CONTENTS
1 Cover
7 Prologue Concepts matter Chasing after an urban chimera Anti-urbanism and the fear of the (black) city underbelly
8 Part One: The Tale of The “Underclass” Entry Notes 1. Between concept and myth: genealogy of a shifty category Notes 2. “The tragedy of the underclass”: Policy theater and scholarship Notes 3. Anatomy: The three faces of the “underclass” 1. At the origins, the “under-class” as structural position 2. The dominant schema of the “underclass” as assortment of “antisocial behaviors” 3. The neo-ecological conception, or the neighborhood as multiplier of marginality Notes 4. The strange career of a racialized folk devil Notes 5. Implications for the social epistemology of urban marginality Notes Exit Notes
9 Part Two: Lessons From The Tale Quandaries and consequences of naming Forging robust concepts Epistemic opportunity costs Bandwagons, speculation, and turnkeys Notes
10 Coda: Resolving the trouble with “race” in the twenty-first century Notes
11 Appendix: The nine lives of the “underclass” Notes
13 References
14 Index
Guide
1 Cover
8 Prologue
10 Coda: Resolving the trouble with “race” in the twenty-first century
11 Appendix: The nine lives of the “underclass”
13 References
14 Index
List of Illustrations
1 Part OneFigure 1. Cover of Time Magazine in the wake of the “Harlem blackout riot” of August 1977
2 Chapter 3Figure 2. The causal chain articulated in Wilson’s The Truly Disadvantaged (1987)
3 Chapter 4Figure 3. The rise and fall of the “underclass” in public debate, 1960–2017Figure 4. The peregrinations of the “underclass” across the academic, policy-political-…
4 AppendixFigure 5. Mentions of “underclass” in the Social Science Citation Index, 1970–2020Figure 6. Publications on “underclass” in the Social Science Citation Index, 1970–2020Figure 7. Mentions of