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Urban Poverty and Government Policy to Solve the Problem
Introduction
William Julius Wilson mentioned in his book, ‘The Truly Disadvantaged: The Hidden
Agenda (1987)’ that many of inner city problem stem from the fact that middle-class
blacks all moved out once housing segregation broke down. Although there is
no racial problem in South Korea(thereafter Korea), the ghetto, Wilson addressed,
existed. The situation is same. By the effects of the suburbanization of employment,
which has excluded the urban poor who remain in the inner city, those who are
doing very well do better, and those who are doing very poorly do much worse.
However, since other racial groups do not existed in Korea, the problem would
be caused by the economic factor. This paper focuses on the idea that the economic
factor is the primary in making the ghetto.In this paper, I mention first, the
definition of several terms and ‘concentric zone’ by Burgess, address the ghetto
and housing segregation in Seoul, the capital city of Korea, and compare with
two cases, U.S. and Korea. Finally I summarize the efforts to solve the problem.
Definition and Background
Poverty can be defined as follows; “people are poor when they do not have the
material basis for sustaining social life and for the production of culture.
The conservative position is that poverty is a result of the personal failings
or weaknesses of individuals and groups.…(Socialists claim that) industrial
capitalism produces poverty by wage and labor police.” (Kuper 1996, p.234) And
the poor people live in ghettos, defined as “a very poor area of a city in which
a lot of people, often of the same race or region, live closely together and
apart from the rest of the city, or a part of society or group that is in some
way set apart from the others.” (Cambridge 1999, p.594)
Ernest Burgess offers a model for understanding the ghetto called the “concentric
zone,” the core of which is the central business district (CBD) with housing
transition zones of various qualities radiating outward. There is an economic
determinism underlying the scheme; that is, the further out one goes, the better
the housing becomes.
In the classic model, alongside the CBD, an area of impoverished, dilapidated
slum called the “zone of deterioration” exists, consisting of neighborhoods
that are “submerged regions of poverty, degradation, disease, and underworlds
of crime and vice.” (Pile et al. 1999 pp13-14)
The Ghetto and Housing Segregation in Seoul
The history of Seoul as Korea’s capital city began during the era of the Joseon
Kingdom in 1934, when the city’s construction was carried out inside city walls,
along four inner mountains, and including areas outside the walls within 4km.
These areas became Seoul’s CBD, and the basic framework of its urban planning.
The poorest villages were, and still are, generally located in the mountains,
as well as the areas near the walls. Most residents in these villages came from
rural areas in Korea, and are usually described as “people who live in the highest
place in Seoul, but live the lowest.”
The reason for these villagers’ ‘low’ states can be traced to the Korean War.
During the mid 1960s, the government’s nationwide ‘Five-Year Economic Development
Plan’ was focusing on the development of Seoul and Gyeonggi-Do, which is the
province around Seoul. Since it was easy to find workplace there, the villagers
came to Seoul asking for jobs. Picture 1 represents the change in the population
in Seoul. As time went by, from 1960s to 1994, the concentration of population
become more serious, and we can notice the development sequence in Seoul, from
the north to the south.
Seoul is divided by the Han River, which has northern and southern regions.
Since the 1970s, southern Han has developed as one of Seoul’s sub-cores. Along
the southern river are high-rise apartment buildings generally inhabited by
the middle and upper income classes. Due to the influx of population from north
of the river, the area in south of the river has expanded rapidly, and has come
to be associated with ‘luxury’ and ‘wealth.’ The main residents in the southern
area of the river are ‘white color’.
