Ghetto

1. The ghetto concept evolved from Jewish history to black American experience

"Five hundred years ago, in 1516, the Venetian authorities required the city's Jews to live on that island, in an area enclosed by walls. Venice was thus the first place to have a ghetto with today's connotation of restriction in space."

Origin of the term. The word "ghetto" originated in 16th century Venice to describe the enclosed Jewish quarter. It evolved over centuries to refer to various segregated ethnic enclaves in European cities. In the 20th century, the term was adopted by African Americans to describe their own segregated urban neighborhoods in the United States.

Changing meanings. The concept of the ghetto transformed as it moved from Jewish to black contexts:

• For Jews: Initially a place of relative autonomy and cultural preservation, later a site of oppression
• For blacks: A space of both cultural vitality and systemic disadvantage
• Common thread: Involuntary segregation based on ethnicity/race

2. Post-WWII scholars linked black ghettos to Nazi oppression

"Had my course been offered earlier in Princeton's history, before the mid-1940s, it would have had nothing to do with blacks and no one would have expected it might. Instead, an instructor would have focused exclusively on Jews."

Nazi influence. After World War II, black intellectuals and activists drew parallels between Nazi ghettos and American black neighborhoods to highlight the injustice of segregation. This comparison was powerful because:

• It evoked recent global horror at Nazi atrocities
• It positioned black Americans as "America's Jews" deserving moral consideration
• It emphasized the involuntary, oppressive nature of black urban segregation

Shift in discourse. This rhetorical move marked a significant change in how ghettos were conceptualized:

• Pre-WWII: Ghettos seen as voluntary ethnic enclaves
• Post-WWII: Ghettos framed as sites of unjust confinement and control

3. Restrictive covenants and racism created the black ghetto

"Restrictive covenants had artificially brought about the black ghetto. Drake and Cayton thus broke with the major assumption of the Chicago School, the understanding of the distribution of racial and ethnic groups as a natural phenomenon."

Institutional racism. Black ghettos in American cities were not the result of natural migration patterns or voluntary clustering, but of deliberate policies and practices:

• Restrictive covenants: Legal agreements prohibiting property sales to blacks
• Redlining: Discriminatory mortgage lending practices
• Public housing policies: Concentrating low-income housing in specific areas
• White flight: Mass exodus of white residents from integrating neighborhoods

Challenging assumptions. Scholars like Drake and Cayton demonstrated that ghetto formation was not a natural process, contradicting earlier sociological theories. This shifted the focus to systemic racism and institutional barriers as the root causes of black urban segregation.

4. The ghetto fostered both cultural vibrancy and systemic disadvantage

"For Clark, the black ghetto was more meaningfully a North American invention, a manner of existence that had little in common with anything that had come before in Europe or even in the U.S. South."

Dual nature. The black ghetto was characterized by a complex duality:

• Cultural richness: Vibrant music, art, literature, and community institutions
• Structural oppression: Limited economic opportunities, substandard housing and services

Changing over time. The balance between these aspects shifted:

• Early 20th century: Greater emphasis on cultural autonomy and community strength
• Mid-20th century: Increasing focus on systemic disadvantages and social problems

Unique features. Kenneth Clark argued that the American black ghetto was distinct from earlier forms:

• Intergenerational: Unlike immigrant enclaves, escape was difficult across generations
• Comprehensive: Affected all aspects of life, from education to employment
• Psychologically damaging: Created feelings of inferiority and hopelessness

5. Social scientists debated causes and solutions for ghetto poverty

"Myrdal was wrong. The tragedy of race relations in the United States is that there is no American Dilemma. White Americans are not torn and tortured by the conflict between their devotion to the American creed and their actual behavior."

Competing theories. Social scientists proposed various explanations for persistent ghetto poverty:

• Gunnar Myrdal: Conflict between American ideals and racist practices
• Oscar Lewis: "Culture of poverty" transmitted across generations
• Daniel Patrick Moynihan: Breakdown of the black family structure
• William Julius Wilson: Economic restructuring and spatial mismatch

Policy implications. These theories led to different proposed solutions:

• Myrdal: Appeal to white conscience and American values
• Lewis: Cultural intervention and education
• Moynihan: Strengthen black family structures
• Wilson: Job creation and economic development

Evolving debate. The discussion shifted from optimism about white moral awakening to more structural and economic analyses of ghetto formation and persistence.

6. Wilson argued class surpassed race in determining black outcomes

"Wilson argued that opportunities were increasing in the corporate and government sectors for those who were educated, but those who had little training remained confined to a low-wage secondary labor market."

Class over race. William Julius Wilson's controversial thesis in "The Declining Significance of Race" (1978) argued that social class had become more important than race in determining life outcomes for black Americans.

Key points:

• Economic restructuring created new opportunities for educated blacks
• Unskilled blacks faced increasing unemployment and poverty
• Middle-class blacks were able to leave the ghetto, concentrating poverty
• The black community became more stratified by class

Mixed reception. Wilson's argument was:

• Praised for highlighting economic factors in racial inequality
• Criticized for potentially downplaying ongoing racial discrimination
• Influential in shaping policy debates about urban poverty

7. Spatial mismatch and concentrated poverty defined the modern ghetto

"For Wilson, the ghetto was a space with 'a disproportionate concentration of the most disadvantaged segments of the urban black population.'"

Spatial mismatch. John Kain's theory highlighted how the geography of jobs affected ghetto residents:

• Manufacturing jobs moved to suburbs
• New service jobs required different skills
• Lack of transportation limited access to suburban jobs
• Result: High unemployment in inner-city ghettos

Concentration effects. Wilson emphasized how concentrated poverty created additional problems:

• Lack of role models and social networks
• Limited access to quality schools and services
• Higher crime rates and social disorganization
• Stigma associated with ghetto addresses

These factors created a self-reinforcing cycle of disadvantage for ghetto residents.

8. Efforts to improve or disperse ghettos had mixed results

"Canada's Promise Neighborhood approach also advanced the 'hidden agenda' that Wilson had called for in his 1987 book The Truly Disadvantaged."

Place-based initiatives. Programs like the Harlem Children's Zone aimed to improve conditions within ghettos:

• Comprehensive services from "cradle to career"
• Focus on education, health, and community development
• Some promising results, but questions about scalability

Mobility programs. Efforts to help residents move to better neighborhoods:

• Moving to Opportunity experiment showed mixed outcomes
• Short-term disruptions vs. potential long-term benefits
• Debate over whether to improve ghettos or help people leave them

Policy challenges. Addressing ghetto poverty faced obstacles:

• Limited political will for large-scale interventions
• Difficulty balancing place-based and people-based approaches
• Persistence of racial segregation and discrimination

9. The ghetto became a site of increased control and decreased flourishing

"For the U.S. black ghetto has, over time, seen less flourishing and more pathology; it has lost much of its autonomy and become subject to more intrusive forms of control."

Increasing control. The late 20th/early 21st century saw greater external intervention in ghettos:

• Intensified policing and surveillance
• War on Drugs and mass incarceration
• Welfare reform and increased monitoring of recipients

Declining autonomy. Factors reducing community self-determination:

• Loss of middle-class residents and institutions
• Erosion of social networks and informal support systems
• External control of schools, social services, and development

Historical shift. This represents a transformation from earlier periods:

• Early/mid 20th century: Ghettos as sites of both oppression and cultural vitality
• Late 20th/early 21st century: Ghettos increasingly characterized by external control and social dysfunction

Last updated: March 21, 2025