Skip to main content
Log in

Sociologists, social policy and the Estranged poor: The selective inattention to the limits of success

  • Published:
The American Sociologist Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Current antipoverty initiatives have been given impetus by the rediscovery of an “underclass”—a social category widely considered to be a distinctive subset of the poor. In the ensuing discussion, this aggregate has been related the Estranged Poor after Hochschild (1989). Social interventions granted the imprimatur of success are most frequently presented and/or interpreted as if they are applicable to all of the poor. It is argued here that this is an unwarranted exaggeration of effectiveness. The concept of a helping mismatch is introduced suggesting an intrinsic lack of articulation between formal agents of social intervention and the Estranged Poor who are therefore bypassed by even the most successful programs. Strains to exaggeration are described and explained as consequences of structural aspects of the remedial action system. Sociologists involved in social intervention have largely ignored the selectivity of success and too often prescribed directions for remedial action, which are irrelevant to the Estranged Poor. To acknowledge the limits of success can only encourage a more rational pursuit of our humanistic goals through the development of different approaches and strategies and, not incidentally, contribute to the credibility of our profession.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anspach, Renee R. 1991. “Everyday Methods for Assessing Organizational Effectiveness.”Social Problems 33:1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Auletta, Ken. 1983.The Underclass. New York: Vintage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauman, Laurie J., Ruth E.K. Stein, and Henry T. Ireys. 1991. “Reinventing Fidelity: The Transfer of Social Technology Among Settings.”The American Journal of Community Psychology 19: 619–639.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berrueta-Clement, John R., Lawrence J. Schweinhart, W. Steven Barnett, Ann S. Epstein and David P. Weikart. 1984.Changed Lives. The Effects of the Perry Pre-school Program on Youths Through Age 19. Ypsilanti, Michigan: High/Scope Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billingsly, Andrew. 1989. “The Sociology of Knowledge of William J. Wilson” PlacingThe Truly Disadvantaged in its Socio-Historical Context.”Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare XVI No. 4: 7–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blau, Peter M. 1955.The Dynamics of Bureaucracy: A Study of Interpersonal Relations in Two Government Agencies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonacich, Edna. 1989. “Racism in Advanced Capitalist Society: Comments on William J. Wilson’sThe Truly Disadvantaged.”Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare XVI No. 4: 41–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Borden, Enid and Kate Walsh O’Beirne. 1989. “False Start?: The Fleeting Gains at Headstart.”Policy Review Winter: 48–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, Kenneth.Dark Ghetto: Dilemmas of Social Power. New York: Harper and Row.

  • Cloward, Richard A. and Irwin Epstein. 1965. “Private Social Welfare’s Disengagement From The Poor.” New York: Proceedings of the Annual Social Work Day Institute, School of Social Work, New York State University at Buffalo.

  • Cloward, Richard A. and Francis Fox Piven. 1989. “Poverty and Electoral Power.”Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare XVI No. 4: 99–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, Albert. 1955.Delinquent Boys: The Culture of The Gang. Glencoe Illinois: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Comer, James P. 1980.School Power: Implications of a Prevention Project. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ————— 1985. “The Yale-New Haven Primary Prevention Project: A Follow-up Study.”Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry 24: 154–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edelman, Marian Wright. 1987.Families in Peril: An Agenda for Social Change. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, Richard B. 1991. “Employment and Earnings of Disadvantaged Young Men in a Labor Shortage Economy.” Pp. 103–121 inThe Urban Underclass, edited by C. Jencks and P.E. Peterson. Washington, D.C.: Brookings.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gans, Herbert J. 1973. “Forward.” Pp. xi-xvi inStay Where You Were: A Study of Unemployables in Industry, by H. Padfield and R. Williams. Philadelphia: Lippincott.

    Google Scholar 

  • ————— 1990. “Deconstructing the Underclass: The Term’s Danger as a Planning Concept.”Journal of the American Planning Association 56: 271–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gomes, Ralph C. and Walda Katz Fishman. 1989. “A Critique ofThe Truly Disadvantaged: A Historical Materialist Perspective.”Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare XVI No. 4: 77–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, Richard R. 1988. “The Myth That Nothing Works.”New York Times Book Review, July 17, p. 14.

