William Julius Wilson > Quotes

“During hard economic times, people become more receptive to simplistic ideological messages that deflect attention away from the real and complex source of their problems. Instead of associating their problems with economic and political changes, these divisive messages encourage them to turn on each other—race against race.”
― William Julius Wilson, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor

“I argue that the disappearance of work and the consequences of that disappearance for both social and cultural life are the central problems in the inner-city ghetto.”
― William Julius Wilson, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor

“When victims are murdered by strangers, young people are more likely to be the perpetrators. “During 1976–1991, only 20 percent of all homicides were between strangers, whereas 34 percent of those committed by male juveniles were between strangers,”
― William Julius Wilson, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor

“Their analysis clearly revealed the existence of a color line that effectively blocked black occupational, residential, and social mobility. They demonstrated that any assumption about urban blacks duplicating the immigrant experience had to confront the issue of race.”
― William Julius Wilson, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor

“many urban residents with the economic means to relocate have left the central city for the suburbs and other areas, worsening even further the city’s tax base and reducing its revenue even more. The growing suburbanization of the population influences the extent to which national politicians will support increased federal aid to large cities and to the poor. Indeed, we can associate the sharp drop in federal support for basic urban programs since 1980 with the declining political influence of cities and the rising influence of electoral coalitions in the suburbs. Suburbs cast 36 percent of the vote in the presidential election of 1968,48 percent in 1988, and a majority of the vote in the 1992 election. In each of the three presidential races before the 1992 election, the Democratic presidential candidate captured huge majorities in large cities but the electoral votes went to the Republican opponent who gained an even larger number of votes from the suburban and rural residents of the states where these cities were located.”
― William Julius Wilson, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor

“The environment embodies both structural and cultural constraints and opportunities. In order to fully appreciate and explain the divergent social outcomes of human groups, we must take into account the exposure to different cultural influences.”
― William Julius Wilson, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor

“I shall argue in Chapters 7 and 8, solutions to the broader problems of economic marginality in this country, including those that stem from changes in the global economy, can go a long way toward addressing the problems of inner-city joblessness, especially if the application of resources includes wise targeting to the groups most in need of help. Discussions that emphasize common solutions to commonly shared problems promote a sense of unity, regardless of the different degrees of severity to which these problems afflict certain groups. Such messages bring races together, not apart, and are especially important during periods of racial tension.”
― William Julius Wilson, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor

“In all probability, DuBois would not voice surprise at the serious class problem today or its entrenchment in the economic situation, or the impact of the industrial and economic organization and policies employed by the United States upon the underclass. If he were here, he probably would project a kind of social upheaval unparalleled in this country primarily because of the battle of countervailing powers (big labor, big business, big government, and helpless consumers) over slices of the real no-growth economic pie and the powerless position of the sub-groups of income recipients and dependents and the rising strength of organized workers in public and private essential service industries. The economic future of blacks in the United States is bound up with that of the rest of the nation. Policies, programs, and politics designed in the future to cope with the problems of the poor and victimized will also yield benefits to blacks. In contrast, any efforts to treat blacks separately from the rest of the nation are likely to lead to frustrations, heightened racial animosities, and a waste of the country's resources and the precious resources of black people."

Vivian W. Henderson”
― William Julius Wilson, The Declining Significance of Race : Blacks and Changing American Institutions