3 - Underclass Theory

• Poverty is seen as a response to cultural, economic and welfare changes.
• Underclass of people who are lazy, workshy and make no effort at work. They prefer to live on benefits.
• O'Brian (1997)

  • Deserving poor - poor people who are poor through no fault of their own (minority)
  • Undeserving poor - those who do not make the effort to earn a living. Often spend money on drugs or alcohol. (majority)
• Murray analysis


  In USA, focuses on Black Americans as the 'underclass'.
• Murray argues working class distinguish themselves through:

  • Crime - very high proportion of violent and property crime
  • Illegitimacy - high levels of birth outside marriage so father absent and become welfare dependent
  • Economic inactivity - high levels of longterm unemployment. Prefer to claim benefits and work in 'hidden' economy. This is a way of life.
• Evaluation of Underclass Theory:

  • No evidence to support this view
  • Factually wrong
  • Outdated - birth outside marriage is seen as a norm
  • No evidence from social surveys that a group exists that reject work ethic
  • Majority of lone-parents would like a stable relationship
  • No evidence to suggest an automatic overlap between lone parenthood and crime
  • Blaming victims of social deprivation - bigger issues are low benefit levels, few opportunities for secure jobs and discrimination against those in poorest states
• New Right

  See inequality as a characteristic of the poor.
• Spencer (1864)


  'Poverty is good for society because it encouraged poor people to work harder, they deserved their poverty as they had no morality'
• Jencks (1998) - undeserving poor:

  • More criminal than others
  • Refuse to do well in school and are uneducated
  • Unwilling to work and insist on living off benefits