View source for Ghetto

{{Short description|Neighborhood inhabited by a minority group, usually when poor}}
{{About|a type of neighborhood|other uses|Ghetto (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Ghetto (Venice) Panorama.jpg|thumb|The main square of what was once the [[Venetian Ghetto]] in Italy (2013)|324x324px]]
A '''ghetto''' is a part of a city in which members of a [[minority group]] are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure.<ref>{{Cite web|title=ghetto|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ghetto|access-date=5 July 2017|website=Merriam-Webster}}</ref> Ghettos are often known for being more [[Poverty|impoverished]] than other areas of the city. Versions of such restricted areas have been found across the world, each with their own names, classifications, and groupings of people.

The term was originally used for the [[Venetian Ghetto]] in [[Venice, Italy]], as early as 1516, to describe the part of the city where [[Jewish people]] were restricted to live and thus [[Religious segregation|segregated]] from other people.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ghettos |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ghettos |access-date=2023-11-12 |website=encyclopedia.ushmm.org |language=en}}</ref> However, other early societies may have formed their own versions of the same structure; words resembling ''ghetto'' in meaning appear in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Yiddish]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Germanic languages|Germanic]], [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Corsican language|Corsican]], [[Old French]], and [[Latin]]. During [[the Holocaust]], more than 1,000 [[Nazi ghettos]] were established to hold the [[History of the Jews in Europe|Jewish populations of Europe]], with the goal of exploiting and killing European Jews as part of the [[Final Solution]] of [[Nazi Germany]].<ref name="H.E.">{{cite web|url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005059|title=Ghettos. Key Facts|author=Holocaust Encyclopedia|year=2014|publisher=[[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]]|via=Internet Archive|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120815195917/http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005059|archive-date=August 15, 2012|access-date=28 September 2015}}</ref><ref name="YV03">"[https://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/about/ghettos.html The Ghettos | About the Holocaust]." ''[[Yad Vashem]]''. Retrieved 19 July 2020.</ref>

The term ''ghetto'' acquired deep cultural meaning in the [[United States]], especially in the context of [[Racial segregation in the United States|segregation]] and [[Civil rights movement|civil rights]]. It has been widely used in the country since the 20th century to refer to poor neighborhoods of largely minority populations, especially [[African-American]] ones. It is also used in some European countries, such as [[Romania]] and [[Slovakia]], to refer to poor neighborhoods largely inhabited by [[Romani people]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Segregated From Its History, How 'Ghetto' Lost Its Meaning|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/04/27/306829915/segregated-from-its-history-how-ghetto-lost-its-meaning|access-date=2019-12-12|website=NPR.org|date=27 April 2014 |language=en|last1=Domonoske |first1=Camila }}</ref> The term [[slum]] is usually used to refer to areas in developing countries that suffer from [[absolute poverty]], while the term 
ghetto is used to refer to areas of developed countries that suffer from [[relative poverty]].

== Etymology and name ==
{{Ethnic cleansing}}

The word ''ghetto'' originates from the [[Venetian Ghetto]], the Jewish quarter in Venice's [[Cannaregio]] district where Jews were legally confined following a 1516 decree.<ref name="OED">''[[Oxford English Dictionary|Oxford English Dictionary Online]]'' (2024), s.v. ''ghetto'' ''(n. & adj.).''</ref> In the 16th century, [[Italian Jews]], including those in Venice, commonly used the unrelated Hebrew term ''ḥāṣēr'' ('courtyard') to refer to a ghetto.<ref name="OED" /> By 1855, the term ''ghetto'' had been extended to refer to "any area occupied predominantly by a particular social or ethnic group, especially a densely populated urban area which is subject to social and economic pressures, tending to restrict its demographic profile."<ref name="OED" />

The etymology of the Italian ''ghetto'' has long been debated among linguists, with no single theory achieving universal acceptance.<ref name="Liberman">{{Cite web |last=Liberman |first=Anatoly |author-link=Anatoly Liberman |date=2009 |title=Why Don't We Know the Origin of the Word Ghetto? |url=https://blog.oup.com/2009/03/ghetto/ |website=Oxford University Press}}</ref> Although often cited, the idea that it derives from the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] [[get (divorce document)|''gēṭ'']] ('letter of divorce'; because the ghetto separated Jews from the rest of the population) is considered a [[folk etymology]].<ref name="Liberman" /><ref name="OED" /> Similarly, the Italian variant ''ghet'', found in some Jewish notarial documents from the late 16th and early 17th centuries, seems to be a folk-etymological modification of ''ghetto'', influenced by the Hebrew ''gēṭ''.<ref name="OED" />

Another commonly held hypothesis, mentioned by the [[Oxford English Dictionary]], proposes that the term comes from an unattested Italian ''*gheto'' ('foundry'; cf. Italian ''getto'' 'the process of founding or casting metal'; 14th cent.), from post-classical Latin ''iectus'' or ''iactus'' (attested in a 1295 Venetian source referring to the locality), which could be compared to post-classical Latin ''ghetus'' or ''gettus'' (attested from 1306 in Venetian sources referring to the locality).<ref name="OED" /> However, linguist [[Anatoly Liberman]] argues that this explanation fails to account for the problematic phonetic change from Latin ''i-'' to Italian ''g-'' ~ ''gh-'', and that there is no certainty that ''getto'' ever meant 'foundry' in the Venetian dialect.<ref name="Liberman" /> Alternatively, Liberman has suggested that in some Romance-speaking regions a slang borrowing from the Germanic ''gata'' ('street' or 'narrow street') may have existed in various forms, which eventually evolved into the Italian ''ghetto''. Originally, the term may have carried a derogatory sense, referring to the impoverished quarters of exiled Venetian Jews. Over time, folk etymology further shaped its meaning, associating it with ideas like cannon foundries and separation.<ref name="Liberman" />

Other suggestions, such as that the word is a shortening of ''Egitto'' ('Egypt') or ''borghetto'' ('small settlement'), or that it is related to the Old French ''guect'' ('guard'), are rejected by linguists as speculative and unconvincing.<ref name="Liberman" /><ref name="OED" /> Additional proposals derive the term from ''ghectus'' (understood as the Latinized form of Yiddish ''gehektes'' 'enclosed') or from the Latin neuter ''Giudaicetum'' ('Jewish'), but they too lack sufficient phonetic support.<ref name="Liberman" />[[File:Ingresso della Giudecca di Caltagirone.jpg|thumb| Jewish quarter of [[Caltagirone]], [[Sicily]]|335x335px]]
== Ghettos in Europe == <!-- Linked from [[Maly Trostenets extermination camp]] -->

