William Julius Wilson is an American sociologist known for his structural analysis of urban poverty and racial inequality in the United States. In The Truly Disadvantaged (1987) he argued that the concentrated poverty of inner-city Black communities resulted less from individual or cultural failings than from structural economic changes, particularly the deindustrialization and loss of manufacturing jobs from American cities, combined with the outmigration of the Black middle class, which together stripped poor neighborhoods of jobs, institutions, and social networks. His work shifted much of the debate over urban poverty toward economic and structural explanations and made him one of the most cited sociologists of his generation.
Facts
Birth DateSourced to the subject's own account Birth YearSourced to the subject's own account Nationality / CultureSourced to the subject's own account Defining ContributionSourced to the subject's own accountIdentified the importance of neighborhood effects and demonstrated how limited employment opportunities and weakened institutional resources exacerbated poverty within American inner-city neighborhoods. 1 Notable WorkSourced to the subject's own accountThe Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy 1 Connections
Associated With
Wilson The Truly Disadvantaged argued that economic restructuring, not culture alone, produced a concentrated urban Black underclass.
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1. William Julius Wilson (Wikipedia)
Wikipedialead sentence, birth date clause
William Julius Wilson (born December 20, 1935) is an American sociologist, a professor emeritus at Harvard University, and an author of works on urban sociology, race, and class issues.
lead sentence, birth year figure
William Julius Wilson (born December 20, 1935) is an American sociologist, a professor emeritus at Harvard University, and an author of works on urban sociology, race, and class issues.
lead sentence, nationality descriptor
William Julius Wilson (born December 20, 1935) is an American sociologist, a professor emeritus at Harvard University, and an author of works on urban sociology, race, and class issues.
Research section, best-known work sentence
His best-known work, The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy (1987), examined the social consequences of deindustrialization, suburbanization, residential segregation, and the decline of manufacturing employment.
lead paragraph, closing sentence
He identified the importance of neighborhood effects and demonstrated how limited employment opportunities and weakened institutional resources exacerbated poverty within American inner-city neighborhoods.
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