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Gans Underclass
What message is the writer trying to convey to the reader?
In "Uses of the Underclass in America," Herbert H. Gans explains the concept of the underclass and its usefulness in perpetuating social stratification and existing hierarchies. Gans claims that the concept of the underclass is used to promote the interests of those in power and of the hegemony. Positing a vast underclass is a tool of social control and a powerful way to manipulate the public. The poor are referred to as undeserving, which creates powerful social norms that inhibit the emergence of proactive political programs.
One of the primary uses of the underclass is stigmatization. Gans explains how labeling the underclass as such promotes the interests of the non-underclass or the middle and upper classes, both of which possess wealth and cultural capital. The author spends time elucidating the potential positive benefits for the non-underclass in creating artificial stratifications. Gans also notes that the projection of the term "underclass" implies value judgments that are arbitrary but which are nevertheless taken for granted on...
Those functions include risk reduction: for example, stigmas create social barriers that are designed to protect the non-underclass from the underclass. Scapegoating, displacement, economic banishment, the maintenance of a black market economy, job creation, moral legitimation, norm reinforcement, the creation of popular culture villains, institutional scapegoating, and conservative power shifting, spatial purification, reproduction of the stigma, and extermination of the surplus are the remainder of the Gans' uses of the underclass in America.
2) Who are the underclass in your world?
The underclass as defined by Gans are everywhere in the world and throughout it, not limited to the United States. They are those who live in the so-called "poor neighborhoods." They are people of color, who are disproportionately labeled as underclass and undeserving. They are those who are called lazy because they do not have access to stimulating education or careers. The underclass are those who work in positions of servitude instead…
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