Editing Underclass (section)

{{Short description|Lowest position in a class hierarchy}}
{{Globalize|article|USA|2name=the United States|date=February 2013}}
[[Image:Gilbert model.png|thumb|The term ''underclass'' is employed by sociologists such as [[Dennis Gilbert (sociologist)|Dennis Gilbert]] to describe the most disadvantaged [[Social class in the United States|socio-economic demographic]] with the least access to scarce resources. In this chart constructed by Gilbert, the American underclass is estimated to constitute roughly 12% of U.S. households (in 1998).<ref name="The American Class Structure">{{cite book | last = Gilbert | first = Dennis | year = 1998 | title = The American Class Structure | publisher = Wadsworth Publishing | location = New York | isbn = 0-534-50520-1 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/americanclassstr0000gilb_c7f2 }}</ref>]]
The '''underclass''' is the segment of the population that occupies the lowest possible position in a [[social class|class hierarchy]], below the core body of the [[working class]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Jargowsky |first1=Paul A. |last2=Minnite |first2=Lorraine C. |title=Underclass |encyclopedia=International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition) |date=2015 |pages=728–732 |doi=10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.32163-8 |isbn=978-0-08-097087-5}}</ref> This group is usually considered cut off from the rest of the society.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blundell |first=Jonathan |title=Cambridge IGCSE Sociology Coursebook |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-107-64513-4 |pages=93}}</ref>

The general idea that a class system includes a population ''under'' the working class has a long tradition in the social sciences (for example, [[lumpenproletariat]]). However, the specific term, ''underclass'', was popularized during the last half of the 20th century, first by social scientists of American [[poverty]], and then by American journalists.

The underclass concept has been a point of controversy among social scientists. Definitions and explanations of the underclass, as well as proposed solutions for managing or fixing the ''underclass problem'' have been highly debated.