Joblessness and The Collapse of Family Structure

           

The collapse of family structure that is increasing in today’s inner cities can be an explanation for the many problems that these communities encounter.  Female-headed households are becoming the norm since the decrease in job opportunities has left a pool of jobless men who are unable to be financially supportive.  Family structure is affected then by the structure of that family’s community, for when certain social, political, and economic structures collapse, it directly impacts the livelihood of families as well.  This week’s readings in the book, The Truly Disadvantaged, looks into the factors that boost the number of female headed homes, particularly black female headed homes, and how this practice becomes more and more of a trend in the inner city.  

           

According to William Julius Wilson, the issue with male joblessness among black men in the inner city heightens the chance for black families to be run by single mothers.  The lack of employment opportunities for black men in the inner city only bolsters the appearance of female-headed homes in the community.  Chapter 3 of Wilson’s book, The Truly Disadvantaged, points out that homes that are run by single mothers are more likely to be poor and to stay poor, especially when being compared to homes of married couples.  Since this trend is becoming a norm in the inner city, it creates an even denser population of kids that are born into families that are fatherless.  The absence of a capable father figure in a household can be detrimental to how a child views certain practices in life.  For instance, a child growing up with a single mother may not have the proper amount of provision to deter their bad choices in adolescence and beyond.  Perhaps a son in the inner city without a father in the family may see no problem in out of wedlock pregnancies, which then continues this cycle in his lifetime and possibly continuing this trend for the next generation to come.  For daughters, being fatherless and in poverty may hinder their ability to look for capable male prospects of their own when their time comes, for they never got the chance to be influenced by one as a child.  The rate of joblessness within the inner city truly has an influence on the type of family structure that dominates that population.    

Article related to this post: When Families Struggle

References: Wilson, William J. 2012. The Truly Disadvantaged. 2^nd ed. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.