=== Jewish ghettos ===
{{Main|Jewish ghettos in Europe|Jewish quarter (diaspora)|Jewish emancipation}}
[[File:Frankfurt-Judengasse-1628-MkII.png|thumb|Plan of [[Jewish quarter (diaspora)|Jewish ghetto]], [[Frankfurt]], 1628]]
[[File:Frankfurt Am Main-Fay-BADAFAMNDN-Heft 21-Nr 245-1904-Die Judengasse Suedseite.jpg|thumb|Demolition of the Jewish ghetto, Frankfurt, 1868]]
The character of ghettos has varied through times. The term was used for an area known as the Jewish quarter, which meant the area of a city traditionally inhabited by Jews in the [[Jewish diaspora|diaspora]]. Jewish quarters, like the Jewish ghettos in Europe, were often the outgrowths of [[Geographical segregation|segregated]] ghettos instituted by the surrounding authorities. A Yiddish term for a Jewish quarter or neighborhood is ''Di yidishe gas'' ({{Langx|yi|די ייִדישע גאַס}}), or 'The Jewish street'. Many [[Europe]]an and [[Middle East]]ern cities once had a historical Jewish quarter.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}} Among the oldest and most noted are the so-called ''calls''  in [[Catalonia]], specially those of [[Barcelona]] ([[Jewish quarter (Barcelona)|Call jueu]]) and [[Girona]].<ref name="AEPJ">{{cite web |title=The Catalan Route – Barcelona |url=https://jewisheritage.org/the-catalan-route/the-catalan-route-barcelona |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230101135950/https://jewisheritage.org/the-catalan-route/the-catalan-route-barcelona |archive-date=1 January 2023 |access-date=2023-02-27 |website=European Jewish Heritage |publisher=European Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish Culture and Heritage}}</ref>

Jewish ghettos in Christian Europe existed because of majority discrimination against Jews on the basis of religion, language and dated views on race: They were considered outsiders. As a result, Jews were placed under strict regulations throughout many European cities.<ref name="Pearson">[http://kpearson.faculty.tcnj.edu/Dictionary/ghetto.htm GHETTO] Kim Pearson {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224090832/http://kpearson.faculty.tcnj.edu/Dictionary/ghetto.htm |date=February 24, 2009}}</ref>

In some cases, the ghetto was a Jewish quarter with a relatively affluent population (for instance the Jewish ghetto in Venice). In other cases, ghettos were places of terrible poverty. During periods of population growth, ghettos (as [[Roman Ghetto|that of Rome]]) had narrow streets and tall, crowded houses. Residents generally were allowed to administer their own justice system based on Jewish traditions and elders.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}

==== Nazi-occupied Europe ====
{{Main|Jewish ghettos established by Nazi Germany}}
[[File:Stroop Report - Warsaw Ghetto Uprising BW.jpg|thumb|link=Warsaw Ghetto boy|Liquidation of the [[Warsaw Ghetto]], 1943]]
During [[World War II]], the [[Nazism|Nazis]] established new ghettos in numerous cities of Eastern Europe as a form of [[concentration camp]] to confine Jews and [[Romani people|Romani]] into limited areas. The Nazis most often referred to these areas in documents and signage at their entrances as "Jewish quarter." These Nazi camps sometimes coincided with traditional Jewish ghettos and Jewish quarters, but not always. On June 21, 1943, [[Heinrich Himmler]] issued a decree ordering the dissolution of all ''Jüdische Wohnbezirke''/ghettos in the East and their transference to [[Nazi concentration camps]] or their extermination.<ref>[[Yitzhak Arad|Arad]], [[Yitzhak Arad|Yitzhak]]. ''Ghetto in Flames''. pp. 436–37.</ref>

The Nazi ghettos were an essentially different institution than the historical ghettos of European society. The historical ghettos were places where Jews lived for many generations and created their own culture {{snd}}even if they were under social and political conditions of segregation and discrimination. The Nazi ghettos were part of [[The Final Solution]]; they were intended as a transitional stage{{snd}}first confine each city's Jews in one easily accessible and controllable location, then "liquidate" the ghetto and send the Jews to an extermination camp. Most Nazi ghettos were liquidated in 1943; some, such as that of [[Łódź Ghetto|Łódź]], persisted until 1944; very few, e.g. the [[Budapest Ghetto]] and the [[Theresienstadt Ghetto]], existed until the end of the war in 1945.

=== Roma ghettos ===
{{See also|List of Romani settlements}}
[[File:Lunik IX.jpg|thumb|right|Roma settlement [[Luník IX]] near [[Košice]], [[Slovakia]]]]
There are many Roma ghettos in the [[European Union]].<ref>{{cite news |date=25 December 2013 |title=The New Roma Ghettos |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-new-roma-ghettos-000519-v20n4/ |work=Vice}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=23 May 2019 |title=No voice, no future? Roma ignored as Europe goes to polls |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/23/no-voice-no-future-roma-ignored-as-europe-goes-to-polls |work=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=6 September 2019 |title=Roma ghettos in the heart of the EU |url=https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/09/06/inenglish/1567776057_755361.html |work=[[El País]]}}</ref> The Czech government estimates that there are approximately 830 Roma ghettos in the [[Czech Republic]].<ref>{{cite news |date=15 October 2019 |title=Czech Govt report on the state of the Romani minority estimates 830 ghettos with 127, 000 inhabitants in the regions |url=http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/czech-govt-report-on-the-state-of-the-romani-minority-estimates-830-ghettos-with-127-000-inhabitants-in-the-regions |work=Romea.cz}}</ref>

=== In Denmark ===
{{Main|Vulnerable residential area (Denmark)}}

During the period 2010–2021,<ref name="BL">[https://bl.dk/politik-og-analyser/temaer/her-er-listen-over-parallelsamfund/ Danmarks Almene Boliger. ''Ghettolisten eller Parallelsamfundslisterne.''] (in Danish) Retrieved 28 April 2022.</ref> the word ''ghetto'' was used officially by the Danish government to describe certain officially designated vulnerable [[social housing]] areas in the country.<ref>{{Cite web |author=<!-- Not stated --> |date=May 2013 |title=UDSATTE BOLIGOMRÅDER — DE NÆSTE SKRIDT |url=https://www.ft.dk/samling/20121/almdel/UUI/bilag/102/1247356.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630133059/https://www.ft.dk/samling/20121/almdel/UUI/bilag/102/1247356.pdf |archive-date=2019-06-30 |website=ft.dk |publisher=The Immigration and Integration Affairs Committee of the Danish Parliament}} (in Danish).</ref><ref name="Reuters">{{Cite news |last=Nielson |first=Emil Gjerding |title=In Danish 'ghettos', immigrants feel stigmatized and shut out |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-denmark-immigration-widerimage/in-danish-ghettos-immigrants-feel-stigmatized-and-shut-out-idUSKCN1IU1DS |access-date=2018-07-04 |work=U.S. |language=en-US}}</ref> The designation was applied to areas based on the residents' income levels, employment status, education levels, criminal convictions and proportion of non-Western immigrants and their descendants.<ref name="NPR">{{Cite news |title=In Denmark's Plan To Rid Country Of 'Ghettos,' Some Immigrants Hear 'Go Home' |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/03/30/593979013/in-denmark-s-plan-to-rid-country-of-ghettos-some-immigrants-hear-go-home?t=1530707460545 |access-date=2018-07-04 |work=NPR.org |language=en}}</ref><ref name="NYT">{{Cite news |last1=Barry |first1=Ellen |last2=Sorensen |first2=Martin Selsoe |date=2 July 2018 |title=In Denmark, Harsh New Laws for Immigrant 'Ghettos' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/01/world/europe/denmark-immigrant-ghettos.html |access-date=2018-07-04 |newspaper=The New York Times |language=en}}</ref><ref name="BBC">{{Cite news |date=2018-02-27 |title=Danes to double penalty for ghetto crime |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-43214596 |access-date=2018-07-04 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> The term was controversial during its period of use and was finally removed in 2021.<ref name="BL" />

In 2010, the [[Ministry of Transport (Denmark)|Danish Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing]] introduced an official listing of vulnerable social housing districts where the inhabitants fulfilled certain criteria. The list has informally and at times formally been called ''Ghettolisten'' (the 'List of Ghettos'). Since 2010, the list has been updated annually, with changes in the definition and/or terminology in 2013, 2018 and 2021.<ref name="BL" />

