of policy suggestions in the closing of their book. They argue that policies aimed at desegregation need to target the private housing market, where an overwhelming majority of housing is allocated. In doing this, the authors call upon the federal government to dedicate more resources to
7569-407: Was only offered to some. The rest continued on as independent localities under the ultimate governance of Rome. Under the Roman Republic the impracticality of transferring numerous large city-states to Rome was manifest. The answer to the problem was the municipium . The town would be partially synoecised. The local government would remain but to its munera would be added munera due to
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