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underclass
" Since my retirement, I've spent a lot of time trying to help the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina. A society like this just can't afford an uneducated underclass of citizens."
Charles Kuralt

Meaning of "underclass" in the English dictionary

DICTIONARY

PRONUNCIATION OF UNDERCLASS

ˈʌndəˌklɑːs


GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF UNDERCLASS

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Underclass is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES UNDERCLASS MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Underclass

The underclass is the segment of the population that occupies the lowest possible position in a class hierarchy, below the core body of the working class. The general idea that a class system includes a population under the working class has a long tradition in the social sciences. 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. The appropriateness of using the underclass term has also been questioned, with some social scientists claiming that the concept has been transformed into a codeword for intellectuals to demonize impoverished blacks and Latinos in the urban US. The term underclass is employed by sociologists such as Dennis Gilbert to describe the most disadvantaged socio-economic demographic with the least access to scarce resources.

Definition of underclass in the English dictionary

The definition of underclass in the dictionary is a class beneath the usual social scale consisting of the most disadvantaged people, such as the unemployed in inner cities.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH UNDERCLASS

class · club-class · eyeglass · fiberglass · first-class · glass · hourglass · interclass · lower-class · masterclass · middle-class · nightclass · outclass · second-class · subclass · sunglass · superclass · top-class · upper-class · working-class

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE UNDERCLASS

undercapitalise · undercapitalised · undercapitalize · undercapitalized · undercard · undercarriage · undercart · undercast · undercharge · underclad · underclassman · underclassmen · underclay · undercliff · underclothe · underclothes · underclothing · underclub · underclubbed · underclubbing

WORDS THAT END LIKE UNDERCLASS

business class · club class · dancing class · economy class · evening class · first class · form class · gym class · high-class · lass · lower class · master class · middle class · second class · sergeant first class · standard class · third class · upper class · upper middle class · working class · world-class

Synonyms and antonyms of underclass in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «underclass» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR

TRANSLATION OF UNDERCLASS

Find out the translation of underclass to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.

The translations of underclass from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «underclass» in English.
zh

Translator English - Chinese

下层阶级
1,325 millions of speakers
es

Translator English - Spanish

clase marginada
570 millions of speakers
en

English

underclass
510 millions of speakers
hi

Translator English - Hindi

underclass
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

الطبقة الدنيا
280 millions of speakers
ru

Translator English - Russian

низший
278 millions of speakers
pt

Translator English - Portuguese

classe marginalizada
270 millions of speakers
bn

Translator English - Bengali

অবহেলিত
260 millions of speakers
fr

Translator English - French

quart-monde
220 millions of speakers
ms

Translator English - Malay

Underclass
190 millions of speakers
de

Translator English - German

Unterklasse
180 millions of speakers
ja

Translator English - Japanese

最下層階級
130 millions of speakers
ko

Translator English - Korean

사회 하층 계급
85 millions of speakers
jv

Translator English - Javanese

Underclass
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

tầng lớp dưới
80 millions of speakers
ta

Translator English - Tamil

அடிமட்ட
75 millions of speakers
mr

Translator English - Marathi

Underclass
75 millions of speakers
tr

Translator English - Turkish

alt sınıf
70 millions of speakers
it

Translator English - Italian

sottoproletariato
65 millions of speakers
pl

Translator English - Polish

podklasa
50 millions of speakers
uk

Translator English - Ukrainian

нижчий
40 millions of speakers
ro

Translator English - Romanian

proletariat
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

underclass
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

onderklas
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

underklass
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

underklasse
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of underclass

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «UNDERCLASS»

Principal search tendencies and common uses of underclass
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «underclass».

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about underclass

EXAMPLES

6 QUOTES WITH «UNDERCLASS»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word underclass.
1
Jane Fonda
If we as a nation are to break the cycle of poverty, crime and the growing underclass of young people ill equipped to be productive citizens, we need to not only implement effective programs to prevent teen pregnancy, but we must also help those who have already given birth so that they become effective, nurturing, bonding parents.
2
Henry Louis Gates
It's not white versus black any more, it's haves versus have-nots. Unless the black middle-classes unite to promote the interests of the black underclass, tension between them is inevitable. What we, the black middle class have to do, is think of a strategy to avert that.
3
Henry Louis Gates
The most ironic outcome of the black Civil Rights movement has been the creation of a new black middle class which is increasingly separate from the black underclass.
4
Charles Kuralt
Since my retirement, I've spent a lot of time trying to help the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina. A society like this just can't afford an uneducated underclass of citizens.
5
Andrew O'Hagan
The working class of England take their deracination completely for granted. Disenchantment is the happy code that informs every byway of the underclass: service jobs, celebrity dreams, Lotto wins, leisured poverty on pre-crunch credit cards, it's all there, part of the story of an English people whose grandparents never had it so good.
6
Nigel Short
We have a large underclass in Britain, and a fairly low standard of education. Our best universities are extremely good, but a very significant proportion of the British population that comes out of compulsory schooling with very low standards of education.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «UNDERCLASS»

