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Line 1: − + − Often, people will choose to ghettoize themselves, such as in so-called "gay villages" that are common in larger cities, but this should not be confused with people who have no choice but to live in particular areas. + + + − The isolation usually experienced by such ghettoized groups can often result in difficulty in relationships between those in the ghetto and those outside. + +
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The term [[ghetto]] is normally used to describe often-impoverished area within a [[city]] or town that is inhabited by people of a particular ethnic group. Historically, people belonging to marginalized ethnic groups and [[nation]]alities, such as [[Europe]]an [[Jews]] were restricted to living in ghettoes.
The term '''ghetto''' historically meant the Jewish district of a European town, especially in Italy, before [[Napoleon]] freed the Jews from this confinement around 1800. By 1900 it came to mean the Jewish neighborhoods of New York City, and soon was applied to other ethnic neighborhoods in U.S. cities. There is a sense that the ghetto is closed--outsiders are not welcome.
After 1950 the term changed meaning to refer to big city neighborhoodsin the U.S. that were over 90% black. Typically they are poor and crime-ridden, so "gheto" picked up these connotations. "Inner city" is a synonym. Thus [[Martin Luther King]] said, "In the ghettos of Chicago..the problems of poverty and despair are graphically illustrated." A "ghetto blaster" is slang for a large and powerful stereo radio-DVD player.
By extension "ghetto" also means any closed, underpaid sector of the labor force which is hard to escape.
[[Category: Sociology]]
[[Category: Sociology]]
[[Category:Jews]]
[[Category:Black history]]