Due to the dense population of Seoul, five new satellite towns were built in
the late 1980s to function as suburbs around Seoul. Picture 2 shows the five
new towns and Seoul. According to the research by Go and Park (1993), most of
the inhabitants, many of upper or middle class, would commute to central Seoul
from southern Han or other middle or upper class living areas within Seoul,
leaving areas that would be occupied by the new poor, making certain areas more
into a ghetto. (Go & Park p.66)
The problems in the Ghetto
The most serious problem in the ghetto is pessimism, which leads to further
poverty. According to the JoonAng Ilbo’s survey, “16 percent of households are
led by only one parent. 76 percent of household heads are unemployed. 35 percent
have felt the urge to commit suicide, and 11percent actually attempted suicide
at least once. While 33 percent of the residents feel they need counseling on
family matters, only 8 percent have received it.” (JoonAng Ilbo 2001c p. 5)
Family life in ‘ghetto’ areas is very difficult, as poverty and unemployment
can cause pessimism, domestic violence, and divorce.
rural exodus - construction workingman - domestic violence and alcoholism -
family apart
Due to this progress, the number of poverty household would increase, along
with the social cost because the number of households which need help increases.
Most of the underclass fails to overcome family crises caused by poverty. Family
troubles and breakdowns usually lead to permanent poverty, and broken homes
cause children and seniors who cannot live by themselves to be abandoned, which
in turn leads to further poverty.
Figure 2. Overview of Three Generations of 20 households in ghetto (persons)
Source : JoonAng Ilbo 2001a p.1
To cut off the poverty for the next generation, children have to be protected.
Their parents are working at construction sites or factories. However, since
these jobs are mostly dangerous, injury is likely. They are often unable to
work, or even move without help. As a result, it is up to the children, who
are often under 18 years of age, to make a living. Instead of attending school,
they try to make money as newsboys or shoeshine boys, among other jobs. The
pessimism that results for these low-income children can only lead to further
poverty, or even involvement in crime. Also, since the education rate of Seoul
is extremely high, it is important to graduate from high school before finding
work. If someone does not graduate, it is difficult to get an office job in
Seoul. Thus, there are less education opportunities is equal to unemployment
What are the similarities and differences between cases in the United States
and Korea?
As Wilson points out, “historic discrimination is more important than contemporary
discrimination in understanding the plight of the ghetto underclass”(Wilson
1987, p.192). However, in the case of Korea, the contemporary factors are more
important especially when compared with the United States. The Korean War in
the 1950s and the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 played roles in creating a
ghetto in the urban area of Korea.
As mentioned previously, urban poverty began with the great losses during the
Korean War. Affected people moved to Seoul looking for jobs. However, since
they were mostly farmers, they were not skilled at certain tasks, and it thus
first became difficult to get jobs in Seoul. Their poverty was reproduced in
the next generation. Years later, the Economic Crisis in 1997 caused the closing
of many companies, leading to the number of jobs decreasing accordingly. According
to the survey by JoonAngilbo (2000), almost half of the employees who lost their
jobs have not found work since the crisis. (JoonAngIlbo 2001b p.5)
Just as in the U.S., the change of mode of regulatory affected poverty as well.
Cho (1995) notes that major industries in Korea have recently been restructured
under the reformative atmosphere. They are said to develop the regulative principle,
Post-Fordism.
As a result of restructuring industries, employment and wage relations have
been polarized between the core and peripheral workers, with the latter becoming
particularly vulnerable to the negative effects, usually because of a need to
reduce labor force and wage cost. As this change occurs around Seoul, a large
number of metropolitan workers join the poor. (Cho 1995, p.75)
It is the similarity between the cases of U.S. and Korea that caused the change
of mode of regulation from Fordism to Post-Fordism, which began urban poverty
and caused it to develop. The influx of population from the rural areas was
based on the new wave of regulation, Fordism, represented by mass productivity
and mass consumption. Because many labors were needed to produce and consume
commodities, many farmers had migrated to urban areas, turning the low-class
in the rural into the low-class in the urban one.
Since the 1970s in the U.S., and the 1980s in Korea, new movements have developed
based on more flexible forms of economic organization and production, along
with more diverse patterns of consumption and life style such as Neo-Fordism
and Post-Fordism. Under the new mode, Post-Fordism, characterized by decentralized,
flexible, and disposable units means the large scales of factories in Metropolitan
Areas are not needed any more. At the same time, the rental payment has increased
in Seoul, so the factories that need mass labor have moved out from Seoul, lessening
the opportunities of employment.
