Analyzing the Underclass: American Values, Normative Functions, and Implications for Research and Policy

Abstract

Values, norms, morals, and ideologies impact nearly every aspect of American life. Importantly, the established, hegemonic principles that actively shape our perceptions of the world around us also inform our actions and our judgments as they converge with or digress from these culturally determined standards. These traditional values and cultural concepts are crucial, then, in an examination of our society's treatment and understanding of poverty. Using these social norms as an evaluative framework, I am specifically interested in the use of "underclass terminology" to discuss the poor. [From Introduction]