William Julius Wilson believes that the cause of the emergence of an urban underclass is economic and social structural deficits in society. This is true because prior to the Civil War, people believed their business on poverty was private and worked to solve their own issues. When people moved as part of industrialization in search of jobs or out west in hopes of a better life, things got worse, especially when social reforms were enacted. These reforms gave people the belief that they could rely on society to help them out of their poverty.