Inner City Inequality
The readings assigned for March 29th focus on the effects of social and economic problems in the inner city, and how these problems are perpetuating racial disadvantages for minority communities.
Wilson’s article in Orr’s book describes the role of job loss in inner-city communities and its effect on perpetuating social, economic, and crime problems in the inner-city. As the number of unskilled jobs has decreased throughout the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s, it has disproportionately affected the inner-cities. The article holds that problems such as “family dissolution,� and a lack of a sense of community are tied first and foremost to the loss of jobs. Kirschenman and Neckerman’s article in Orr’s book looks at how employers view inner-city workers unfavorably.
The Massey and Denton article in Grusky’s book focuses on the place of racial segregation in maintaining racial disadvantage. While agreeing with Wilson’s article that the changing work environment over the last couple of decades has created problems, they believe that the overriding problem is segregation itself. If inner city communities were not racially segregated, the restructured job environment would not have had such a large effect, but would rather have been dispersed more evenly throughout society. The Massey and Denton article also looks at the role of inner city culture, racism, and welfare in perpetuating inner city problems. It seems this article takes a much more open view of the problems associated with poor, inner city communities. It’s conclusion that racial segregation is the primary cause of inner city poverty is difficult to substantiate in my opinion, as evidenced by the diversity of opinions on this issue.
The Hirschman and Snipp article in Grusky’s book uses a clever quantitative approach to tracking changes in economic status and occupational attainment in whites and several minority populations over the course of two decades. It found that the most important cause of racial disadvantage (and advantage) was the level of education. It found that the residency of individuals is not as important as the schooling level. This is in contrast to the Massey and Denton article. However, a quick check on the coding for residency shows that they did not differentiate between the inner city and the suburbs, but rather grouped them together into a metropolitan residency. Thus the effect of living in the ghetto is almost certainly diminished in this study.
Question #1
Do you think racial segregation, job loss, education level, or some other reason is the primary cause of social and economic problems in inner city ghettos? Or are all the causes coupled too complexly to pinpoint a single most important cause?
Question #2
Do you think a push to desegregate inner city communities is a good idea? A bad idea?