Underclass

Encyclopedia : U : UN : UND : Underclass

The term underclass was popularized in the 1980s but this was far from the first time the idea of a group of people below the class structure was discussed. Karl Marx referred to a group he called the lumpenproletariat. He described this group as "this scum of the depraved elements of all classes ... decayed roués, vagabonds, discharged soldiers, discharged jailbirds, escaped galley slaves, swindlers, mountebanks, lazzaroni, pickpockets, tricksters, gamblers, brothel keepers, tinkers, beggers, the dangerous class, the social scum, that passively rotting mass thrown off by the lowest layers of the old society." Marx and Engels, 1950, p. 267. Many other terms have been used to "describe a section of society which is seen to exist within and yet at the base of the working class."Mann, 1992, p. 2. In 1984 Charles Murray published Losing Ground which popularized the term underclass.Murray, C. 1984. Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980. Basic Books. ISBN 0465042317

See also

• Social class
• Social exclusion
• Social hierarchy
• Social inequality
• Social mobility
• Reserve army of labour
• Overclass

References