Assignment for Thursday, March 20, 2008

1. Assignment for Thursday, March 20, 2008 • Read Schiller, Chapter Six, “Sins of the Fathers” • Answer the same questions as for today: • What was the author's purpose in this chapter? • What among the things you learned in this chapter stands out the most? • What one question would you ask David Shipler about Chapter 5 if he visited our class?

2. Extra Credit a panel discussion of the Implications of Immigration for South Bend featuring local religious, education, legal, and healthcare providers Wednesday, March 26, 7:00-8:30 pm 136 DBRT--our classroom Informal reception with cookies follows!!

3. Quick Quiz • Like me, Professor Graf earned his Ph.D. • From the Internet • From the University of Hard Knocks • From the University of Wisconsin • Both of us are still writing our dissertations

4. Quick Quiz • John L. Lewis and Walter Reuther were • Consecutive heads of OSHA • The president of the United Mine Workers Union and the UAW respectively • Members of the Civil Rights Commission (1964) • President and vice president of the Service Employees International Union.

5. Quick Quiz • Professor Graff argued that unions are “anti-poverty vehicles” because: • Through collective bargaining they won wages, benefits and job protections that reduced the risk of poverty • They set industry standards for wages, hours, and benefits • They lobby for pro-worker legislation • All of the above

6. Your questions or comments about Professor Graff’s lecture.

7. The Daunting Workplace March 18, 2008

8. 1. What was the author's purpose in Chapter 5, "The Daunting Workplace?" • What one question would you ask David Shipler about Chapter 5 if he visited our class?

9. JW’s Answer • I think this sympathetic window onto both sides of the low-skill labor market is designed to convince the reader that the obstacles to steady, rewarding employment are too great to be solved by the market itself, implying that government assistance is needed. • It is a perfect example of the limitation of the private sector’s ability to address a social problem. (p. 138)

10. 2. What among the things you learned in this chapter stands out the most?

11. The comprehensive list of obstacles Fear of rejection Fear of leaving their comfort zone Laziness Lack of “soft job” skills Low self-esteem Sense of shame Overcoming criminal records Family turbulence Source Lack of role models Profound distrust of other people What’s not on these lists? JW’s answer to Q2

12. 3. What one question would you ask David Shipler about Chapter 5 if he visited our class?

13. JW’s answer to Q3 • How would you rank the barriers standing between the working poor and stable work histories in order of seriousness, and what policies would you recommend for the top two or three?

14. Related Research • Estimates of the frequency of employment barriers • Demand for low-skilled workers with undesirable characteristics • Culture of Poverty

15. Krista Olson and LaDonna Pavetti, Personal and Family Challenges to the Successful Transition from Welfare to Work. Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute, May 1996, http://www.urban.org/

16. Krista Olson and LaDonna Pavetti, Personal and Family Challenges to the Successful Transition from Welfare to Work. Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute, May 1996, http://www.urban.org/

17. The demand side: Will anyone low-skill workers?

18. Source: Harry Holzer, What Employers Want: Job Prospects for Less Educated Workers. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1966

19. Conclusions: Will anyone low-skill workers? • Yes, when the economy is growing and demand for workers is high! • Political lesson--If you want to enact tougher welfare laws, do it during an economic expansion.

20. Source: Harry Holzer, What Employers Want: Job Prospects for Less Educated Workers. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1966

21. The Culture of Poverty • The poor lack sufficient desire and motivation to escape poverty • The norms and values of their neighborhoods do not support behavior that would help them escape poverty. i.e. they prolong their impoverishment voluntarily and purposely • Oscar Lewis,The Culture of Poverty,” Scientific American 215(1966): 19-25.

22. Wilson’s Underclass Theory • Persistent urban poverty is the result of the combined, interacting effects of joblessness, deteriorating neighborhoods, and the oppositional culture these forces generate: • Work disappears • Stable, working-class families move out • Employment networks disintegrate • Role models disappear • Number of two-parent families declines • Community institutions dependent of resources provided by middle-class families decline or disappear William Julius Wilson, The Truly Disadvantaged, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.

23. Wilson’s Underclass Theory, cont. • poor youth become socially isolated from mainstream social networks that facilitate social and economic advancement, and become more vulnerable to: • Gangs • Drugs • Dropping out of school • Teen pregnancies • These behaviors impede their economic and social mobility