In 2018, the Danish government at the time, led by Prime Minister [[Lars Løkke Rasmussen]], announced its intention to "end the existence of [[Parallel society|parallel societies]] and ghettos by 2030."<ref name="BBC" /><ref name="localDK">{{Cite news |date=2018-02-28 |title=Here's what we know about Denmark's 'ghetto plan' |url=https://www.thelocal.dk/20180228/heres-what-we-know-about-denmarks-ghetto-plan |access-date=2018-07-04 |language=en}}</ref> A number of measures was introduced to solve the issue of [[Social integration|integration]], including policies like 25 hours of obligatory daycare or corresponding parent supervision per week for children in the appointed areas starting age 1, lowering social welfare for residents, incentives for reducing unemployment, demolition and rebuilding of certain tenements, rights for landlords to refuse housing to convicts, etc.<ref name="localDK" /><ref name="Time">{{Cite magazine |title=What to Know About Denmark's Plan to End Immigrant "Ghettos" |url=https://time.com/5328347/denmark-ghettos-policies/ |access-date=2018-07-04 |magazine=Time |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Reuters" /><ref name="NYT" /> The policies have been criticized for undercutting 'equality before law' and for portraying immigrants, especially Muslim immigrants, in a bad light.<ref name="NPR" /><ref>{{Cite news |title="No ghettos in 2030": Denmark's controversial plan to get rid of immigrant neighborhoods |url=https://www.vox.com/world/2018/7/3/17525960/denmark-children-immigrant-muslim-danish-ghetto |access-date=2018-07-04 |work=Vox}}</ref>

The term "ghetto" was controversial during the period of its usage, inhabitants feeling stigmatized by the wording<ref name="dybvad">{{cite news |date=8 July 2019 |title=Ny boligminister vil undgå ordet 'ghetto' |url=https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/ny-boligminister-vil-undga-ordet-ghetto |access-date=28 January 2023 |publisher=[[DR (broadcaster)|DR]]}}</ref> and researchers pointing out that the areas in question were typically inhabited by 20-40 different ethnic minorities, hence being diametrically opposed to the ethnic homogeneity of the original ghettos, so that multi-ethnic residential areas would be a more appropriate term.<ref>{{cite news |date=25 October 2010 |title=Ghetto - et ord med betydning |url=https://www.b.dk/kronikker/ghetto-et-ord-med-betydning |access-date=28 January 2023 |publisher=[[Berlingske]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=1 December 2016 |title=Forsker: Udsatte boligområder kan være en fordel for integrationen |url=https://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/danmark/forsker-udsatte-boligomraader-kan-vaere-en-fordel-integrationen |access-date=28 January 2023 |publisher=[[Kristeligt Dagblad]]}}</ref>

In June 2019 a new [[Social Democrats (Denmark)|social democratic]] [[Frederiksen I Cabinet|government]] was formed in Denmark, with [[Kaare Dybvad]] becoming housing minister. He stated that the new government would stop using the word "ghetto" for vulnerable housing areas, as it was both imprecise and derogatory.<ref>[https://politiken.dk/debat/art7298118/Her-er-hadeordene-der-skal-d%C3%B8-sammen-med-ghetto Politiken. ''Fem debattører: Her er hadeordene, der skal dø sammen med 'ghetto'.''] (in Danish)</ref> In a 2021 reform, the name was finally removed in legal texts by Parliament. Instead, a new category called "parallel societies" was instituted.<ref name="BL" />

=== In France ===
In [[France]], a ''[[banlieue]]'' ({{IPA|fr|bɑ̃ljø|lang}}) is a suburb of a large [[city]]. Banlieues are divided into autonomous administrative entities and do not constitute part of the [[city proper]]. For instance, 80% of the inhabitants of the [[Paris metropolitan area|Paris area]] live outside the city of [[Paris]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Paris Suburbs - les Banlieues |url=http://parisbynumbers.com/2008/04/28/paris-suburbs-les-banlieues/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111229151306/http://parisbynumbers.com/2008/04/28/paris-suburbs-les-banlieues/ |archive-date=2011-12-29 |access-date=2013-08-14}}</ref> Like the city centre, suburbs may be rich, middle-class or poor&nbsp;— [[Versailles, Yvelines|Versailles]], [[Le Vésinet]], [[Maisons-Laffitte]] and [[Neuilly-sur-Seine]] are affluent banlieues of [[Paris]], while [[Clichy-sous-Bois]], [[Bondy]] and [[Corbeil-Essonnes]] are less so. However, since the 1970s, ''banlieues'' increasingly means, in [[French of France]], low-income housing projects ([[HLM]]s) in which mainly [[Immigration to France|foreign immigrants]] and French of foreign descent reside, often in perceived [[Cycle of poverty|poverty traps]].<ref>Lepoutre, David. ''Coeur de banlieue: codes, rites, et langages''. Odile Jacob, 1997.</ref>

=== In the United Kingdom ===
The existence of [[ethnic enclave]]s in the [[United Kingdom]] is [[White flight#United Kingdom|controversial]]. [[Southall|Southall Broadway]], a predominantly [[British Asian|Asian]] area in [[Greater London]], where less than 12 percent of the population is [[White British|white]], has been cited as an example of a 'ghetto', but in reality the area is home to a number of different [[ethnic group]]s and [[Religion in the United Kingdom|religious groups]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Browne |first=Anthony |date=May 5, 2004 |title=We cant run away from it white flight is here too |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/we-cant-run-away-from-it-white-flight-is-here-too-6mh6wpbz56v |access-date=May 3, 2010 |work=[[The Times]] |location=London}}</ref><ref>Kerr, Joe, and Andrew Gibson, eds. 2003. ''London from Punk to Blair''. London: [[Reaktion Books]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1lTKo19z0yAC&q=+Ghetto&pg=PA53 pp. 51, 53, 55, 69, 378].</ref>

Analysis of data from [[2001 United Kingdom census|Census 2001]] revealed that only two [[Ward (electoral subdivision)|wards]] in [[England and Wales]], both in [[Birmingham]], had one dominant non-white ethnic group comprising more than two-thirds of the local population, but there were 20 wards where [[White people|whites]] were a minority making up less than a third of the local population.<ref>Bains, Baljit. October 2005. "[https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/17782654/patterns-of-ethnic-segregation-in-london-pdf-londongovuk- Patterns of Ethnic Segregation in London]." ''Data Management and Analysis Briefing'' 2005 (38). UK: [[Greater London Authority]]. Available as [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930211639/http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/publications/factsandfigures/dmag-briefing-2005-38.rtf Word document]. {{ISSN|1479-7879}}. Retrieved 19 July 2020. p. 3.</ref><ref>Shepherd, Anne. "[http://www.lse.ac.uk/social-policy/research/Research-clusters/british-society-for-population-studies/about About]." ''[[British Society for Population Studies]]''. UK: [[London School of Economics and Political Science]]. Retrieved 19 July 2020.</ref> By 2001, two London boroughs—[[London Borough of Newham|Newham]] and [[London Borough of Brent|Brent]]—had "[[Majority minority|minority majority]]" populations, and most parts of the city tend to have a diverse population.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}

