The Outcast Ghetto Summary

As defined in Marcuse’s (1997) article, “A ghetto is a spatially concentrated area used to separate and to limit a particular involuntarily defined population group (usually by race) held to be, and treated as, inferior by the dominant society,” (p. 231). Marcuse further broke down ghetto into two categories: the outcast ghetto and the classic ghetto. The outcast ghetto is the most commonly referred to and understood in the context of the American society, where most black are populated. Like the author, I will be using the term black instead of African-American to emphasize the racial segregation, marginalization, and discrimination that this group has to endure in America (Marcuse, 1997, p. 239). Not only is the outcast ghetto spatially excluded and/or distant from the mainstream culture of America, but also economically sanctioned.
An outcast ghetto is a ghetto in which ethnicity is combined with class in a spatially concentrated area with residents who are excluded from the mainstream of the economic life of the surrounding society, which does not …show more content…
111-112). Verbs and phrase Anderson used throughout the “street families” were “joblessness”, “self-destructive”, “easily agitated”, “limited understanding of priorities and consequences”, “quite aggressive with children,” etc. In general, this painted a picture for the readers on how the “street families” can be and/or are. However, if we are to blame blacks for their disadvantages in life, then we are committing the act of victim blaming. People in the ghettos are not choosing to be this way, but they are behaving this way in order to cope with the fact that mainstream society has marginalized, isolated, and discriminated against