Herbert Gans's theory of the underclass and social control

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 a massive scale.

Finally, Gans mentions thirteen specific functions of the underclass. 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.

4) What is your reaction to the content of this article?

Gans' article is thoughtful and well-presented, with tremendous creative insight into the sociological function of the term "underclass" and the policies that support it. Gans's explanation for how the underclass is used as a means of social control is vibrant and applicable to many other subject areas besides sociology. The concept of the underclass is one that all politicians should be made aware of, and yet which continues to inform the policies that preserve the status quo and allow the rich to get richer while the poor get poorer. In general, my reaction to the content of the article is one of agreement but also of powerlessness. To change the phenomena that Gans describes would require such deep transformations of the human psyche that it could actually be considered impossible.