BEYOND THE STREET CORNER: THE HIDDEN DIVERSITY OF HIGH-POVERTY NEIGHBORHOODS

Abstract

The widely reported social pathologies of urban ghettos, barrios, and other slum areas have played a prominent role in the backlash against Aid to Families with Dependent Children and other social programs. The policy debate, however, has been fueled by a series of stereotypes about the characteristics of the residents of such neighborhoods. This article complements existing ethnographic research on high-poverty neighborhoods by examining social and economic data from the 1990 Census on all neighborhoods in U.S. metropolitan areas. High-poverty areas are found to contain a surprising amount of social and economic diversity. Although some residents clearly engage in “underclass” lifestyles, many of their neighbors are not public-assistance recipients and do participate in the labor market, albeit in lower-skill occupations and for fewer hours and lower wages. Other similarities and differences between high-poverty areas and other neighborhoods are explored, leading to a richer understanding of the nature of concentrated urban poverty.