Urban poverty after The Truly Disadvantaged: The rediscovery of the family, the neighborhood, and culture

In what follows we critically assess a selection of the works on urban pove rty that followed the publication of WJ Wilson's The Truly Disadvantaged (1 987), with a particular focus on the family, the neighborhood, and culture. We frame our discussion by assessing the broad explanations of the increas ed concentration of poverty in urban neighborhoods characteristic of the 19 70s and 1980s. Then, in the section on the family, we address the rising ou t-of-wedlock and disproportionately high teenage birthrates of poor urban w omen. Next, we critique the literature on neighborhood effects. Finally, in the discussion of culture, we examine critically the new efforts at comple menting structural explanations with cultural accounts. We conclude by call ing for more comparative, cross-regional, and historical studies, broader c onceptions of urban poverty, and a greater focus on Latinos and other ethni c groups.