William Julius Wilson facts for kids

William Julius Wilson (born December 20, 1935) is an American sociologist. A sociologist is a scientist who studies how people live together in groups. He is a professor at Harvard University and writes books about cities, race, and social classes.

Mr. Wilson won the National Medal of Science, which is a very important award for scientists. He also led the American Sociological Association as its 80th President. He helped us understand how where you live (your neighborhood) can affect your life. He showed that when there are not enough jobs and community resources, poverty can get worse in city neighborhoods.

William Wilson's Career

William Julius Wilson is a special professor at Harvard University. He holds the title of Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor. This is one of the highest honors a professor can get at Harvard.

He earned his PhD degree from Washington State University in 1966. After that, he taught sociology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In 1972, he joined the University of Chicago. There, he became a director of a center that studied inequality in cities.

In 1996, he moved to Harvard University. He works with different groups there, including those that study social policy and African American history. He also helps advise the Library of Congress. Mr. Wilson has been a part of many important groups that work to improve society. He also advised Sudhir Venkatesh, who was a student studying for his PhD.

Books by William Wilson

William Julius Wilson has written many important books. These books help us understand big problems in society. They often focus on race, poverty, and life in cities.

One of his early books is Power Racism and Privilege (1973). This book looked at how race relations work in society.

His book The Declining Significance of Race (1978) won an award. In this book, he suggested that a person's social class might be more important than their race in some ways. He believed this could affect their chances in life.

Another famous book is The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy (1987). This book was chosen as one of the best books of its year by the New York Times Book Review. In it, he talked about how jobs moving out of cities can hurt people living there. He also disagreed with ideas that said welfare caused poverty.

In When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor (1996), he explored what happens when jobs leave city areas. This book also won an award.

More recently, he wrote More than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City (2009). In this book, he asked why poverty continues for many African Americans in cities. He looked at how things like unfair laws and discrimination in jobs and housing play a role. He also discussed how people's attitudes can be part of the problem. He wanted to show that both big societal structures and cultural ideas affect poverty.

How William Wilson's Ideas Influence Others

William Julius Wilson's ideas have had a big impact. His book When Work Disappears even inspired a season of the TV show The Wire. This shows how his research helps people understand real-world issues.