Michigan State University Extension
Diversity and Pluralism - 02120105
12/95/
ERIC TITLE NUMBER: ED335434 AUTHOR: Burns, John
TITLE: On William Julius Wilson's "Truly Disadvantaged."
YEAR PUBLISHED: 1990
NOTE: 11 p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the
National Council for the Social Studies (Anaheim, CA,
November 16, 1990).
ABSTRACT: A premise of this paper is that in his book "The
Truly Disadvantaged" (1987), William Julius Wilson fails to
recognize the effect of covert racism on the plight of the
African American underclass. Wilson asserts that historical
racism has contributed to the present predicament of the
underclass, who have been abandoned in the ghettos by their
black middle-class counterparts and by the working class.
However, he also asserts that contemporary racism is no
longer a major factor contributing to that predicament and
that affirmative action policies have been
counterproductive. He proposes a policy that would promote
economic growth and sustained full employment that would
benefit the underclass disproportionately. The counter
opinion is offered that while overt racism may be a thing
of the past, a new breed of "symbolic racists" has evolved
whose unspoken adherence to the Protestant work ethic
offers a convenient moral foil to affirmative action and
other social policies promoting equity. This invisible
moral stance leads to a perception that racial minorities
have received more than their share of social opportunity;
hence reasonable access to opportunity is equated with
favoritism and handouts, and racism is rationalized by
wrapping it in the moral values of American secular faith.
The paper concludes that it is important for students to
understand why Wilson calls for an economic solution to
social problems and important also to understand the nature
of the challenges to that position, but that enabling
students to examine the nature of the process by which
people construct and attach value to the social experience
and exercise control over that experience is not only
important but essential. A seven-item bibliography is
appended. (FMW)
KEY DESCRIPTORS: Blacks-; Black-Stereotypes; Public-Policy;
Racial-Discrimination
KEY DESCRIPTORS: *Affirmative-Action; *Economically
Disadvantaged; *Equal-Opportunities-Jobs;
*Racial-Attitudes;
*Racial-Bias; *Work-Ethic
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