“The American Underclass: Destitute and desperate in the land of plenty” 

by Ken Auletta Time Magazine Monday, Aug. 29, 1977 

[during the lead up to the Carter vs. Reagan presidential election)]

What ideological point is Auletta making in this article?

How does he reveal his political perspective?

Are the highly rhetorical passages which he use to describe the plight (and menace) of the poor convincing?

· “a large group of people who are more intractable, more socially alien and more hostile than almost anyone had imagined. They are the unreachables: the American underclass.”

· “people who are seen to be stuck more or less permanently at the bottom, removed from the American dream…”

· “The universe of the underclass is often a junk heap of rotting housing, broken furniture, crummy food, alcohol and drugs.”

· victims and victimizers in the culture of the street hustle, the quick fix, the rip-off and, not least, violent crime

What would Reagain Republicans do with passages like the following in the upcoming presidential campaign?

“The underclass remains a nucleus of psychological and material destitution despite 20 years of civil rights gains and 13 years of antipoverty programs.”

“Tens of billions of dollars are spent every year by the Federal Government, states and cities to eliminate drastic poverty. In addition, special hiring drives, private job-training programs, university scholarships and affirmative-action programs are aimed at aiding the motivated poor. Yet by most of society's measures-- job prospects, housing, education, physical security-- the underclass is hardly better off, and in some cases worse off, than before the War on Poverty.”

“…the underclass is made up of people who lack the schooling, skills and discipline to advance, and who have succumbed to helplessness-- a feeling of being beaten.”

“Long-term unemployment is a factor in that. Many members of the underclass come from the ranks of the 1,061,000 workers who are listed as "discouraged" because they have given up even looking for jobs. To that number can be added the entrenched welfare mothers: at least 2.4 million have been enrolled for one year or longer. Then there are their many children, a few million kids who are growing up without a heritage of working skills or of employed society's values.”

“It is the weakness of family structure, the presence of competing street values, and the lack of hope amidst affluence all around that make the American underclass unique among the world's poor peoples. "The poverty in the black and Puerto Rican neighborhoods on the West Side of Chicago is worse than any poverty I saw in West Africa.”

Then Auletta really goes to town:

“Hopelessness is a home in a fetid ghetto flat, where children make morbid sport of chasing cockroaches or dodging rats. There may never be hot water for bathing or a working bathtub to put it in-- or any other functioning plumbing. Under these conditions, afflictions such as lead poisoning (from eating flaking paint) and severe influenza are common. Siblings often sleep together in the same bed, separated by a thin wall or a blanket from parents (though frequently there is no man around). Streets are unsafe to walk at night-- and, often, so are halls. Nobody starves, but many people are malnourished on a diet of hot dogs, Twinkies, Fritos, soda pop and, in rare cases, whatever can be fished out of the garbage can. Alcoholism abounds; heroin is a favorite route of escape. Another road to fantasy is the TV set. On it dance the images of the good life in middle-class America, visions that inspire envy and frustration.”

“Strutting pimps and pushers, cutting a sharp swath with their broad brims and custom-made suits, are often the local heroes and the successful role models for the kids. Schooling is frequently a sick joke: teachers conduct holding operations in the classroom, while gang leaders instruct.  Inordinate numbers of the black young drop out of school before graduation, landing on street corners unskilled, undisciplined and barely literate. Those who finish high school are not much better off. Says RichardMcNish, director of a manpower training program in Los Angeles' Watts neighborhood: "Kids aren't required to produce to get a diploma. Nothing is required except to be cool and not try to kill the teacher. They don't know how to read and write."

Only two thirds of the way into the article does Auletta mention any structural reasons for the situation”

Reasons:

“The underclass has been hurt by the flight of manufacturing firms-- many requiring only semiskilled or even unskilled labor-- to the suburbs and the Sunbelt. Since 1969 Chicago has lost 212,000 jobs, while its suburbs have gained 220,000; in the same period, New York City has lost 650,000 jobs. From 1970 to 1975, 248 manufacturing plants left Detroit, including branches of the 16 biggest local companies.”

But his emphasis is on welfare:

“The underclass economy is a welfare economy. Nonwhites received 37% of the $11.4 billion in federal and state welfare payments last year. Blacks make up no less than 44.3% of enrollees in the $10.3 billion Aid to Families with Dependent Children program (AFDC)—1.5 million welfare mothers. Welfare dependency means that for many members of the underclass, the concepts of income and jobs are barely related, if at all. “

For many women in the underclass, welfare has turned illegitimate pregnancy into a virtual career.

He admits:

“More jobs, of course, are the most obvious need of the underclass-- not only economically, but also psychologically and culturally.”

But then he quickly makes his key point:

“In attacking the basic problem of job creation, the first sound step is to recognize that the Government cannot and should not try to do it all.”

He recommends lots of programs but “There is no all-embracing solution, at any price, for the complex malaise of the underclass. It would be more realistic-- and much less inflationary-- to press for a mix of endeavors.”