Invention of the Underclass - A Study in the Politics of Knowledge - A Study in the Politics of Knowledge

At century's close, American social scientists, policy analysts, philanthropists and politicians became obsessed with a fearsome and mysterious new group said to be ravaging the ghetto: the urban "underclass." Soon the scarecrow category and its demonic imagery were exported to the United Kingdom and continental Europe and agitated the international study of exclusion in the postindustrial metropolis.
 
In this punchy book, Loïc Wacquant retraces the invention and metamorphoses of this racialized folk devil, from the structural conception of Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal to the behavioral notion of Washington think-tank experts to the neo-ecological formulation of sociologist William Julius Wilson. He uncovers the springs of the sudden irruption, accelerated circulation, and abrupt evaporation of the "underclass" from public debate, and reflects on the implications for the social epistemology of urban marginality. What accounts for the "lemming effect" that drew a generation of scholars of race and poverty over a scientific cliff? What are the conditions for the formation and bursting of "conceptual speculative bubbles"? What is the role of think tanks, journalism, and politics in imposing "turnkey problematics" upon social researchers? What are the special quandaries posed by the naming of dispossessed and dishonored populations in scientific discourse and how can we reformulate the explosive question of "race" to avoid these troubles? Answering these questions constitutes an exacting exercise in epistemic reflexivity in the tradition of Bachelard, Canguilhem and Bourdieu, and it issues in a clarion call for social scientists to defend their intellectual autonomy against the encroachments of outside powers, be they state officials, the media, think tanks, or philanthropic organizations.
 
Compact, meticulous and forcefully argued, this study in the politics of social science knowledge will be of great interest to students and scholars in sociology, anthropology, urban studies, ethnic studies, geography, intellectual history, the philosophy of science and public policy.

List of contents

List of Figures
 
Acknowledgements
 
Prologue
 
PART ONE ~ THE TALE
 
1. Between concept and myth: genealogy of a shifty category
 
2. "The tragedy of the underclass": policy theater and scholarship
 
3. The three faces of the "underclass"
 
4. The strange career of a racialized folk devil
 
5. Implications for the social epistemology of urban marginality
 
PART TWO ~ LESSONS FROM THE TALE
 
Quandaries and consequences of naming
 
Forging robust concepts
 
Epistemic opportunity costs
 
Bandwagons, speculation, and turnkeys
 
Coda: Resolving the trouble with "race" in the 21st century
 
Appendix: The afterlives of the "underclass"
 
Bibliography
 
Index

About the author

Loïc Wacquant is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, and Researcher at the Centre de sociologie européenne, Paris. His books include Urban Outcasts: A Comparative Sociology of Advanced Marginality (2008), Punishing the Poor: The Neoliberal Government of Social Insecurity (2009), and Body and Soul: Notebooks of an Apprentice Boxer (expanded anniversary edition, 2022).

Summary

At century's close, American social scientists, policy analysts, philanthropists and politicians became obsessed with a fearsome and mysterious new group said to be ravaging the ghetto: the urban "underclass." Soon the scarecrow category and its demonic imagery were exported to the United Kingdom and continental Europe and agitated the international study of exclusion in the postindustrial metropolis.

In this punchy book, Loïc Wacquant retraces the invention and metamorphoses of this racialized folk devil, from the structural conception of Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal to the behavioral notion of Washington think-tank experts to the neo-ecological formulation of sociologist William Julius Wilson. He uncovers the springs of the sudden irruption, accelerated circulation, and abrupt evaporation of the "underclass" from public debate, and reflects on the implications for the social epistemology of urban marginality. What accounts for the "lemming effect" that drew a generation of scholars of race and poverty over a scientific cliff? What are the conditions for the formation and bursting of "conceptual speculative bubbles"? What is the role of think tanks, journalism, and politics in imposing "turnkey problematics" upon social researchers? What are the special quandaries posed by the naming of dispossessed and dishonored populations in scientific discourse and how can we reformulate the explosive question of "race" to avoid these troubles? Answering these questions constitutes an exacting exercise in epistemic reflexivity in the tradition of Bachelard, Canguilhem and Bourdieu, and it issues in a clarion call for social scientists to defend their intellectual autonomy against the encroachments of outside powers, be they state officials, the media, think tanks, or philanthropic organizations.

Compact, meticulous and forcefully argued, this study in the politics of social science knowledge will be of great interest to students and scholars in sociology, anthropology, urban studies, ethnic studies, geography, intellectual history, the philosophy of science and public policy.

Report

"Loïc Wacquant's exploration of the rise and decline of the 'underclass' concept features extraordinary archival research. This important and unique book is destined to become a standard reference in studies ranging from the sociology of knowledge to urban poverty."
William Julius Wilson, author of The Truly Disadvantaged
 
"In this thoroughly historicized account, Wacquant dissects the politics, panic, and obscurantism that accompanied the 'underclass' debate in the closing decades of the twentieth century - at the expense of the communities the concept purported to represent. It is an essential guide to a more ethical, genuinely reflexive sociology."
Alice O'Connor, author of Poverty Knowledge
 

''The Invention of the 'Underclass' is a must-read for specialists and students of urban poverty, social policy, and social theory.''
Social Forces
 
"there is much to enjoy and admire here. The investigation is focused, rich and detailed and the
writing is robust and engaging.... the book is an excellent addition to scholarship in this area
and will undoubtedly become an important reference point for future sociological
work on the construction of undeserving and marginalised groups.''
Critical Social Policy "Wacquant has erected a critical yield sign that social scientists should heed but are likely to ignore. . . . if we are to learn anything from Wacquant's must-read text, it should be that the line between use and abuse of a concept is perilously thin."
Sociology of Race and Ethnicity

Product details

• Authors: Wacquant, Lo¿c Wacquant, Loc Wacquant, Loic Wacquant, Loïc Wacquant
• Publisher: Polity Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 28.02.2022
• EAN: 9781509552184
• ISBN: 978-1-5095-5218-4
• No. of pages: 256
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; Soziologie, Kulturwissenschaften, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Stadtsoziologie, Unterschicht, Urban Sociology, Rassen- u. Ethnienforschung, Race & Ethnicity Studies, Zeitgenössische Sozialtheorie, Contemporary Social Theory