Customer Reviews

More than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City (Issues of Our Time)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Wilson's pithy volume, part of Henry Louis Gates's Issues of Our Time series with Norton, presents a critical synopsis of the great debates in urban sociology over the past fifty years. *More than Just Race* considers how sociologists from Elliot Liebow to Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh have tarried with the question of urban poverty. In reflecting on these different perspectives, Wilson presents an illuminating narrative about one of the most charged areas of American public policy.

One of the book's notable strengths is the extraordinary breadth of sociological knowledge Wilson displays in his writing. Wilson's survey of urban sociology bespeaks years of research and work in the field, though his prose remains accessible and engaging. Further, by organizing the book into three interrelated chapters -- on how poverty affects 1) urban space; 2) young black men; and 3) black families/single black mothers -- Wilson presents the sociological literature in a clear, theme-oriented manner. His chapter on black families and the Moynihan Report is especially well-composed.

The book's other great virtue is that it condenses the longstanding debate scholars and policy-makers have had in determining the role structural inequalities and cultural variables play in the persistence of urban poverty. Seeing the merits of both sides of the debate, Wilson believes the problem is best understood as an amalgam of institutional and cultural factors. Although Wilson makes this particular point in a somewhat repetitive fashion, the overall effect of his argument is edifying: it moves beyond putatively "liberal" and "conservative" positions in the urban poverty debate to outline a synthetic view of the everyday realities of inner-city life.

This brief but powerful monograph lays out the proper middle ground: the social position of African Americans is neither the result of the "structural" factors alone (institutional arrangements that largely perpetuate disadvantages), nor of "cultural" factors alone (Black American family, work, language, religion, etc.). Professor Wilson argues persuasively the need to attend to both sets of influences. On the other hand, he sees the structural factors as the more influential.

The structural/cultural debate has been influenced by ideological commitments by the various theorists, and it is one of the great virtues of this book that Wilson explains this ideological baggage and transcends it. In that sense, this book clears much of the underbrush and should thus enable future work to avoid the pitfalls of the past.

The book does give a wealth of information about previous work by others. But with all that, it is what it is: largely programmatic. I did put it down with some disappointment that it didn't do more. I had hoped for a thicker description, for example, of some of the cultural factors. What do we know, in the 21st century, about Black language, Black churches, Black family patterns, etc. ? Wilson does bring us up to date on structural matters, largely with reference to census and poll data. But the current state of work on Black culture still awaits a summary exposition.

In this short 155 page informative non-fiction academic novel, I feel I have been taken to a world completely alien, despite growing up in a low income community myself. In truth, this world was alien to me because I made it alien. As a young man, I witnessed firsthand and recognized at an early age the self-destructive behavior amongst blacks within the black community. Not caring for academic progression, the tendency for imprudent behavior leading to criminal behavior, and women too often priding in their promiscuousness that always eventually lead to early pregnancy. I saw all of these things and decided I would not fall into the trap that cycled throughout my neighborhood. To do so, not only required physically removing myself from that environment (I switched to a magnet high school my junior year), but it also required that I removed myself mentally and emotionally, by claiming that these people were different from myself, in so much that they intentionally not allow themselves to progress. Along with it went my empathy for the black person, and replaced with ignorant opinion and naïve reasons to why blacks were such seemingly failures.

This book has been a significantly eye-opening experience. It has allowed me to put the cultural behavioral I have witnessed throughout my life into a categorical mental classification of awareness within the larger intellectual genome of understanding. I know now that the current situation of blacks have been very much influenced by racial policies that were both explicit, i.e. Jim Crow, and implicit, i.e. reduction of federal financial support of areas of high black populations such as the inner city. Additionally, I've been able to draw parallels in the African American plight and that of other black nations, such as that of Haiti, my country of birth, and recognize the traces of similar structural deficiencies put in place by centuries of racism.

