To what extent have French banlieues become ghettos?

Résumé du document

A banlieue is strictly defined as the peripheral urbanized zone surrounding a big city. The word had become quite pejorative, giving birth to its definition as "a marginalized zone mainly occupied by people from African origin? or to words like banlieusard, which is assimilated to a person, most of the time young with no occupation, always wandering in the banlieue. Lately, especially since the 2005 riots, we have talked about French banlieues that are compared to ghettos. The word ghetto was first used to talk about the Jews who were forced to gather in certain areas during the Second World War. It means either the area of a city where lives a minority who are not properly integrated to the society or a self-contained social environment. Can banlieues be compared to American ghettos? And if to a certain extent, it reached some of the aspects of these ghettos, is this deliberate move or more the result of a marginalization by the society? We try to find answers to these questions in this document.

Extraits

[...] - Same, the unemployment rate in ZUS is twice more important than in French cities. More, since 2002 the situation gets worse: the Raffarin government suppressed police de proximité' and cut funds allocated to association. And since 2007, the state disengagement even increased: the ‘dotation de solidarité urbaine' is supposed to be reformed and suppressed for some towns, Christine Boutin wants to put beside the obligation to construct social habitations in the advantage of city-centres. The Borloo plan of urban renovation led to fewer habitations available, especially for families. [...]

[...] To what extent have French banlieues become ghettos? A banlieue is strictly defined as the peripheral urbanized zone surrounding a big city. But quickly the word had become quite pejorative, giving birth to its definition as marginalized zone mainly occupied by people from African origin' or to words like banlieusard, which is assimilated to a person, most of the time young with no occupation, always wandering in the banlieue. Lately, especially since the 2005 riots we've talked about, French banlieues are more and more compared to ghettos. [...]

[...] The immigration, lived as an emotional wrench makes the familial sacrifice a recurrent theme. Social success is then needed to justify the sacrifice. That's when youth is struck between this familial pressure and the marginalization they suffer from that they find a way out in the street. Indeed the street obeys to different rules where the individual can have his dignity back; that are where the ghetto space builds himself up. Furthermore, in confronting these difficulties, strategies differ according to the gender. [...]

[...] II What made the comparison emerge between banlieues and ghettos? The more obvious would be the rise of violence especially since the 2005 riots. Besides would be merely the marginalization of the areas: the inside reorganization of the banlieue certainly reproduce some ghettos models. Above all, it is necessary to understand that the ghetto is a world of strong social links where a promise, a reputation or a friendship may have a lot more signification than outside it. A ghetto is the product of two mechanisms: social segregation and poverty. [...]

[...] Of course, what gather banlieue and ghetto together are that they define themselves in opposition to something else? And when this something else is the State and consequently the law, violence can occur since several systems of control, even though complementary, are in competition: - an institutional control through the police or the social assistance. - the control coming from the community, often embodied by the family father referring to the respect of the religion, the ‘bled' or the setting up of marriages. [...]