However, a clearly different issue is the ethnic issue. Due to only one ethnic
group in Korea, tension or segregation by race does not exist. Although I understand
the real meaning of ‘ghetto’ usually refers to race, I cannot mention this issue
in this paper.
Government role to solve the problem
The government policy to solve the problem should focus on two issues: to cure
extreme pessimism and to cut off the running poverty from generation to generation.
To do so, the government’s lead on preventing the emergence of slum culture
should be followed. Policies that only give out benefits will make the low-income
class fall further into poverty. Instead, work should be encouraged.
Education
According to the census data, in October 1999 there were 37,800 households in
Seoul that are entitled to the basic living protection, by which the Seoul municipality
provides them with various kinds of welfare money. (National Statistical Office,
1999 p.399) However, it is not the fundamental way to break the cycle of poverty
for the succeeding generation.
One of the ways to solve the poverty stigma is education. As it is, Seoul’s
government policy for low-income student education does not help them attend
college, leaving them to make money rather than to continue their education
after graduating high school. And if they attend college, they do not have enough
to pay the tuition. As such, the government needs to suggest that the students
do not need to submit the tuition.
Job training
Another necessity to help the poor would be to enhance to desire to work and
to provide practical help with job training or more opportunities of employment.
The main cause of unemployment is simple: there are too many workers who chase
too few jobs. Wilson (1987) suggests a massive government program similar to
the New Deal. He argues that the program will allow the poor to do better than
they would do themselves, and may be one way to solve the problem. However,
it could also be a burden of budget and taxation for the government. In contrast,
an easier way may be to establish training centers to raise skilled workers
for industries.
Skilled, young, and experienced workers who lost jobs usually quickly return
to workplace. However, low- skilled, old, and uneducated workers do not succeed
in regaining employment.
Child Care
In order to protect children from crime, as well as to improve the employment
prospects of their mothers, the child care system must be improved. Possible
solutions include an increase in 24-hour daycare centers, and job programs for
mothers living in the ghetto.
All of the policies and effects coincide with public and private sectors. The
private sectors would like to hire more skilled workers that can adapt to produce
their commodities or services. Because job training may not be sufficient, the
private sector should participate in support programs from the government. A
more fundamental reason for this is that solving the problem of poverty requires
all of the effects in society, not just in government.
Planning role to solve the problem
In her article “Educating Planners: unified Diversity for Social Action” (1996),
June Manning Thomas argues planning programs need to develop learning environments
which promote the acceptance of diversity, which she says will increase the
educational opportunities of ignored groups, women, and minority. They will
be able to perform better, she says, because they have confronted urban problems
with which these groups are familiar and faced.
We live in a space that is an accumulation of several layers including economics,
law, architecture, sociology, environment, and engineering. To develop this
space we should consider all of these layers. Planning can enlighten these points
because it focuses on these spatial issues. It means that we should consider
all of the facts in order to solve the problem. As such, a comprehensive long-term
program of economic and social reform is needed. Planning role focus on the
social reform as diversity.
Conclusion
Although there is no racial issue in Seoul, Korea, the ghetto exists. By the
effects of the suburbanization of employment, which has excluded the urban poor
who remain inner city, those who are doing very well do better, and those who
doing very poorly do much worse. The most serious problem of the ghetto is the
pessimism of the residents causing poverty succeed to next generation
Due to the change in regulation, from Fordism to Post-Fordism, urban poverty
would be more serious. However, in Seoul, the contemporary factors are more
important. The Korean War during 1950-1953 deprived them of everything, and
the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 derived them of hope.
To solve the problem, policy should focus on cutting off the poverty for next
generation. To do so, I suggest that more education opportunities to the poor,
development of a job training system, and improvement in the child care system.
Most of all, all of the policies and effects coincide with public and private
sectors. Moreover, to make policies, diversity in the society has to be considered.
All of the effects are based on the comprehensive long-term program of economic
and social reform.
Reference
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