Underclass
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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| "On the pretext of founding a benevolent society, the [[lumpenproletariat]] of Paris had been organized into secret sections, each section led by Bonapartist agents, with a Bonapartist general at the head of the whole. Alongside decayed [[roué]]s with dubious means of subsistence and of dubious origin, alongside ruined and adventurous offshoots of the bourgeoisie, were [[vagabond]]s, [[discharged]] [[soldier]]s, discharged [[jailbird]]s, escaped [[galley slave]]s, [[swindler]]s, [[mountebank]]s, [[lazzaro]]ni, [[pickpocket]]s, [[trickster]]s, [[gambler]]s, [[maquereaux]] [pimps], [[madam|brothel keeper]]s, [[porter]]s, [[literati]], [[organ grinder]]s, [[ragpicker]]s, [[knife grinder]]s, [[tinker]]s, [[beggar]]s — in short, the whole indefinite, disintegrated mass, thrown hither and thither, which the French call ''[[la bohème]]''; from this kindred element Bonaparte formed the core of the [[Society of December 10]]." --''[[The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon]]'' | "On the pretext of founding a benevolent society, the [[lumpenproletariat]] of Paris had been organized into secret sections, each section led by Bonapartist agents, with a Bonapartist general at the head of the whole. Alongside decayed [[roué]]s with dubious means of subsistence and of dubious origin, alongside ruined and adventurous offshoots of the bourgeoisie, were [[vagabond]]s, [[discharged]] [[soldier]]s, discharged [[jailbird]]s, escaped [[galley slave]]s, [[swindler]]s, [[mountebank]]s, [[lazzaro]]ni, [[pickpocket]]s, [[trickster]]s, [[gambler]]s, [[maquereaux]] [pimps], [[madam|brothel keeper]]s, [[porter]]s, [[literati]], [[organ grinder]]s, [[ragpicker]]s, [[knife grinder]]s, [[tinker]]s, [[beggar]]s — in short, the whole indefinite, disintegrated mass, thrown hither and thither, which the French call ''[[la bohème]]''; from this kindred element Bonaparte formed the core of the [[Society of December 10]]." --''[[The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon]]'' | ||
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"The “dangerous class”, [lumpenproletariat] the social scum, that passively rotting mass thrown off by the lowest layers of the old society, may, here and there, be swept into the movement by a proletarian revolution; its conditions of life, however, prepare it far more for the part of a bribed tool of reactionary intrigue." --Manifesto of the Communist Party "The lumpenproletariat, this scum of the decaying elements of all classes, which establishes headquarters in all the big cities, is the worst of all possible allies. It is an absolutely venal, an absolutely brazen crew. If the French workers, in the course of the Revolution, inscribed on the houses: Mort aux voleurs! (Death to the thieves!) and even shot down many, they did it, not out of enthusiasm for property, but because they rightly considered it necessary to hold that band at arm’s length. Every leader of the workers who utilises these gutter-proletarians as guards or supports, proves himself by this action alone a traitor to the movement." --The Peasant War in Germany "On the pretext of founding a benevolent society, the lumpenproletariat of Paris had been organized into secret sections, each section led by Bonapartist agents, with a Bonapartist general at the head of the whole. Alongside decayed roués with dubious means of subsistence and of dubious origin, alongside ruined and adventurous offshoots of the bourgeoisie, were vagabonds, discharged soldiers, discharged jailbirds, escaped galley slaves, swindlers, mountebanks, lazzaroni, pickpockets, tricksters, gamblers, maquereaux [pimps], brothel keepers, porters, literati, organ grinders, ragpickers, knife grinders, tinkers, beggars — in short, the whole indefinite, disintegrated mass, thrown hither and thither, which the French call la bohème; from this kindred element Bonaparte formed the core of the Society of December 10." --The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon |
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The contemporary concept of the underclass is a sanitized term for what was known in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as the undeserving poor, and was first used by Gunnar Myrdal in 1962. The usage came into wide circulation in the early 1980s, following Ken Auletta`s (1982) use of the term in three articles published in The New Yorker in 1981, and in book form a year later. Auletta refers to the underclass as a group who do not "assimilate" (1982: xvi quoted in Morris, 1994: 81), identifying four main groups:
- the passive poor, usually long term welfare recipients;
- the hostile street criminal, drop-outs, and drug addicts;
- the hustlers, dependent on the underground economy, but rarely involved in violent crime;
- the traumatised drunks, drifters, homeless bag ladies, and released mental patients.
In 1984 Charles Murray published a book called Losing Ground, which popularized the term underclass. This was far from the first time the idea of a group of people below or outside the class structure was discussed. Karl Marx referred to a group he called the lumpenproletariat.
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.
See also
- Lower class
- Consumtariat
- Ghetto
- Involuntary unemployment
- Lumpenproletariat
- New class
- Overclass
- Peasant
- Poverty
- Precariat
- Reserve army of labour
- Serfdom
- Slavery
- Social class
- Social exclusion
- Social hierarchy
- Social inequality
- Untouchability
