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For much of its history, America has been waging war against many of its poor people. Chapters 1 through 4 of this book discuss the labeling of the poor as morally inferior, which has increased in the last 15 years, blames them falsely for the ills of the American society and economy, reinforces their mistreatment, increases their misery, and further discourages their moving out of poverty. The underclass is discussed, not as an economic term, but as a behavioral term to describe the people who are accused of failing to behave in mainstream ways. It is argued that the phrase is merely a popular label to stereotype poor people. The ideological notion that the undeserving nature of the poor justifies the campaign against them allows the poor to be the scapegoats for modern social problems and supports the idea that benefits for the poor contribute to the shortcomings of the economy. Chapter 5 reviews the political strategy of antipoverty policy and discusses needed antipoverty programs, especially job-centered ones. Some programs are also proposed to fight the labeling of the poor. The final chapter considers a future in which full-time jobs could become increasingly scarce and suggests programs to maintain a viable standard of living in a part-time job economy. (Contains five tables.) (SLD)

This discussion of methods, experiences, and theory provides educators and parents with an approach to learning to read that emphasizes learning to think and becoming a functional reader who can enjoy using this skill throughout life. Included are simple, inexpensive suggestions for improving reading, such as more attention to regular school attendance, oral reading and spelling, and adequate repetition and drill. Divided into three parts, the first part emphasizes beginning reading experiences and activities. The second part discusses reading activities and attitudes in the elementary school, with a focus on the primary grades. The third part includes a section addressed to the influence of parents on developing sound reading habits and a summary of suggestions to help build critical reading skills. (AEA)

A comprehensive, just and viable settlement of the tragedy of Palestinian refugees that will enjoy wide support within the Palestinian and the Israeli publics is a sine qua non for a sustainable peace settlement. Most on both sides, however, perceive the issue as an existential zero sum game in which the losing side might have its entire national project in jeopardy. Involving tangible matters such as territorial rights, demographic majority and political control, the notion of Palestinian return also raises fundamental aspects of identity on both sides. A sensible solution will thus have to take on board a host of symbolic elements, including notions of justice, guilt, responsibility, redress and forgiveness. But unlike notions of transitional justice, which tend to privilege symbolic elements at the expense of tangible redress, justice for Palestinian refugees will require concrete interventions that would transform the lives of hundreds of thousands. Informed by these assumptions and sensibilities, this article presents a formula for comprehensive solution of the Palestinian refugees’ problem which includes staggered limited return into Israel proper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The argument presented in this essay has been theoretical and mainly negative: the two main sources of doubt about the validity of claims for reparation owing to past injustices do not undermine the validity of the right of return of the Palestinian refugees. Neither the questions arising from the non-identity problem nor those arising from the supersession thesis significantly undermine the Palestinian refugees’ claims to reparations and their right of return. First, the common understanding of harm and its accompanying notion of reparation and compensation are applicable to those Palestinians who were forcefully and deliberately expelled from their homeland as well as to their descendants with respect to the harm done to them owing to the lack of effective measures of reparations for the initial harm. Second, even if we allow for the conceptual possibility of historic supersession of injustices, it seems highly unlikely that the Palestinians’ right of return has been superseded. Morally speaking, there does not seem to be a compelling case for considering the ongoing effect of the expulsion of the Palestinians from their homeland as just given current circumstances. However, this essay has not addressed the question of how the Palestinians ought to exercise their right of return or whether they (or many of them) might have good or compelling reasons to refrain from realising their right of return. Responding to this question would require consideration not only how best to serve the interests underlying the Palestinians’ right of return, but also how to respect and to accommodate the legitimate interests and rights of others, including the Jewish right to self-determination. Last but not least, we would need to pragmatically assess how best to serve the goal of establishing a legitimate and stable political order in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supporters of a Palestinian right of return assume that Israeli Jews bear responsibility for both the past and present suffering of the Palestinian refugees. Accordingly, the Palestinian claim for return is a demand to realise this responsibility (inter alia) by way of the return of the refugees to their places of origin or to uninhabited regions in the Land of Israel/Palestine. The purpose of this article is to examine the responsibility of the Israeli Jews for the Palestinian suffering and whether this responsibility ought to be realised by way of return of the refugees in light of the question of the justice of Zionism. Part I of the article presents various approaches rejecting or affirming Zionism. The subsequent parts investigate the implications of the disparities between these approaches rejecting/affirming Zionism and Zionism’s actual history as it unfolded in terms of Jewish responsibility for the Palestinian plight and the question of Palestinian return. I argue that some of the approaches to Zionism are irrelevant to the dispute over the Palestinian right of return as it is understood within the framework of Israeli internal discourse and the Israeli-Palestinian dialogue. However, my main point is that those approaches rejecting/affirming Zionism that are relevant, though they may vary in their implications for the scope of Jewish responsibility for Palestinian suffering, nevertheless lead to very similar conclusions with respect to discharging that responsibility by way of Palestinian repatriation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Return, in the context of repatriation, is not a legal right according to the present development of international law. It is not enshrined in general human rights law, the law of nationality, the law of refugees or humanitarian law. Accordingly, Palestinians cannot speak of a “right” to return based on international law. Palestinians can neither base a right to repatriate on international law documents which deal specifically with the Palestinian problem. These documents are General Assembly or Security Council Resolutions which are not binding legal sources, but merely offer recommendations. The content of the resolutions is controversial and they offer alternative solutions to repatriation, such as resettlement and a “just solution.” Any negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians should take into consideration that repatriation of Palestinians to the State of Israel is not imposed upon Israel by international law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chapter 31 of the book "The Inequality Reader: Contemporary and Foundational Readings in Race, Class, and Gender," edited by David B. Grusky and Szonja Szelényi is presented. It presents excerpts from the article "The Possibility of a New Racial Hierarchy in the Twenty-first-century United States," by Herbert J. Gans in the book "The Cultural Territories of Race: Black and White Boundaries, edited by Michèle Lamont. It discusses the dual racial hierarchy in the U.S.

