When work disappears: New implications for race and urban poverty in the global economy

Abstract

This study highlights some of the main arguments raised in my latest book, When Work Disappears (1996), and discusses their implications for understanding issues related to race and urban poverty in Britain and other European countries. I emphasize that public understanding of these issues has been hindered by two pernicious effects of racial ideology in America: (1) a tendency among those on both the left and the right to disassociate the high inner-city jobless and welfare receipt rates from the impact of changes in the global economy, and (2) weak support for government programmes to alleviate economic distress in the inner city. I argue for a vision that acknowledges racially distinct problems and the need for certain race-specific remedies, but at the same time emphasizes the importance of transracial solutions to share problems.