  • Gueron, Judith M. 1988. Testimony, Hearings Before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, One Hundredth Congress, First Session, Part 2, October 1987, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • ----- 1990. “Choices in the Design and Implementation of State JOBS Programs: Lessons From Research.” Paper delivered at “Welfare Reform: Technical Assistance, Seminar II, Program Design: Implementations of the Family Support Act.” Washington, D.C., January 23.

  • Hechinger, Fred. 1989. “About Education.”New York Times, June 1, E8.

  • Hochschild, Jennifer H. 1989. “Equal Opportunity and the Estranged Poor.”The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 501: 143–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janger, Alan R. and Ruth G. Schaeffer. 1970. “Managing Programs to Employ the Disadvantaged.”Studies in Personnel Policy, No. 219. New York: National Industrial Conference Board.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jencks, Christopher. 1991. “Is The American Underclass Growing?” Pp. 28–100 inThe Urban Underclass, edited by C. Jencks and P.E. Peterson. Washington, D.C.: Brookings.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jessop, Dorothy J. and Ruth E.K. Stein. 1991. “Who Benefits From a Pediatric Home Care Program?”Pediatrics 88: 497–505.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kasarda, John D. 1989. “Urban Industrial Transition and the Underclass.”Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 501: 26–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katz, Michael B. 1989.The Undeserving Poor: From the War on Poverty to the War on Welfare. New York: Pantheon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kidder, Tracy. 1989.Among School Children. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leslie, Connie. 1989. “Help for No-Hope Kids.”Newsweek. October 2: 50.

  • Louv, Richard. 1990. “Hope in Hell’s Classroom.”New York Times Magazine. November 25, 1990.

  • Lueck, Thomas J. 1988. “New York’s Job Market: Why So Many Are Sitting Out.”New York Times, August 14, E24.

  • Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation. 1989. Annual Report. New York: Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marx, Karl [1852] 1913.The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. Translated by Daniel De Leon. Chicago: Charles Kerr and Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matza, David. 1966. “The Disreputable Poor.” Pp. 289–302 inClass, Status and Power, edited by R. Bendix and S.M. Lipset. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mendes, Richard H.P. 1990. “Success Stories and the Most Disadvantaged.” Brooklyn College, City University of New York. Brooklyn, NY. Unpublished manuscript.

  • ————— 1991. “Whatever Happened to the “Underclass?”Sociological Viewpoints 7: 125–191.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merton, Robert K. 1961. “Social Problems and Sociological Theory.” Pp. 697–737 inContemporary Social Problems, edited by R.K. Merton and R.A. Nisbet. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World.

    Google Scholar 

  • ————— [1940] 1968. “Bureaucratic Structure and Personality.” Pp. 249–260 inSocial Theory and Social Structure. Robert K. Merton. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ————— 1982. “Social Knowledge and Public Policy.” Pp. 224–247 inSocial Research and the Practicing Professions, edited by A. Rosenblatt and T.F. Gieryn, Cambridge, MA: Abt.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, S.M., Pamela Roby and Alwine A. de Vos Steenwijk. 1970. “Creaming the Poor.”Transaction. June: 40–44.

  • Mills, C. Wright. 1959.The Sociological Imagination. New York: Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray, Charles. 1984.Losing Ground: American Social Policy 1950–1980. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Myrdal, Gunnar. 1944.An American Dilemma. New York: Harper and Brothers.

    Google Scholar 

  • —————. 1962, 1965.Challenge to Affluence. New York: Knopf.

    Google Scholar 

  • New York Times. 1989. “Study of U.S. Jobs Program Calls for Focus on the Poor.” May 3: A16.

  • ----- 1990a. “In Detroit, A Drug Recovery Center That Welcomes Pregnant Addicts.” March 20: A14.

  • ----- 1990b. “A New Road To Learning: Teaching the Whole Child.” June 13: A1.