This book neither shies away from analysis of the critique that blacks and the behavioral response that have arisen are now the culprits for their stagnated position within society and those alone. The author is unable to agree with these sorts of arguments as they seem to be unsubstantiated through even the most biased of academic research. According to the author, the clearest contrarian piece of evidence against cultural argument was the economic boom of the early 1990s. The rise in productivity, and domestic capital accruement, saw unprecedented decrease in unemployment throughout the U.S.. If cultural arguments were true, then unemployment in low income black communities would have stayed constant, or at least would have experienced a change that was lower than the rest of nation, but this was not seen. Given the OPPORTUNITY, poor blacks changed behavior that was previously attributed to condemnation engrained and sourced from their "culture."

The author argues that America needs to change the language used during discussions of race and class. First the language needs to merge the rhetoric of both the right, whom tend to lean towards more of a cultural tone, and that of the left, whom tend to lean towards a restrictive structural tone, to properly appeal to a larger more section of Americans. Second, to face the structural issues facing low income blacks and other minorities and for such action to be truly effective, a problem must be executed with discretionary vocabulary, language, and tone that extols the virtues of America's individualistic pathology to its advantage, such as labeling and designing such programs as `opportunity enhancing' and `hand-up providing.'

I am not one to read books on the sociological side, but this book was really good.

For me this book was very eye opening. Prior to reading it, I barely knew that racism also had a structural dimension to it. William Julius Wilson showed me just how much it is so in American society and history.

Wilson's basic claim is that there is a structural and a cultural dimension in racism. Of the two social structure is bigger. This is a controversial claim for both liberals and conservatives alike. Conservatives generally contend that racism has to do with character issues whereas liberals call the conservative take "blaming the victim" and posit something more covert and systemic. Both are at work according to Wilson.

Wilson brings out a slew of research and demonstrates that structural factors are at work in racial inequality. I was shocked to read about how freeways and highways were constructed to cordon off poor and minority neighborhoods from business districts. One example was Chicago. Wilson gave other examples (e.g. Birmingham freeways), but what got to me especially was thinking that Wilson could have multiplied them even more. This was all news for me.

Wilson also discussed cultural factors in racial inequality (which btw, ultimately have their roots in the structural factors). I found this also to be eye-opening and even counter-intuitive. Yet he provided research and data to back up what he says.

Its a good book. If you are a person who generally thinks that racism is what happens in certain restaurants or when a cop pulls a black driver over, etc... and do not think of it in systemic terms then you really should read this book.

Wilson skillfully discusses the economic climate that continues to plague those assigned to America's lower socioeconomic classes. He especially focues on African Americans who have been historically subjected to discriminatory measures, which have disproportionately affected them in terms of mobility. Post-1970, their aggregate economic situation has improved through federal enactments and edicts. Moreover, this work should not be perceived as an addendum to his previously written body of works, but as a testament to his commitment in providing a validated paradigm.

I highly recommend this book for all Americans to read especially, during this present period of distress which is the "Great Recession."

This book arrived to me in perfect condition. It was as if the book was not even used. It looked brand new. I was very happy with the quality that it was in once it arrived to me.

Wilson's focus is on understanding the causes of African American inner city chronic unemployment and family fragmentation. For sources he looks to many academic studies of both culture and structural causes of chronic poverty in the inner city, stating that structural causes "should be given more weight". It appears there is an underlying message in this book that chronically poor blacks are not responsible for fixing anything that is "structural" until these barriers are removed by someone else. ie. politicians or racial discriminators. Since Wilson feels nearly all of the causes are "structural" social scientists could just focus on studying these causes forever, rather than propose ways the barriers can be removed and the black community can take some responsibility to attend school, avoid having children without committment by fathers, report neighborhood crime, etc.

The author presents a well written, carefully reasoned and well-documented discussion of the research about the causes of the gap in educational performance between the races.

I was so disappointed with this book. It's very poorly edited; taking paragraph after paragraph to make a point that could have been made with 4 or 5 concise sentences. Distilled down to its essence, I believe there is enough material in the book to make an adequate, though unoriginal, essay.

Well balanced ideas, theories, and studies that are researched and fully foot-noted, but very repetitive.