U

Underclass

The idea of an underclass, which has entered sociology theory from the USA,
is a politically charged and controversial concept. If it has a valid application
even in the USA, its application in the United Kingdom is even more
problematic. An underclass is not just another class, at the bottom of the class
hierarchy; it is not simply like the working class but even less affluent. Rather,
an underclass is seen as almost outside the usual institutions and mechanisms of
society, cut off from the working class almost as much as from the middle class.
An underclass is defined by a multiplicity of indicators, involving a breakdown
of normal relations to society. For example, permanent and intergenerationally
inherited unemployment is a crucial part of the definition. Anyone can
become unemployed; some are unemployed for very long periods, and if
unemployment strikes when one is old enough, it may be unlikely that one will
succeed in ever getting a job again. Such unemployment is, of course, much
more common the further down a class hierarchy one is. But unemployment of
an underclass is different. The second generation of an underclass probably has
never had, and can never expect to have, a job; he or she comes from a family
unit where possibly no one has ever worked in their own life experience.
Welfare is the expected and permanent source of income. Education is
minimal, with no parental expectations of it being taken seriously, or having
any useful function in life. The family structure itself is negligible—almost
inevitably a (female) one-parent family background, probably with several
half-siblings, with the fathers all absent and having played no part in one’s life.
The consequences of all these factors, along with the inevitable deep poverty
are to produce a class of people with no emotional or ideological commitment
to society, with no sense of a valid role, with no expectations of mutuality of
duties and rights, emotionally incapable of self-organization and efforts at
‘betterment’, either for the individual or the group.
This is an ideal stereotype, naturally. Any particular individual of the
underclass may lack some of the aforementioned characteristics. Similarly
some characteristics, particularly bad employment histories, may be experi-
enced by people who, none the less, occupy more traditional and socially