Life at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes the Underclass is a collection of essays written by British writer, doctor and psychiatrist Theodore Dalrymple and published in book form by Ivan R. Dee in 2001.
The writing style that Dalrymple explains these in was praised by reviewers for its clear, witty prose and for going immediately to the heart of the matter that is being discussed.
"[8] A number of chapters discuss the "ferocious young egoist" that is meant to represent male youths who are violent and obsessive toward their significant others.
[14] In the larger first section titled "Grim Reality," Dalrymple "uses specific stories from his practice and from some journalistic forays to show how the 'fundamental premise of popular culture' leads to actions that wreck people's lives.
"[10] This section covers things like modern Bohemianism, drug addictions and overdoses, lack of education, familial obligations, physical abuse and the concept of personal responsibility for choices made.
[10] Then, in the section "Grimmer Theory," he "shows that the twentieth century's intellectuals have provided members of the underclass with a battery of rationalizations by which they can shift the blame for their misery away from their actions and attitudes and can unleash their hatred of everyone who challenges their outlook.
[15] The book also explains the philosophy of social determinism held by those Dalrymple interviewed, and how the welfare state and the socialist tenets within it help feed this mindset.
However, Dalrymple never directly accuses socialism and the welfare state in his essays, instead focusing on the beliefs and reasons for why the patients and inmates take the destructive actions that they did.
[18] An important subset to this deterministic theme, related to the original worldview idea as well, is the lack of personal responsibility that those in the underclass accept for their own actions.
"[22] America magazine writer, Peter Heinegg, considered the essays to be a "barrage of breathtakingly horrible true-life...stories," but he said that Dalrymple puts too much of his personal "snorting indignation" into the text without letting the reader draw their own conclusions.
He ended by saying, "Dalrymple's case sounds like a paranoid tirade or perverse tribute, but it is at least partially redeemed by the barrage of breathtakingly horrible true-life (one assumes) stories that this very angry doctor tells...to bolster it.
[25] Overall, Sowell said that the collection was able to explain that "One of the most telling examples of the social destructiveness of the left's welfare-state vision can be found among the white slum dwellers in Britain.
"[24] Atlanta Journal-Constitution writer, Theresa K. Weaver, called the collection "saddening, infuriating and ultimately not terribly empowering," stating that she wishes Dalrymple "might at least offer a few ideas on turning everything around.