Download or read book The Urban Underclass written by Christopher Jencks and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2001-08-09 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many believe that the urban underclass in America is a large, rapidly increasing proportion of the population; that crime, teenage pregnancy, and high school dropout rates are escalating; and that welfare rolls are exploding. Yet none of these perceptions is accurate. Here, noted authorities, including William J. Wilson, attempt to separate the truth about poverty, social dislocation, and changes in American family life from the myths that have become part of contemporary folklore.