Historically, some parts of London have long been noted for the prevalence of a particular ethnic or religious group (such as the Jewish communities of [[Golders Green]] and other parts of the [[London Borough of Barnet]], and the West Indian community of [[Notting Hill]]), but in each case these populations have been part of a broader multicultural population. In the late 19th and early 20th century, the [[East End]] of London was also noted for its [[Huguenots|Huguenot]] and Jewish population, but now has a significant [[British Bangladeshi]] populace.<ref>"[https://jewishmuseum.org.uk/50-objects/theme/east-end/ 50 Objects: 'London's East End']," ''jewishmuseum.org.uk''. Retrieved 18 October 2021.</ref>

==== In Northern Ireland ====
{{Multiple image
| direction         = vertical
| width             = 200
| image1            = Belfast peaceline Bombay Street.jpg
| caption1          = A "peace line" in [[Belfast]], seen from the Irish nationalist/republican side. The small back row of houses are protected by cages as missiles are sometimes thrown from the other side.
| image2            = Sandy Row mural, Belfast.jpg
| caption2          = [[Murals in Northern Ireland|Mural]] at the edge of a loyalist ghetto in Belfast
}}

In [[Northern Ireland]], towns and cities have long been [[Segregation in Northern Ireland|segregated along ethnic, religious and political lines]]. The two main communities of Northern Ireland are:

# the [[Irish nationalism|Irish nationalist]]-[[Irish republicanism|republican]] community, who mainly self-identify as [[Irish people|Irish]] or [[Catholic Church|Catholic]]; and
# the [[Unionism in Ireland|unionist]]-[[Ulster loyalism|loyalist]] community, who mainly self-identify as [[British people|British]] or [[Protestantism in Ireland|Protestant]].

Ghettos emerged in [[Belfast]] during the [[riot]]s that accompanied the [[Irish War of Independence]]. For safety, people fled to areas where their community was the majority. Many more ghettos emerged after the [[1969 Northern Ireland riots|1969 riots]] and beginning of the "[[The Troubles|Troubles]]." In August 1969 the [[British Army]] was deployed to restore order and separate the two sides. The government built barriers called "[[peace lines]]." Many of the ghettos came under the control of [[paramilitary|paramilitaries]] such as the (republican) [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] and the (loyalist) [[Ulster Defence Association]]. One of the most notable ghettos was [[Free Derry]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-07-31 |title=History Battle of the Bogside |url=http://www.museumoffreederry.org/history-battle01.html |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150731031114/http://www.museumoffreederry.org/history-battle01.html |archive-date=2015-07-31 |access-date=2017-04-17 |website=The Museum of Free Derry}}</ref>

== Ghettos in the United States ==
=== Early ghettos ===
[[File:Children in the Ghetto and the Ice-Cream Man. Chicago Ill. (FRONT).jpeg|thumb|''Children in the Ghetto and the Ice-Cream Man''&nbsp;— postcard from 1909 in [[Maxwell Street]], [[Chicago]]]]
[[File:The_Ghetto_of_Chicago.jpg|thumb|right|A scene of Maxwell Street in Chicago circa 1908. The title reads "THE GHETTO OF CHICAGO". The image has been colorized and is taken from a souvenir guide to Chicago printed in 1908. Note the signage in [[Yiddish]] that reads 'Fish Market'.]]
The development of ghettos in the United States is closely associated with different [[History of immigration to the United States|waves of immigration]] and internal urban migration. The [[Irish Americans|Irish]] and [[German Americans|German]] immigrants of the mid-19th century were the first ethnic groups to form [[ethnic enclave]]s in United States cities. This was followed by large numbers of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, including many [[Italian Americans|Italians]] and [[Polish Americans|Poles]] and Russians between 1880 and 1920. Jewish immigrants were part of the earliest German wave, as well as comprising numerous immigrants from Eastern Europe, the Russian Empire at the time.<ref name="Glaeser">[[Edward Glaeser|Glaeser, Ed]]. 1997. "[http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/nerr/rr1997/spring/glsr97_2.htm Ghettos: The Changing Consequences of Ethnic Isolation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101021081419/http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/nerr/rr1997/spring/glsr97_2.htm |date=2010-10-21 }}." ''Regional Review'' 7(Spring). Boston, MA: [[Federal Reserve Bank of Boston]].</ref> Most remained in their established immigrant communities, but by the second or third generation, many families were able to relocate to newer housing built in the [[suburb]]s after World War II.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sklare |first1=Marshall |title=Jewish identity on the suburban frontier: a study of group survival in the open society |last2=Greenblum |first2=Joseph |date=1979 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-76176-3 |edition=2. |location=Chicago}}</ref>

These ethnic ghetto areas included the [[Lower East Side#Culture|Lower East Side]] in [[Manhattan|Manhattan, New York]], which later became notable as predominantly [[Jews|Jewish]], and later still as Chinese and Latino. [[East Harlem#History|East Harlem]] was once predominantly Italian and in the 1950s became home to a large [[Stateside Puerto Ricans|Puerto Rican]] community. Many [[Little Italy]]s across the country are predominantly Italian ghettos. Polish immigrants settled in areas of other nationals, such as [[Polish Downtown, Chicago|Polish Downtown]] of Chicago and [[Polish Hill (Pittsburgh)|Polish Hill]] of [[Pittsburgh]]. [[Edgewater, Chicago#Andersonville|Andersonville]] in Chicago is a famous Swedish ghetto. Since the late 20th century, [[Brighton Beach]] in [[Brooklyn]] has become the home of predominately Russian and Ukrainian immigrants, who left after the [[Soviet Union]] lifted some migration restrictions and later after its fall.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://forward.com/news/162963/changing-face-of-brighton-beach/|title=Changing Face of Brighton Beach|first=Anna|last=Kordunsky|website=The Forward|date=17 September 2012 }}</ref>

{{Anchor|African American ghettos}}
=== Black or African-American ghettos ===
{{See also|Racial segregation in the United States|American ghettos}}
A commonly used definition of a ghetto is a community distinguished by a homogeneous [[Race (human categorization)|race]] or [[ethnic group|ethnicity]]. Additionally, a key feature that developed throughout the [[Post-industrial society|post-industrial]] era and continues to symbolize the demographics of American ghettos is the prevalence of poverty. [[Poverty]] constitutes the separation of ghettos from other, suburbanized or private neighborhoods. The high percentage of poverty partly justifies the difficulty of [[Human migration|emigration]], which tends to reproduce constraining social opportunities and inequalities in society.<ref name="Darity, William A. 2008">[[William A. Darity Jr.|Darity Jr., William A.]], ed. 2008. "Ghetto." Pp. 311–14 in ''[[International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences]]'' 3(2). [[Gale Virtual Reference Library]]. Retrieved 25 October 2012.</ref>

