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The article presents some historical observations on race relations and condition of "Underclass" in the U.S. Concerns have been raised about deteriorating social condition of the "underclasses" in the U.S.' urban black ghettos. While liberals attribute this development to racism or to structural flaws in the economy, a growing number of observers, appalled by what they see, have tended to emphasize cultural causes of the problem. "Black culture", they say, is at the root of things. Challenging liberal ideas about the benefits of public policy, they have grown profoundly pessimistic about the capacity of government action to promote social betterment. Since around 1980, a number of careful social scientists have entered the agitated debates over what to do about these problems. Of these, three will receive special attention in the review of the debates which will follow in this article. The first: what is new about contemporary perceptions of the black ghettos? What indeed do we mean by "underclass"? The second: what are the major causes, historical and contemporary, of African-American deprivation in the cities? Should we blame slavery? racial discrimination? government policies? "black culture"? And third: how have these debates informed perceptions of desirable public policies?
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