  • ----- 1990c. “Television.” September 5: 27.

  • ----- 1990d. “Skills-Training Policy Opening Doors to Jobs.” October 25: A16.

  • ----- 1992. “Grants for a ‘New Generation’ of Schools.” July 10: A12.

  • New York Times Magazine. 1990. “Before the STRIVE Program This Was Their Only Hope For a Corner Office.” (data missing).

  • Ossowski, Stanislaw. 1966. “Different Conceptions of Social Class.” Pp. 86–96 inClass, Status and Power: Social Stratification in Comparative Perspective, edited by Reinhard Bendix and Seymour Martin Lipset. NY: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osterman, Paul. 1991. “Gains From Growth? The Impact of Full Employment on Poverty in Boston.” Pp. 122–134 inThe Urban Underclass, edited by C. Jencks and P.E. Peterson. Washington, D.C.: Brookings.

    Google Scholar 

  • Padfield, Harlan and Roy Williams. 1973.Stay Where You Were: A Study of Unemployables in Industry, Philadelphia: Lippincott.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearson, Robert W. 1989. “Economy, Culture, Public Policy and the Urban Underclass,”Items 43: 23–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piven, Francis Fox and Richard A. Cloward. 1972.Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare. New York: Vintage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quality Education For Minorities Project. 1990. “Education that Works: An Action Plan for Minorities.” Quality Education for Minorities Project, Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ricketts, Erol R. and Isabel V. Sawhill. 1988. “Defining and Measuring the Underclass.”Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 7: 316–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenbaum, James E. and Susan J. Popkin. 1991. “Employment and Earnings of Low-Income Blacks Who Move To Middle-Class Suburbs.” Pp. 342–356 inThe Urban Underclass, edited by C. Jencks and P.E. Peterson. Washington, D.C.: Brookings.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rossi, Peter. 1989. “The Urban Homeless: A Portrait of Urban Dislocation”The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 501: 132–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sawhill, Isabel V. 1989. “Comments on Targeting within Universalism: Politically Viable Policies to Combat Poverty in the U.S.” by Theda Scocpol. Unpublished manuscript cited in Robert Greenstein, “Universal and Targeted Approaches to Relieving Poverty: An Alternative View.” Pp. 437–459 inThe Urban Underclass, edited by C. Jencks and P.E. Peterson. Washington, D.C.: Brookings.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schorr, Lisbeth B. 1990.Within Our Reach: Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage. New York: Anchor.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scocpol, Theda. 1991. “Targeting Within Universalism: Politically Viable Policies to Combat Poverty in the United States.” Pp. 411–436 inThe Urban Underclass, edited by C. Jencks and P.E. Peterson, Washington, D.C.: Brookings.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stafford, Walter W. and Joyce Ladner. 1990. “Political Dimensions of the Underclass Concept.” Pp. 138–155 inSociology in America, edited by Herbert Gans. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tienda, Marta and Haya Stier. 1991. “Joblessness and Shiftlessness: Labor Force Activity in Chicago’s Inner City.” Pp. 135–154 inThe Urban Underclass, edited by C. Jencks and P.E. Peterson, Washington, D.C.: Brookings.

    Google Scholar 

  • U.S. News and World Report. 1989/1990. “The Surprising News About the Underclass.” December 25/Jan. 1: 73, 76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warner, W. Lloyd, Marchia Meeker and Kenneth Eells.Social Class in America: The Evaluation of Status. New York: Harper and Brothers.

  • Wilson, William J. 1987.The Truly Disadvantaged. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ————— 1991a. “Studying Inner City Social Dislocations: The Challenge of Public Agenda Research.”American Sociological Review 56: 1–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ————— 1991b. “Public Policy Research andThe Truly Disadvantaged.” Pp. 460–481 inThe Urban Underclass, edited by C. Jencks and P.E. Peterson. Washington, D.C.: Brookings.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mendes, R.H.P. Sociologists, social policy and the Estranged poor: The selective inattention to the limits of success. Am Soc 24, 16–36 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02691959

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02691959

Keywords

Navigation