[[File:Chicago ghetto.jpg|thumb|Chicago ghetto on the [[South Side, Chicago|South Side]], May 1974]]
The term ghettos has been commonly used for some time, but ghettos were around long before the term was coined. Urban areas in the U.S. can often be classified as "black" or "white", with the inhabitants primarily belonging to a homogenous racial grouping.<ref name="SethiSomanathan2004" /> This classification can be traced back as early as the year 1880 as African Americans were living in their own neighborhoods.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Logan |first1=John R. |last2=Zhang |first2=Weiwei |last3=Turner |first3=Richard |last4=Shertzer |first4=Allison |title=Creating the Black Ghetto: Black Residential Patterns Before and After the Great Migration |journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |year=2015 |volume=660 |issue=1 |pages=18–35 |publisher=PMC |doi=10.1177/0002716215572993 |pmid=26600571 |pmc=4654963 }}</ref> Sixty years after the American [[civil rights movement]] of the 1950s and 1960s, most of the United States remains a [[residential segregation in the United States|residentially segregated]] society in which black people and white people inhabit different neighborhoods of significantly different quality.<ref name="SethiSomanathan2004">{{Cite journal |title=Inequality and Segregation |first1=Rajiv |last1=Sethi |first2=Rohini |last2=Somanathan|author2-link=Rohini Somanathan |journal=[[Journal of Political Economy]] |volume=112 |year=2004 |issue=6 |pages=1296–1321 |doi=10.1086/424742 |citeseerx=10.1.1.19.6596|s2cid=18358721 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |author-link=Douglas Massey |last=Massey |first=Douglas S. |title=Segregation and Stratification: A Biosocial Perspective |journal=[[Du Bois Review]] |volume=1 |issue=1 |year=2004 |pages=7–25 |doi=10.1017/S1742058X04040032|s2cid=144395873 }}</ref>

Many of these neighborhoods are located in Northern and Western cities where African Americans moved during the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]] (1914–1970), a period when over a million<ref name="pbs">{{Cite web |title=Retired Site — PBS Programs — PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/reference/articles/great_migration.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080318115540/https://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/reference/articles/great_migration.html |archive-date=18 March 2008 |access-date=5 July 2017 |website=Retired Site — PBS Programs — PBS}}</ref> [[African Americans|African-Americans]] moved out of the rural [[southern United States]] to escape the widespread racism of the South; to seek out employment opportunities in industrial cities; and to pursue what was widely perceived to be a better quality of life in the North and West, such as [[New York City]], [[Detroit]], [[Cleveland]], [[Chicago]], [[Pittsburgh]], [[Los Angeles]], [[Oakland, California|Oakland]], [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]], and [[Seattle]].<ref name="pbs" /> African Americans found they had to struggle with white ethnic groups in Northern and Midwestern cities; many of them more recent European immigrants. Often they were restricted to areas of older and poor housing in the new cities where they settled.

The social disruption and economic competition following World War I, as veterans returned to the US, resulted in an outbreak of racial violence of whites against blacks in many of these Northern cities, such as Chicago, Omaha; Washington, DC, and others. Southern industrial cities were also affected. Such racist attacks were extremely violent, in some cases they included burning or bombing homes of African Americans;<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Logan|first1=John R.|last2=Zhang|first2=Weiwei|last3=Turner|first3=Richard|last4=Shertzer|first4=Allison|date=2015-06-09|title=Creating the Black Ghetto|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0002716215572993|journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science|volume=660|issue=1|pages=18–35|doi=10.1177/0002716215572993|pmid=26600571|pmc=4654963|issn=0002-7162}}</ref> many innocent blacks were killed. African-American leaders described 1919 as the [[Red Summer]] because of the widespread racial outbreaks and white attacks on mainly African Americans.

Two main factors ensured further separation between races and classes, and ultimately the development of contemporary ghettos: the relocation of industrial enterprises, and the movement of middle to upper class residents into suburban neighborhoods. Between 1967 and 1987, economic restructuring resulted in a dramatic decline of manufacturing jobs, which had formerly provided good livings for unionized, working-class blacks and whites. The once thriving northern and western industrial cities survived by a gradual shift to service and financial occupations. Subsidized highways and suburban development in the postwar period had pulled many middle and upper-class families and related businesses to the [[suburb]]s. Those who could not afford to move were left with disrupted neighborhoods and economies in the inner cities. African Americans were disproportionately affected and became either unemployed or underemployed, with little wage and reduced benefits. A concentration of African Americans predominated in some [[inner city]] neighborhoods.<ref name="Darity, William A. 2008" />

It is also significant to compare the demographic patterns between black people and European immigrants, according to the [[Labour economics|labor market]]. European immigrants and African Americans were both subject to an ethnic division of labor. Because of discrimination, African Americans were often restricted to the least secure division of the labor market. David Ward refers to this stagnant position in African-American or Black ghettos as the 'elevator' model, which implies that each group of immigrants or migrants takes turns in the processes of social mobility and suburbanization; and several groups did not start on the ground floor. The inability of black people to move from the ground floor, as Ward suggests, is dependent upon [[racism|prejudice]] and [[racial segregation|segregationist]] patterns established in the South prior to World War I, where most African Americans were disenfranchised by the turn of the century and deprived of political power.

After the [[wikt:exodus|exodus]] of African Americans to the North during and after World War I, they had to compete with numerous European immigrants; thus, African-Americans were diminished to unskilled jobs. The slow rate of advancement in black communities outlines the rigidity of the labor market, competition and conflict, adding another dimension to the prevalence of poverty and social instability in African-American or Black ghettos.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ward |first= David |title=The Ethnic Ghetto in the United States: Past and Present |journal=Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers |series=ns |volume=7 |issue=3 |year=1982 |pages=257–75 |jstor=621990|doi= 10.2307/621990|bibcode= 1982TrIBG...7..257W }}</ref>

==== Effect of World War II on development ====
In the years following World War II, many [[white Americans]] began to move away from inner cities to newer suburban communities, a process known as [[white flight]]. White flight occurred, in part, as a response to black people moving into white urban neighborhoods.<ref name="Keating">{{Cite book |last=Keating |first=William Dennis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O0bnHQAACAAJ |title=The Suburban Racial Dilemma: Housing and Neighborhoods |publisher=Temple University Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-1-56639-147-4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Frey |first=William H. |title=Central City White Flight: Racial and Nonracial Causes |journal=[[American Sociological Review]] |volume=44 |issue=3 |year=1979 |pages=425–448 |jstor=2094885 |doi=10.2307/2094885}}</ref> Discriminatory practices, especially those intended to "preserve" emerging white suburbs, restricted the ability of black people to move from inner cities to the suburbs, even when they were economically able to afford it. In contrast to this, the same period in history marked a massive suburban expansion available primarily to whites of both wealthy and working-class backgrounds, facilitated through highway construction and the availability of federally subsidized home mortgages ([[United States Department of Veterans Affairs|VA]], [[Civil Rights Act of 1968|FHA]], [[Home Owners' Loan Corporation]]). These made it easier for families to buy new houses in the suburbs, but not to rent apartments in cities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.public.asu.edu/~wplotkin/DeedsWeb/fha38.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081229152840/http://www.public.asu.edu/~wplotkin/DeedsWeb/fha38.html |url-status=dead |title="Racial" Provisions of FHA Underwriting Manual|archive-date=December 29, 2008}}</ref>

The United States began restructuring its economy after World War II, fueled by new [[Globalization|globalizing]] processes, and demonstrated through technological advances and improvements in efficiency. The structural shift of 1973, during the post-Fordist era, became a large component to the racial ghetto and its relationship with the labor market. [[Sharon Zukin]] declares the designated stratum of African-Americans in the labor force was placed even below the working class; low-skill urban jobs were now given to incoming immigrants from [[Mexico]] or the [[Caribbean]]. Additionally, Zukin notes, "Not only have social services been drastically reduced, punitive and other social controls over the poor have been increased," such as law enforcement and imprisonment.<ref name="Zukin, Sharon 2002">{{Cite journal|last=Zukin|first=Sharon|year=2002|title=How 'Bad' Is It?: Institutions and Intentions in the Study of the American Ghetto|journal=International Journal of Urban and Regional Research|volume=22|issue=3|pages=511–20|doi=10.1111/1468-2427.00155|doi-access=free}}</ref>{{Rp|514}} Described as the "urban crisis" during the 1970s and 1980s, the transition stressed regional divisions according to differences in income and racial lines—white "donuts" around black holes.<ref name="Fischer, Claude S. 2000">{{Cite journal |last1=Fischer |first1=Claude S. |first2=Gretchen |last2=Stockmayer |first3=Jon |last3=Stiles |first4=Michael |last4=Hout |title=Distinguishing the Geographical Levels and Social Dimensions of U.S. Metropolitan Segregation, 1960–2000 |journal=Demography |volume=41 |issue=7 |year=2004 |pages=37–59 |doi=10.1353/dem.2004.0002|pmid=15074124 |s2cid=9493288 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Hardly coincidental, the steady separation occurred during the period of civil rights laws, urban riots and [[Black Power]]. In addition, the ''[[International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences|International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences]]'' stresses the various challenges developed by this "urban crisis", including:<ref name="Darity, William A. 2008" />{{Rp|313}}