Discover the use of underclass in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to underclass and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass
This powerful and disturbing book links persistent poverty among blacks in the United States to the unparalleled degree of deliberate segregation they experience in American cities.
Douglas S. Massey, 1993
2
The "Underclass" Debate: Views from History
By providing a badly needed historical context, these essays reframe today's "underclass" debate.
Michael B. Katz, 1993
3
The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and ...
This second edition also includes a new afterword from Wilson himself that brings the book up to date and offers fresh insight into its findings. “The Truly Disadvantaged should spur critical thinking in many quarters about the causes and ...
William Julius Wilson, 2012
4
The Urban Underclass
These essays also show the reasons for poverty among children, demonstrate that the main issue is not so much a growth in the size of the underclass as the persistence of poverty decades after the country thought it had addressed the ...
Christopher Jencks, Paul E. Peterson, 2001
5
Life at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes the Underclass
A searing account of life in the underclass and why it persists as it does, written by a British psychiatrist.
Theodore Dalrymple, 2003
6
Dangerous Classes: The Underclass and Social Citizenship
Dangerous Classes provides an authoritative and much needed critical review of British and American debates about the underclass, set in the context of historical material and policy developments.
Lydia Morris, 2002
7
The Black Underclass: Poverty, Unemployment, and Entrapment ...
A study of the conditions that led to the Watts riot in 1965 argues that joblessness, limited educational opportunities, and disguised racism have made many young Blacks part of an immobile lower class
Douglas G. Glasgow, 1981
8
Poverty and the Underclass: Changing Perceptions of the Poor ...
In this timely work, William Kelso analyzes how the persistence of poverty has resulted in a reversal of liberal and conservative positions during the last thirty years.
William Alton Kelso, 1994
9
African Underclass:
Examines how the colonial state dealt with rapid urbanisation in the context of the state's views on social order and disorder.
Andrew Burton, 2005
10
The Constitutional Underclass: Gays, Lesbians, and the ...
Concluding with a call for wholesale reform of equal-protection jurisprudence, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in fair, coherent, and truly equal protection under the law.
Evan Gerstmann, 1999

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «UNDERCLASS»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term underclass is used in the context of the following news items.
1
GCSE English and maths resits are creating a teen 'underclass
Forcing young people to resit English and maths GCSEs could be creating an “underclass” of students, an assessment expert has warned. Ahead of GCSE ... «TES News, Jul 15»
2
David Cameron agrees with John Major's hammer-blow claim that …
David Cameron has agreed with John Major's shocking claims that Britain still has a 'substantial underclass' after five years of Tory rule. Last night the ex-PM ... «mirror.co.uk, May 15»
3
Murder in Denmark shows what happens when you create an …
The Danes have methodically built an underclass, a polyglot immigrant, welfare-dependent, high-unemployment, crime-afflicted subculture. This subculture has ... «Sydney Morning Herald, Feb 15»
4
Through AAP, Delhi's vast underclass speaks up
But Delhi also has a vast, striving and frustrated underclass, which now appears to be firmly in the AAP camp. This report explained how 10.2 million people ... «Business Standard, Feb 15»
5
Wingnut Ben Stein rants about “beaten-down, pathetic, self …
The real problem with race in America is a very, very beaten-down, pathetic, self-defeating black underclass that just can't seem to get its way going in the way ... «Salon, Nov 14»
6
'The right's favorite new race guru' Jason Riley blames the left for …
... “values and habits” within the black community, not “oppression from a manifestly unjust society,” are to blame for the challenges facing “the black underclass.”. «Yahoo News, Sep 14»
7
Underclass 'costing the country £30bn a year'
Britain's underclass is four times larger than originally thought with problem families costing taxpayers an estimated £30bn a year. The first detailed study of ... «The Times, Aug 14»
8
Beating of Roma Boy Exposes Tensions in France's Underclass
In the case of Darius, whose full name has not been revealed by the authorities because he is a minor, the rage of an underclass living on the margins of the ... «New York Times, Jun 14»
9
Franco-Americans are the unlikely underclass
The book that recently broke this news of the underclass of the descendants of New France in America is “The Son Also Rises: Surnames and the History of ... «Bangor Daily News, May 14»
10
How we can prevent a new underclass
Put in blunt terms, badly designed policies and a political inertia has allowed a large welfare-dependent underclass to emerge. Having children who have the ... «Irish Independent, Mar 14»
REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Underclass [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/underclass>. May 2024 ».
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