Questions to Guide your Reading

Adolescence:  Wilson, Jobless Ghettos and Social Outcomes

Class discussion 10/22 extended to 10/29

• Wilson distinguishes between two kinds of poor neighborhoods based on social integration and social control.  What are these distinctions?

• How do Valliant’s observations of adult development and career consolidation mesh with the social contexts described by Wilson?

• College attendance is associated with a shift from dualistic to relativistic thinking, i.e., the taking on of new perspectives.  This type of growth is central to Shaie’s descriptions of adult cognitive development.  What are the opportunities for nurturing post formal thought in neighborhoods characterized by “new urban poverty?”

• If a substantial majority of adults in poor neighborhoods are unemployed or have dropped out of the labor force, then doesn’t that reduce the stress facing young adults in that environment (see Feldman 456-462)?

• How do Wilson’s examples illustrate the bi-directional or reciprocal nature of individual-social context effects across the developmental ecology?

• How does the research on health and fitness apply to individuals living in new urban poverty areas?

• Ghetto overcrowding was often thought of as a major contribution to social problems.  Wilson points out that a lack of population density can be problematic too.  How? 

More food for thought…

• Young adults just becoming eligible to vote should be paying attention to events at election time.  Listen to the campaign rhetoric (watch Thursday’s debate) to ascertain whether it is welcoming or alienating to young adults living in the new urban poor neighborhoods?