{{Blockquote | style=font-size:100% |[P]oorly underserviced infrastructures, inadequate housing to accommodate a growing urban populace, group conflict and competition over limited jobs and space, the inability for many residents to compete for new technology-based jobs, and tensions between the public and private sectors left to the formation and growth of U.S. ghettos.|author=|title=|source=}}

The cumulative economic and social forces in ghettos give way to social, political and economic isolation and inequality, while indirectly defining a separation between superior and inferior status of groups.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}

In response to the influx of black people from the South, banks, insurance companies, and businesses began denying or increasing the cost of services, such as [[bank]]ing, [[insurance]], access to jobs,<ref>[http://www.core.ucl.ac.be/services/psfiles/dp99/dp9913.pdf Racial Discrimination and Redlining in Cities] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071130210614/http://www.core.ucl.ac.be/services/psfiles/dp99/dp9913.pdf |date=November 30, 2007}}</ref> [[Race and health in the United States|access to health care]], or even [[supermarket]]s<ref>{{Cite journal |title=In poor health: Supermarket redlining and urban nutrition |first=Elizabeth |last=Eisenhauer |journal=[[GeoJournal]] |volume=53 |issue=2 |pages=125–133 |year=2001 |doi=10.1023/A:1015772503007|bibcode=2001GeoJo..53..125E |s2cid=151164815 }}</ref> to residents in certain, often racially determined,<ref name="eastny">Thabit, Walter, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TWo8OFJpFtAC ''How East New York Became a Ghetto'']. {{ISBN|0-8147-8267-1}}. Page 42.</ref> areas. The most devastating form of [[redlining]], and the most common use of the term, refers to [[mortgage discrimination]]. Data on house prices and attitudes toward integration suggest that in the mid-twentieth century, segregation was a product of collective actions taken by non-black people to exclude black people from outside neighborhoods.<ref name="vigdor">{{Cite journal |last1=Cutler |first1=David M. |author-link=David Cutler |first2=Edward L. |last2=Glaeser |author-link2=Edward Glaeser |first3=Jacob L. |last3=Vigdor |title=The Rise and Decline of the American Ghetto |journal=[[Journal of Political Economy]] |volume=107 |issue=3 |year=1999 |pages=455–506 |doi=10.1086/250069 |citeseerx=10.1.1.587.8018 |s2cid=134413201 |url=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:2770033}}</ref>

The "Racial" Provisions of the FHA Underwriting Manual of 1936 included the following guidelines which exacerbated the segregation issue:
{{Blockquote | style=font-size:100% |Recommended restrictions should include provision for: prohibition of the occupancy of properties except by the race for which they are intended&nbsp;... Schools should be appropriate to the needs of the new community and they should not be attended in large numbers by inharmonious racial groups.<ref name="Keating" /><ref>[[Federal Housing Administration]], ''Underwriting Manual: Underwriting and Valuation Procedure Under Title II of the [[National Housing Act of 1934|National Housing Act]] with Revisions to February, 1938'' (Washington, D.C.), Part II, Section 9, Rating of Location.</ref>}}

This meant that [[minority group|ethnic minorities]] could secure [[mortgage loan]]s only in certain areas, and it resulted in a large increase in the residential [[racial segregation]] and [[urban decay]] in the United States.<ref>{{Cite crabgrass}}</ref> The creation of new highways in some cases divided and isolated black neighborhoods from goods and services, many times within industrial corridors. For example, [[Birmingham, Alabama]]'s interstate highway system attempted to maintain the racial boundaries that had been established by the city's 1926 racial zoning law. The construction of interstate highways through black neighborhoods in the city led to significant population loss in those neighborhoods and is associated with an increase in neighborhood racial segregation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Connerly |first=Charles E. |title=From Racial Zoning to Community Empowerment: The Interstate Highway System and the African American Community in Birmingham, Alabama |journal=Journal of Planning Education and Research |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=99–114 |year=2002 |doi=10.1177/0739456X02238441|s2cid=144767245 }}</ref> Residential segregation was further perpetuated because whites were willing to pay more than black people to live in predominantly white areas.<ref name="Glaeser" /> Some social scientists suggest that the historical processes of [[suburbanization]] and decentralization are instances of [[white privilege]] that have contributed to contemporary patterns of [[environmental racism]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pulido |first=Laura |title=Rethinking Environmental Racism: White Privilege and Urban Development in Southern California |journal=Annals of the Association of American Geographers |volume=90 |issue=1 |year=2000 |pages=12–40 |doi=10.1111/0004-5608.00182 |bibcode=2000AAAG...90...12P |hdl=10214/1833|s2cid=38036883 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Following the emergence of anti-discrimination policies in housing and labor sparked by the [[civil rights movement]], members of the [[African-American middle class|black middle class]] moved out of the ghetto. The [[Civil Rights Act of 1968|Fair Housing Act]] was passed in 1968. This was the first federal law that outlawed discrimination in the sale and rental of housing on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion and later sex, familial status, and disability. The [[Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity]] was charged with administering and enforcing the law. Since housing discrimination became illegal, new housing opportunities were made available to the black community and many left the ghetto. Urban sociologists frequently title this historical event as "black middle class exodus", or [[black flight]]. [[Elijah Anderson (sociologist)|Elijah Anderson]] describes a process by which members of the black middle class begin to distance themselves socially and culturally from ghetto residents during the later half of the twentieth century, "eventually expressing this distance by literally moving away."<ref>{{Cite book| last=Anderson| first=Elijah| title=Streetwise: Race, Class, and Change in an Urban Community| year=1990| publisher=The University of Chicago Press| isbn=978-0-226-01816-4| pages=[https://archive.org/details/streetwiseracecl0000ande/page/2 2]| url=https://archive.org/details/streetwiseracecl0000ande/page/2}}</ref> This is followed by the exodus of black working-class families.<ref name="Disadvantaged">{{Cite book| last=Wilson| first=William Julius| title=The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy| year=1987| publisher=The University of Chicago Press| isbn=978-0-226-90131-2| url=https://archive.org/details/trulydisadvantag00wilsrich}}</ref>{{Rp|49}} As a result, the ghetto becomes primarily occupied by what sociologists and journalists of the 1980s and 1990s frequently title the "[[underclass]]." [[William Julius Wilson]] suggests this exodus worsened the isolation of the black underclass&nbsp;— not only were they socially and physically distanced from whites, they also became isolated from the black middle class.<ref name="Disadvantaged" />{{Rp|7–8}}

