Oppressors or oppressed? Well, I know where I stand. Crudely speaking I tend to see the so-called 'underclass' as *effectively* the product of a feat of Capitalist social engineering. These folk didn't just wake up one sunny day and think "How mysterious, I no longer feel like doing an honest days work down at the steel yard/docks/pit (wherever), all of a sudden I fancy some yummy special brew for breakfast. Then I think I'm going to go out and do some robbing, before creating a few nippers before tea, and having a nice drop of heroine before bedtime."
So, while I tend to think that people (all people) will try to make the best choices they can for themselves, when options are limited, they will make choices that others might think are not very err constructive. The question Eliza asks is "how do we break the cycle.." It has to start with serious reinvestment in depressed areas, or even as Ake suggests, a complete overhaul of 'the system'. Of course neither of those things will happen under this government, and we'll keep getting those articles in the DM blaming groups of people who have been dumped in the poo by policies they promote, for being horrible smelly poopy people.