ABSTRACT
This chapter implicitly compares different spaces of social stigma and exclusion: ghettos, barrios, and banlieues. The ghetto was initially a state-designated space for a stigmatized group. It first appeared in Europe; the term was later applied in the United States to urban neighborhoods, especially the areas where African Americans lived after migrating from the South. The chapter discusses the theoretical concept of the social boundary, which can be used to schematize the parallel processes that stigmatize space. It turns next to ethno-surveys, participant observation, interviews, and secondary sources to describe how contemporary practices in and around the banlieue are in conflict with the political, journalistic, and sometimes sociological approaches used to frame them. The chapter ends by making some general comparisons with the ideas of "the ghetto" and "el barrio". The processes that produce the mental maps of the ghetto, the banlieue, and the barrio are similar, even when their objective conditions differ.