==== Theories on the development of Black ghettos ====
Two dominant theories arise pertaining to the production and development of U.S. ghettos: race-based and class-based; as well as an alternative theory put forward by [[Thomas Sowell]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}

===== Race-based theories =====
First are the race-based theorists, who argue the importance of [[Race (human categorization)|race]] in ghettos. Their analysis consists of the dominant racial group in the U.S. ([[White Anglo-Saxon Protestants]]) and their use of certain racist tactics in order to maintain their [[hegemony]] over black people and lengthen their spatial separation. Race-based theorists offset other arguments that focus on the influence of the [[economy]] on segregation. More contemporary research of race-based theorists is to frame a range of methods conducted by white Americans to "preserve race-based residential inequities" as a function of the dominantly white, state-run government. Involving uneven development, mortgage and business discrimination and disinvestment—U.S. ghettos then, as suggested by race-based theorists, are conserved by distinctly racial reasoning.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}

===== Class-based theories =====
The more dominant view, on the other hand, is represented by [[social class|class-based]] theorists. Such theories confirm class to be more important than race in the structuring of U.S. ghettos. Although racial concentration is a key signifier for ghettos, class-based theorists emphasize the role and impact of broader societal structures in the creation of African-American or Black ghettos. Dynamics of low-wage service and unemployment triggered from [[deindustrialization]], and the [[Intergenerationality|intergenerational]] diffusion of status within families and neighborhoods, for instance, prove the rise in socioeconomic polarization between classes to be the creator of American ghetto; not [[racism]].<ref>Shelton, Jason E. "Ghetto." ''Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society''. 2008. SAGE Knowledge. Web. 25 Oct. 2012.</ref> Furthermore, the [[culture of poverty]] theory, first developed by [[Oscar Lewis]], states that a prolonged history of poverty can itself become a cultural obstacle to socioeconomic success, and in turn can continue a pattern of socioeconomic polarization. Ghettos, in short, instill a cultural adaptation to social and class-based inequalities, reducing the ability of future generations to mobilize or [[Human migration|migrate]].<ref name="Fischer, Claude S. 2000" />

===== Alternative theory =====
An alternative theory put forward by [[Thomas Sowell]] in ''[[Black Rednecks and White Liberals]]'' asserts that modern urban black ghetto culture is rooted in the white [[Cracker (term)|Cracker]] culture of the [[North Britain|North Britons]] and [[Scotch-Irish Americans|Scots-Irish]] who migrated from the generally lawless [[Anglo-Scottish border|border]] regions of Britain to the American South, where they formed a [[redneck]] culture common to both black and white people in the [[antebellum South]]. Characteristics of this culture included lively music and dance, violence, unbridled emotions, flamboyant imagery, illegitimacy, religious oratory marked by strident rhetoric, and a lack of emphasis on education and intellectual interests.<ref name="Sowell">{{Cite journal | last = Sowell | first = Thomas | date = May 16, 2015 | title = Black Rednecks and White Liberals | url = https://www.capitalismmagazine.com/2005/05/black-rednecks-and-white-liberals/ | journal = Capitalism Magazine}}</ref> Because redneck culture proved counterproductive, "that culture long ago died out...among both white and black Southerners, while still surviving today in the poorest and worst of the urban black ghettos",<ref name="Nordlinger">{{Cite journal | last = Nordlinger | first = Jay | date = September 9, 2005 | title = "Black Rednecks and White Liberals", by Thomas Sowell | url = http://www.nationalreview.com/article/215370/chewing-nails-jay-nordlinger | journal = National Review}}</ref> which Sowell described as being characterized by "brawling, braggadocio, self-indulgence, [and] disregard of the future",<ref name="Nordlinger" /> and where "belligerence is considered being manly and crudity is considered cool, while being civilized is regarded as 'acting white'."<ref name="Sowell" /> Sowell blames liberal Americans who since the 1960s have embraced black ghetto culture as the only "'authentic' black culture and even glamorize it" while they "denounce any criticism of the ghetto lifestyle or any attempt to change it."<ref name="Sowell" /> Sowell asserts that white liberal Americans have perpetuated this "counterproductive and self-destructive lifestyle" among black Americans living in urban ghettos through "the welfare state, and look-the-other-way policing, and smiling at 'gangsta rap'."<ref name="Nordlinger" />

==== U.S. characterizations of "ghetto" ====
Contemporary African-American or Black ghettos are characterized by an overrepresentation of a particular ethnicity or race, vulnerability to crime, social problems, governmental reliance and political disempowerment. [[Sharon Zukin]] explains that through these reasons, society rationalizes the term "bad neighborhoods." Zukin stresses that these circumstances are largely related to "racial concentration, residential abandonment, and de-constitution and reconstitution of communal institutions."<ref name="Zukin, Sharon 2002" />{{Rp|516}} Many scholars diagnose this poorly facilitated and fragmented view of the United States as the "age of extremes." This term argues that inequalities of wealth and power reinforce spatial separation; for example, the growth of [[Gated community|gated communities]] can be interconnected with the continued "ghettoization" of the poor.<ref name="Fischer, Claude S. 2000" />

Another characteristic to African-American or Black ghettos and spatial separation is the dependence on the state, and lack of communal [[autonomy]]; Sharon Zukin refers to [[Brownsville, Brooklyn]], as an example. This relationship between racial ghettos and the state is demonstrated through various push and pull features, implemented through government subsidized investments, which certainly assisted the movement of white Americans into the suburbs after [[World War II]]. Since the 1960s, after the de-constitution of the inner cities, African-American or Black ghettos have attempted to reorganize or reconstitute; in effect, they are increasingly regarded as public- and state-dependent communities. Brownsville, for instance, initiated the constitution of community-established public housing, anti-poverty organizations, and social service facilities—all, in their own way, depend on state resources. However, certain dependence contradicts society's desires to be autonomous actors in the market. Moreover, Zukin implies, "the less 'autonomous' the community—in its dependence on public schools, public housing and various subsidy programs—the greater the inequity between their organizations and the state, and the less willing residents are to organize."<ref name="Zukin, Sharon 2002" />{{Rp|517}} This should not, however, undermine local development corporations or social service agencies helping these neighborhoods. The lack of autonomy and growing dependence on the state, especially in a [[Neoliberalism|neoliberal]] economy, remains a key indicator to the production as well as the prevalence of African-American or Black ghettos, particularly due to the lack of opportunities to compete in the global market.<ref name="Zukin, Sharon 2002" />

The concept of the ''ghetto'' and ''underclass'' has faced criticism both theoretically and empirically. Research has shown significant differences in resources for neighborhoods with similar populations both across cities and over time.<ref>{{Cite journal|year=2008|title=Symposium on the ''Ghetto''|journal=City & Community|volume=7|issue=4|pages=305–407|doi=10.1111/cico.2008.7.issue-4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Small|first1=Mario L.|last2=McDermott|first2=Monica|year=2006|title=The Presence of Organizational Resources in Poor Urban Neighborhoods: An Analysis of Average and Contextual Effects|journal=Social Forces|volume=84|issue=3|pages=1697–1724|doi=10.1353/sof.2006.0067|s2cid=44243405}}</ref> This includes differences in the resources of neighborhoods with predominantly low income or racial minority populations. The cause of these differences in resources across similar neighborhoods has more to do with dynamics outside of the neighborhood.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Logan|first1=John|title=Urban Fortunes : The Political Economy of Place|last2=Molotch|first2=Harvey|publisher=University of California Press|year=1987|isbn=978-0-520-06341-9|location=Berkeley}}</ref> To a large extent the problem with the ''ghetto'' and ''underclass'' concepts stem from the reliance on case studies (in particular case studies from Chicago), which limit social scientist understandings of socially disadvantaged neighborhoods.

