When Work Disappears deals with the issue that the government knows about the problems of lower-income families not being able to hold a job and they do nothing about it. It is not a talked about issue and it is unfair that most of the jobs are in the suburbs but it is nearly impossible to get access to those jobs because of transportation. People who live in lower income communities are trying to do something about their lives and since it is hard to get a job they are stuck where they are at and there is nothing they can do about it except hope that another job will come around. The government does not take action even though they know this issue is going on but they will not make it public knowledge. Instead they would rather make it where they help the middle class but in actuality people who live in lower income neighborhoods need the help to get an education to be able to obtain a good job so they can move on and do something with their lives like they are trying to do.
This reminded me a lot of laissez-faire racism. It is not upright racism that is distinct but it is subtle. It is because of lower income families are mostly African Americans and they do not have access to good housing and had the threat of their homes being torn down if it was not safe or dirty that it would automatically be torn down. Since the area is so poor the education received will not be good because the city does not have appropriate funding for public schools. Lastly there are very little jobs because there are no businesses in that area because they all either closed down or moved to another area of the state which makes it hard to find or obtain a job.
Do you think the government will take a plan of action to help African Americans who live in lower income housing to do something with their lives or do you think they will just tear down their homes and tell them to deal with it?
Why do you think it is so easy for the government and others to look over these types of issues instead of trying to help these people?
You make an excellent point when comparing "When Work Disappears" to laissez-faire.
ReplyDeleteLaissez-faire is indeed present because it derives from the institutionalized structural conditions of social life—in this case tearing down houses to build something new—which most likely the lower class people will not be able to afford.
Like you said, many lower income families are African Americans who do not have access to good housing. This is obviously a disadvantage because they are not in the same playing field as the rest of the citizens.
Being lower income is a cause-and-effect relationship because low income leads to living in poverty filled neighborhoods, schools with low funding, and no businesses for jobs.
Take for instance the closing of Chicago Public Schools—where schools with low funding were shut down. The people affected by the shutting of schools are obviously the families in the area, where children and parents are now forced to commute longer to get to school in order to get an education.
"The Possessive Investment of Whites," by Lipsitz in a way addresses your question on whether the government will take a plan of action to help African Americans in lower incomes or not. "The federal government has played a major role in augmenting the possessive investment in whiteness" (pg. 6) through federally subsidized urban renewal plans, which devastated minority neighborhoods. This article discusses how African Americans were displaced from their homes for major urban renewal programs.
African Americans are blamed for their economic status because they are assumed to be on the same playing field as whites. Like Tim Wise said in his video, if he ever did bad on a test when he was a child (Wise is white), the school system would see it as a student who wasn’t meeting his expectations, perhaps because he was being lazy. On the other hand, if a Black boy did badly on the same test, he would be judged as not being capable because of his race.
Unfortunately the government is neglecting to see this, and therefore will continue to tear down homes and tell the residents to deal with it. They already did it with the schools, who’s to say that they’ll stop now?
-Marlene R
I do not think that they will ever stop. Just as we were talking in class about it, the city wants to build the city into a place where it is up and coming and force old residents out by pushing them into the suburbs. This way the city will be this new hip place for young people to live. It is not fair to do that because some people cannot find a home to live in and are forced to live in a poor neighborhood with no chance of mobility. The cycle will never change and to be honest it is just getting worse.
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