The central theme of the analysis is that several major and broad social forces, including economic decline, job loss, ghettoization, housing abandonment, and homelessness, have had disproportionate impacts on the inner-city economy. These forces have created micro consequences that have had direct impacts on many inner-city residents and have increased levels of distress experienced by households, families, and individuals. Economic marginality has generated high levels of alcohol and other drug abuse as well as criminality, which are exemplified by one inner-city household that has an extensive family history that indicates the chronic impacts of these macro forces and their micro consequences. Notes and 86 references (Author abstract modified)