===== Internal characterizations =====
Despite mainstream America's use of the term ''ghetto'' to signify a poor, culturally or racially homogenous urban area, those living in the area often used it to signify something positive. The black ghettos did not always contain dilapidated houses and deteriorating projects, nor were all of its residents poverty-stricken. For many African-Americans, the ghetto was "home": a place representing authentic [[African-American culture|blackness]] and a feeling, passion, or emotion derived from rising above the struggle and suffering of being black in America.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smitherman |first=Geneva |title=Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner |location=New York |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-395-96919-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/blacktalkwordsph00smit_0}}</ref>

[[Langston Hughes]] relays in his "Negro Ghetto" (1931) and "The Heart of Harlem" (1945)  poems:<ref>[[Langston Hughes|Hughes, Langston]]. [1945] 2007. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=B62nIpB4cmEC&pg=PA89 The Heart of Harlem]." Pp. 89–90 in ''I Speak of the City: Poems of New York'', edited by S. Wolf. New York: [[Columbia University Press]].</ref>

{{Poem quote|text=The buildings in Harlem are brick and stone
And the streets are long and wide,
But Harlem's much more than these alone,
Harlem is what's inside.|char=|sign=|title=|source="The Heart of Harlem" (1945)}}

Playwright [[August Wilson]] uses the term "ghetto" in ''[[Ma Rainey's Black Bottom]]'' (1984) and ''[[Fences (play)|Fences]]'' (1985), both of which draw upon the author's experience growing up in the [[Hill District (Pittsburgh)|Hill District]] of Pittsburgh, a black ghetto.<ref name="Glaeser" />

==== Modern usage and reinterpretations of "ghetto" ====
Recently the word "ghetto" has been used in [[slang]] as an [[adjective]] rather than a [[noun]]. It is used to indicate an object's relation to the inner city and also more broadly to denote something that is shabby or of low quality. While "ghetto" as an adjective can be used derogatorily, the African-American or Black community, particularly the [[hip hop]] scene, has taken the word for themselves and begun using it in a more positive sense that transcends its derogatory origins.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1456766406|title=The Goshen Dilemma|last=Stuart E|first=Heflin Sr|pages=26}}</ref>

In 1973, ''[[Geographical Review]]'' claimed "The degree of residential segregation of the black community is greater than for any other group in urban America, yet black people have not had the political power necessary to exercise any significant degree of control over the improvement of the basic services necessary for their health, education, and welfare."<ref name="Geographical Review 107">''Geographical Review'' 107</ref><ref name="jstor.org">{{Cite journal |title=Geographical Record |journal=Geographical Review |volume=63 |issue=1 |year=1973 |pages= 106–17 |jstor=213241}}</ref> Scholars have been interested in the study of African-American or Black ghettos precisely for the concentration of disadvantaged residents and their vulnerability to social problems. American ghettos also bring attention to geographical and political barriers, and as [[Doreen Massey (geographer)|Doreen Massey]] highlights, that racial segregation in African-American or Black ghettos challenge America's democratic foundations.<ref name="Fischer, Claude S. 2000" /> However, it is still advocated that "One solution to these problems depends on our ability to use the political process in eliminating the inequities... geographical knowledge and theory to public-policy decisions about poor people and poor regions is a professional obligation."<ref name="Geographical Review 107" /><ref name="jstor.org" />

== Ghettos elsewhere ==

=== Shanghai ghetto ===
Before and during World War II, many Jews fled from [[German-occupied Europe]] to Shanghai. After Japan invaded China, it established the [[Shanghai Ghetto]], an area of approximately one square mile (≈{{hsp}}2.6{{spaces}}km<sup>2</sup>) in the [[Hongkou District]] of the [[Empire of Japan]], to which it relocated about 20,000 [[Expulsions and exoduses of Jews|Jewish refugees]] under its ''Proclamation Concerning Restriction of Residence and Business of Stateless Refugees''.<ref>"[http://www.chinajewish.org/JewishHistory.htm Shanghai Jewish History]." ''Shanghai Jewish Center''. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060813151839/http://www.chinajewish.org/JewishHistory.htm|date=2006-08-13}}.</ref>

== In popular culture ==
A number of songs and films have been written about/depicting the ghetto.

=== Film ===

* ''The Wall'' (1982), a TV Movie about the [[Warsaw Ghetto Uprising|Warsaw ghetto uprising]]
* ''[[Boyz n the Hood]]'' (1991), a film about three young males living in Los Angeles' [[Crenshaw, Los Angeles|Crenshaw ghetto]]
* ''[[Menace II Society]]'' (1993), about a young street hustler who attempts to escape the ghetto in a quest for a better life
* [[Uprising (2001 film)|''Uprising'']] (2001), a TV Movie in which Jews rise up in the [[Warsaw Ghetto]] against the Nazis in 1943.
* ''[[The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler]]'' (2009), a TV movie about the titular Irena Sendler who saved the lives of hundreds of Jewish children by smuggling them out of the [[Warsaw Ghetto|Warsaw ghetto]] in Poland
* ''Who Will Write Our History'' (2018), a film about [[Emanuel Ringelblum]], and the secret archive that he created and led in the Warsaw Ghetto

=== Music ===
* "[[In the Ghetto]]" (originally titled "The Vicious Circle"), a 1969 song about birth and life in slum areas, written by [[Mac Davis]] and made famous by [[Elvis Presley]]
* [[The Ghetto (Donny Hathaway song)|"The Ghetto"]] (1970), soul song by [[Donny Hathaway]]
* [[Ghetto Life (song)|"Ghetto Life "]] (1981), funk song by [[Rick James]]
* [[The Ghetto (Too Short song)|"The Ghetto"]] (1990), hip-hop song written by [[Too Short]]
* "Ghetto" (2001), a song by [[P.O.D.]] from ''[[Satellite (P.O.D. album)|Satellite]]''
* "[[Ghetto (Akon song)|Ghetto]]" (2004) by [[Akon]]
* [[Ghetto (Kelly Rowland song)|"Ghetto"]] (2007), R&B song written by American singer [[Kelly Rowland]]
* "Ghetto" (2011), a song by Junai Kaden featuring [[Mumzy Stranger]] from ''From Me to You''.
* [[Testimony (August Alsina album)|"Ghetto"]] (2014), an R&B song by [[August Alsina]]

== See also ==
{{portal|border=no|Cities}}
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Balkanization]]
* [[Bantustan]]
* [[Blockbusting]]
* [[Gated community]]
* [[Ghetto fabulous]]
* [[Ghetto tax]]
* [[Indian reservation]]
* [[Islam in Europe]]
* [[Jewish quarter (diaspora)|Jewish quarter]]
* [[Poverty map]]
* [[Rural ghetto]]
* [[Shanty town]]
* [[Skid row]]
* [[Slum]]
* [[Township (South Africa)]]
* [[Trailer park]]
* [[Urbanization]]
* [[Urban vitality]]
{{Div col end}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Wiktionary|ghetto}}{{Commons category-inline}}{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ghettos| ]]
[[Category:Ethnic enclaves| Ghetto]]
[[Category:Racial segregation]]
[[Category:Urban decay]]
[[Category:Italian inventions]]
[[Category:Sociology of immigration]]