FROM UNDERCLASS TO UNDERCASTE - SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE FUTURE OFTHE POSTINDUSTRIAL ECONOMY AND ITS MAJOR VICTIMS

In 1962, the Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal coined the term underclas s to describe poor Americans being forced to the margins or out of the labour market by what is now called the postindustrial economy. This paper looks at these victims of the postindustrial economy and the vic timization process itself, especially that part which blames the joble ss for their own joblessness, stigmatizes them as morally undeserving, and thus judges them undeserving of help. The paper describes the dev elopment of this process in the USA, and asks how economic victims are chosen in other countries, whether any are stigmatized, and how these are chosen. In the USA, racism supplies widely accepted criteria for selecting a stigmatized set of victims, but countries lacking America' s racist heritage may develop different criteria. The paper raises the possibility that if unemployment becomes long-term and increases suff iciently, many economic victims may be forced into a permanent and per manently stigmatized undercaste. The paper ends with some policies to fight these economic and social trends.