William
Julius Wilson explains many problems within the society. One of the biggest
issues he talks about is welfare. Wilson explains that in the 1980s there was
25,000 families with children are receiving AFDC. The increase in the number of
female headed families in the United States was extremely dramatic in the
1970s. Many problems that turn to welfare dependency is out of wedlock births,
teen pregnancy and poverty. A study by the Urban institute pointed out that
more than half of all AFDC assistance in 1975 was paid to women who were or had
been teenage mothers. The proportion of black teenage births that were out of
wedlock increased 42-60 in the 1970s. 7 percent of the white teenage births
were out of wedlock in 1960s and increased to 17% in 1970. Although welfare is
extremely beneficial for families struggling to provide for their children.
There is also people who completely abuse the system and take advantage of “free”
money. If you are given all this money every month and you can find a way to
make it your means of income, why would someone get off the couch and find a
job. For example, I work at a retail store and I have so many customers that
come through my register and purchase alcohol with the “cash” benefits on their
link card because they get food and cash benefits. My question is, why would
anyone get a job if they are given all these benefits and being able to use
them on things such as alcohol. I strongly feel that the system needs to make
it stricter so that they are using the money they are given every month on
things that are necessities. However, there are definitely a huge population
that works really hard to make ends meet but they just can’t and need the help.
In
chapter 1, William says that experiences of inequality were closely tied to the
discussion of the structure of inequality when he explains the economic and
social situations where blacks create norms and patterns of behavior that take
the form of a “self-perpetuating pathology”(William, p7). William justifies the
symptoms of lower class society and how they affect the ghetto of America. He
states they have low aspirations, poor addiction, family instability, unemployment,
crime, drug addiction and alcoholism. Which leads me to this movie.
This movie comes to my mind in relation to this topic due to
the movie content. Although it’s not spot on identical to what we are talking
about. Homeless to Harvard is about a girl that was born into a drug addict
household who are struggling to survive. William identifies poverty in many
scenarios of his book. This girl lives in a rundown apartment building in a bad
neighborhood where her mother can walk less than a mile down the road and pick
up drugs. Both parents do nothing to try and better themselves and are both
unemployed.
Links:
The second link gives a little insight of requirements for
welfare. It was pretty interesting to me!
I enjoyed reading your blog. If the statistics on the "out of wedlock" birth rates were high back then, I can only imagine what they are now. Next, I agree with what you were saying in regards to using the money for necessities not “wants”. I really wish the system had a way to more closely regulate all of that money. Essentially, they need to make it much harder for individuals who abuse the system to receive benefits they don't deserve. That money should be left for those who truly need it. Taking advantage of the system has become so easy that it is no longer a secret, people will openly brag about all of the benefits they are receiving without truly needing them. In your blog you mentioned, “William stated that the lower class has lower aspirations, family instability, unemployment, crime, drug addiction and alcoholism.” As we all know, addictions are very common in the lower class and yet I don’t know why they would make it possible for individuals to buy alcohol with a card like that. To me it almost seems like they are adding fuel to the fire......
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