Is There Really a Social Underclass - Essay Example

Is there really a social under The received truth regarding social distinctions with all Western societies in general, and within the United Kingdom in particular, is that there are strict hierarchies with some at the top, a large proportion in the middle and an "underclass" that is hopelessly separated from the rest of society. It is this underclass that makes up most of the criminal element, based upon the hopelessness of their situation and their disconnection from the rest of people. While exploring what they term as "the lost generation" McDonald and Marsh (2005) come to a rather surprising conclusion that while differences between different socio-economic classes undeniably do exist, the "underclass" as popularly characterized, does not. Taking a situation that is commonly studied with the preconception that it does exist and taking a step back in order to ask whether those preconceptions are based upon reality is a courageous, but ultimately valuable task. Taking a classical anthropological approach, the two authors actually go to the neighborhoods that supposedly hold this disaffected youth, and explore whether they really are "disaffected", "disengaged" and "difficult-to-reach" (McDonald, 2005). The authors take a logical, chronological approach to studying the youth involved. They start with a discussion of the various opinions that have already been given on this subject in Part One of the youth, called "Transition and Social Exclusion" and then focus in on individual neighborhoods and young people in Part Two, called "Processes of Inclusion and Exclusion". Two contrasting environments that they identify are the "school" and "street corner society" (Macdonald, 2005). In both environments there are what they term as "early processes of engagement and disengagement". The important point here is that an individual young person, as with a community is not entirely "engaged" or "disengaged" but rather may bounce between the two over time. One young person may be engaged at school and yet disengaged within the wider community. Others may be disengaged at school but involved within their community. Near the end of the Second Part the authors consider the vital period of young adulthood, in which the individual is making the transition to the wider world. They identify what they call "post-16 cyclical transitions" in which young people may find their first job, go on with further training/education, find their own housing and eventually "settle down" (Macdonald, 2005) and marry. The assert the fact that most young people do indeed manage to establish independent and productive lives, however modest or unpromising their backgrounds. They are not caught within a community which it is impossible rise above. In the Third Part of the book, titled "Conclusions" they argue that while some individuals most certainly are totally disengaged from society, these are in fact few and far between. They do not, so argue the authors, constitute a clearly identifiable "underclass" because individuals vary so much according to their circumstances. Currently the government in Britain thinks that social class exists in a very real form, and yet seem to agree with the authors of the book in the fact that individuals are not necessarily trapped permanently within their poor backgrounds. A government minister has been appointed whose specific task is to look of the problems caused by social class. Hillary Armstrong is the Cabinet Minister for Social Exclusion. The very existence of this post is telling. The government sees social class as an inherently evil and something that needs to be changed. In a recent speech Hillary Armstrong has stated that she got into politics the columns as a social worker she had seen "that the government intervenes far too late to bring about the kind of positive changes that break the cycle of deprivation of good." (Armstrong, 2005) New Labor seems to think that the whole of Britain should be a massive middle class through entirely getting rid of poverty and taxing the rich so that they pay their fair share into the country. In comparison to the previous book discussed social classes are seen as the central part of the problem rather than a measure that can be used to identify other problems. Armstrong sees government as a kind of white Knight riding in to save the day for, as she puts it "the most vulnerable among those from the hardships brought on by deprivation" (Armstrong, 2005). Armstrong has also identified a series of what she calls "myths". These include the myth that social exclusion is inevitable, the myth that government cannot predict who will end up in difficulty in order to intervene early, and also the overall myth that even if we can reduce mainstream poverty there's little hope we can do about the most excluded. The labor government rejects the idea that has been propagated since Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations that in order for capitalism to succeed there must be a lower class, an "excluded" as Armstrong puts it. It is interesting to note that Armstrong sees a classless society as the aim of government. As opposed to the first study in which the authors seek to find out what society actually is Armstrong seeks a vision of what society should be. This is not to say that Armstrong is in any way naive but rather to point out that different kinds of examination have different kinds of the ends. It seems as though the definition of class and the manner in which it is used depends upon some kind of moral judgment over whether class is a good or a bad thing. Social stratification within British society is a major problem, as Abercrombie (2001) suggests. While some social theorists, most notably those who favor a structural-functional analysis suggest that since stratification occurs in virtually all societies it must be beneficial in helping to stabilize their existence. However, most sociologists, including this present writer, regard social stratification as something that should be limited as much as possible. The recent plot to bomb planes in Britain was undertaken by young men who had been born and raised in Britain - they felt alienated from society to the degree that they wanted to destroy it. This fragmentation comes from stratification. Social stratification involves the division of society into various 'classes' which tend to be based upon, money, education, political influence and family ties. Often the various advantages/disadvantages of belonging to one particular group are passed on from one generation to another. Thus a person who is born rich has a tendency to carry on being rich when they become an adult. The same is true of those from lower classes. Social stratification tends to divide a society rather than uniting it. People often identify more with their particular strata than with the society as a whole, thus causing divisiveness and further isolation of each strata. Basically there are two approaches to social stratification and the possibility of an underclass. The structural-functional theory has already been discussed, while conflict theory suggests that the inaccessibility to resources and lack of social mobility in many stratified societies leads to a deadening of the whole society and increased social inequality. Eventually this inequality may lead to uprisings, which are often violent in nature. Conflict theorists suggest that stratification means that lower/working class people are not likely to advance in any of the activities that keep them down, and that an upper class will continue to exploit a proletariat from a generation to generation ad infinitum. Many conflict theorists are inspired by the thought of Karl Marx (Marx, 1999), who forecast the death of Capitalism because of its social inequalities and stratification. To conclude, it appears that while certain individuals and even whole communities appear to be much poorer than those around them, they do not really constitute a discrete "underclass" as membership within this community is too fluid. Most young people manage to live productive lives despite being born into poor circumstances: there is hope even for the poor. ____________________________ Works Cited Abercrombie, Nicholas. Warde, Alan. The Contemporary British Reader. Polity Press, London: 2001. Armstrong, Hilary. "The Invisible Generation: Picking up the Pieces to Predicting and Prevailing". Ministry for Social Exclusion, May, 2005. MacDonald, Robert. Marsh, Jane. Disconnected Youth: Growing up Poor in Britain. Palgrave, New York: 2005. Marx, Karl. Das Kapital. Gateway, London: 1999. Read More