In previous work, we proposed the prototype environment SNet for the representation and dynamic evaluation of agent-based designs for inter-organizational networks. A key feature of SNet is the automatic translation of extended i* models into the action language ConGolog. In order to run realistic simulations, the resulting agents are deliberative in that they can choose between different courses of action according to some utility measure. When applying SNet to modelling an existing entrepreneurship network, we discovered a number of deficiencies of our current proposal, in particular, the lack of a role concept, the ability to monitor the execution of plans that depend on other agents' contributions and the ability to model agents that evolve over time. In this paper we will sketch the example domain and discuss how these new features can be incorporated in the SNet framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the short story "And Here in Chicago It's 78°" by Bruce Michale Gans.

Presents comments about the participant-observation method used in the case study "The Urban Villagers: Group and Class in the Life of Italian-Americans," by Herbert J. Hans. Discussion on the extent of representativeness of the West Enders of the country's Italian American population based on data from the U.S. Census; Virtues of the participant-observation method.

Presents a list of the references cited in the footnote of the postscripts in the book "The Urban Villagers: Group and Class in the Life of Italian-Americans," by Herbert J. Hans, as well as a number of books which were used in preparing the postscripts.

Discusses the purposes and methods used in the study "The Urban Villagers: Group and Class in the Life of Italian-Americans," by Herbert J. Hans. Approaches used in the field work of the study; Types and problems of the participant-observation method; Analysis on the data gathered from observations and interviews and their limitations.

Describes the fate of urban renewal and other ways of displacing the poor in the West End, an inner city Boston neighborhood in Massachusetts. Effects of relocation and urban renewal on the West Enders; Description of the West End after the redevelopment plan; Implications of urban renewal for housing policy.

Evaluates the urban redevelopment of the West End, an inner city Boston neighborhood in Massachusetts. Policies which could be instituted to improve the relocation process and to reduce the injustice which would be meted out to the West Enders; Benefits and costs of the redevelopment plan; Description of the relocation plan and process; Recommendations for urban renewal.

Focuses on the urban redevelopment of the West End, an inner city Boston neighborhood in Massachusetts. Analysis on the redevelopment process and its impact on the West End; Evaluation of the redevelopment plan from a city planning and general social welfare perspective.

Evaluates the social class subcultures in the West End, an inner city Boston neighborhood in Massachusetts, and their implications for city planning and caretaking initiatives. Basis of the assumptions of the evaluation; Response of the working class and lower class subcultures to social opportunities; Actions that must be taken by city planners and caretakers to help people move out of subcultures.

Describes the subcultures of the working class, lower class and middle class in the West End, an inner city Boston neighborhood in Massachusetts. Differences between West Enders and the middle class; Studies on the working class and lower class; Opportunities and deprivations that subcultures encounter; Social mobility among West Enders.

Discusses the generations of peer group society in the West End, an inner city Boston neighborhood in Massachusetts. Similarities between the West End and Southern Italian communities; Social structure of Southern Italians who migrated to the U.S.; Basis of the peer group society and the signs of change between the past and present peer group generations; Pattern of social mobility among West Enders and the coming generation.

Discusses the behavior of Italian American consumers in West End, an inner city Boston neighborhood in Massachusetts, toward consumer goods and entertainment provided by the communications sector. Factors that affect the buying behavior of West End consumers; Preferences of West Enders in terms of mass media programming and performers; Influence of values on the choice of entertainment among West Enders.

Discusses the functions of the politician based on the conception of people in the West End, an inner city Boston neighborhood in Massachusetts. Perspective of West Enders on government and its officials; Characteristics of a politician.

Discusses the role of missionary caretakers in the life of Italians in the West End, an inner city Boston neighborhood in Massachusetts. Relationship between a caretaker and a client; External and internal caretakers that are providing services in the West End; Aim of the missionary caretakers in the West End; Cultural barrier between caretakers and West Enders.

Describes the social structure of work, education and medical care in the West End, an inner city Boston neighborhood in Massachusetts. Attitude of West Enders toward work; Perspective of West Enders on education and the public school; Functions of medical care and health in the West End.

Discusses the nature of community in the West End, an inner city Boston neighborhood in Massachusetts. Patterns of community participation and leadership in the area; Attitude of West Enders toward the church; Organizations and associations in the West End; Commercial establishments in the West End.

Describes the peer group and individual life and sociability of people in the West End, an inner city Boston neighborhood in Massachusetts. Role of the peer group in the life of West Enders; Behaviors of teenagers, young adults, and adults in peer groups; Comparison between object-oriented and person-oriented individualistic modes of behavior; Characteristics of personality structure among West Enders.

Discusses the types and nature of families living in the West End, an inner city Boston neighborhood in Massachusetts. Pattern of male-female interaction; Relationship between husband and wife; Method of child rearing and the role of the mother in the process.

Describes the socioeconomic and ethnic characteristics of Italians of the West End, an inner city Boston neighborhood in Massachusetts, and outlines their social structure. Patterns of residence of West Enders; Social strata among the West Enders; Structure of the West End society focusing on the peer group.

Presents a historical and ecological overview of the West End, an inner city Boston neighborhood in Massachusetts. Groups of the population in the West End; Median income of the people in the urban village; Description of the life in the West End.

Presents an overview of the original edition of the book "The Urban Villagers: Group and Class in the Life of Italian-Americans," by Herbert J. Gans