1  Cover

      2  Front Matter

      3  Title Page

      4  Copyright

      5  Dedication

      6  Endorsement Page

      7  Prologue Concepts matter Chasing after an urban chimera Anti-urbanism and the fear of the (black) city underbelly

      8  Part One: The Tale of The “Underclass” Entry Notes 1. Between concept and myth: genealogy of a shifty category Notes 2. “The tragedy of the underclass”: Policy theater and scholarship Notes 3. Anatomy: The three faces of the “underclass” 1. At the origins, the “under-class” as structural position 2. The dominant schema of the “underclass” as assortment of “antisocial behaviors” 3. The neo-ecological conception, or the neighborhood as multiplier of marginality Notes 4. The strange career of a racialized folk devil Notes 5. Implications for the social epistemology of urban marginality Notes Exit Notes

      9  Part Two: Lessons From The Tale Quandaries and consequences of naming Forging robust concepts Epistemic opportunity costs Bandwagons, speculation, and turnkeys Notes

      10  Coda: Resolving the trouble with “race” in the twenty-first century Notes

      11  Appendix: The nine lives of the “underclass” Notes

      12  Acknowledgments

      13  References

      14  Index

      15  End User License Agreement

      1  Cover

      2  Table of Contents

      3  Front Matter

      4  Title Page

      5  Copyright

      6  Dedication

      7  Endorsement Page

      8  Prologue

      9  Begin Reading

      10  Coda: Resolving the trouble with “race” in the twenty-first century

      11  Appendix: The nine lives of the “underclass”

      12  Acknowledgments

      13  References

      14  Index

      15  End User License Agreement

      1 Part OneFigure 1. Cover of Time Magazine in the wake of the “Harlem blackout riot” of August 1977

      2 Chapter 3Figure 2. The causal chain articulated in Wilson’s The Truly Disadvantaged (1987)

      3 Chapter 4Figure 3. The rise and fall of the “underclass” in public debate, 1960–2017Figure 4. The peregrinations of the “underclass” across the academic, policy-political-…

      4 AppendixFigure 5. Mentions of “underclass” in the Social Science Citation Index, 1970–2020Figure 6. Publications on “underclass” in the Social Science Citation Index, 1970–2020Figure 7. Mentions of