Lo spettro del ghetto e i processi di segregazione. Considerazioni introduttive

The term ghetto has increasingly taken an emotional connotation that focalizes the profile of a real exceptionality and social morbidity. Starting from a short review of the long sociological tradition, an introductory reflection is proposed aimed at analyzing the evocative nature associated to the ghetto. It reveals its rhetorical and stigmatizing potential. Furthermore, the ghetto in its urban and/or rural articulation highlights the result of policies of exclusion, as identified by North American sociological literature.