new right

• Murray - a growing underclass threatened american society

  • govt policies encouraged dependence on benefits
  • 1960s welfare reforms led to more never-married black single mothers and job unmotivated black youths
  • increasing benefits discouraged self sufficiency
  • on his 1989 visit to britain, he claimed that they also developed an underclass
  • underclass = unkempt homes, delinquency, unstable employment. traditional values of the home declining.
  • children raised in the underclass adopted these values and continued the cycle
• Sewell - black caribbean boys underachievement

  • main cause was due to a lack of father figures and strong male role models
  • they turned to street culture for guidance, rather than academics
• Sewell - 4 responses from black boys in education

  • conformists - worked hard, avoided stereotypes
  • innovators - valued success but rejected school rules
  • retreatists - disconnected from school and street culture
  • rebels - rejected authority and formed anti school subcultures
• sewell - school had a triple failure effect

  • unstable family structures
  • negative peer influences
  • institutional racism