Research by Author & Topic

Publications by George E. Peterson on Federal Urban Policies

Is there an urban underclass that is becoming increasingly isolated from mainstream social and economic life? If so, how does it perpetuate itself and how does it limit the opportunities of people raised in poor neighborhoods? The authors examine these questions from several perspectives. They contrast the life of poor African Americans in 19th-century Philadelphia with the underclass of today, examine recent trends in the physical and economic isolation of the big-city poor, chronicle the ties that prevent individuals from escaping, analyze the alternative cultures of crime and drugs, and consider the friendship and institutional networks of the inner-city poor in Chicago.

Is there an urban underclass that is becoming increasingly isolated from mainstream social and economic life? If so, how does it perpetuate itself and how does it limit the opportunities of people raised in poor neighborhoods? The authors examine these questions from several perspectives. They contrast the life of poor African Americans in 19th-century Philadelphia with the underclass of today, examine recent trends in the physical and economic isolation of the big-city poor, chronicle the ties that prevent individuals from escaping, analyze the alternative cultures of crime and drugs, and consider the friendship and institutional networks of the inner-city poor in Chicago.