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ghettoization

ghettoization

1 8.9
Making a group or area separate from others and making it poorer and less powerful
  • noun
  • /ˌɡɛtəʊaɪˈzeɪʃən/
  • Specialized
translation icon : ghettoización
  • Activists are fighting against the ghettoization of schools to ensure equal opportunities for all students.

Examples

  • Poor neighborhoods such as Nima and Labadi and the ever-expanding suburbs are often discussed by young inhabitants in the language of ghettoization gleaned from hip hop lyrics.

    Academic text (2009)
  • Ghettoization, for example, has plagued Native Americans much as it has African Americans.

    Academic text (2005)
  • From this, everybody stands to gain, provided that the ghettoization of such courses is avoided, whether ethnic or ideological.

    Academic text (1998)
  • The fight against racial discrimination, impoverishment, and ghettoization of immigrant areas in cities should be a national priority.

    Academic text (2006)
  • The net result is overextension, leading to destabilization and a hardening of ghettoization from the withholding of resources.

    Academic text (2009)
  • In the process, a growing mass of urban youth have been relegated to unemployment, urban displacement, and self-described ghettoization.

    Academic text (2009)
  • The recent ghettoization of certain housing projects—always incomplete—is a function of their criminalization.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Whereas notions of authenticity and essentialism become limiting burdens for artists attempting to avoid ghettoization in today's global art market, many Indigenous artists eschew this Western problematic.

    Academic text (2006)
  • The ghettoization of neighborhoods often leads to increased poverty and disenfranchisement among residents.

  • The documentary highlights the ghettoization of the community, showing how its isolation impacts daily life.

Synonyms

segregation
vsghettoization
  • Offensive
84 6.1

Authorities keep people apart by race or religion, often with different facilities

is broader, covering isolation that causes disadvantage beyond legal separation
marginalization
vsghettoization
  • US
8 7.9

To treat a person or group as unimportant and outside the main society

focuses more on physical or institutional isolation that causes disadvantage
racial segregation
vsghettoization
  • Offensive
6 6.5

Keeping people apart because of their race, for example in schools or public places

is wider, applying to any group isolated and made disadvantaged
ostracism
vsghettoization
4 7.9

Leaving someone out of a group on purpose

is wider, involving institutional or area separation that harms the group
ostracization
vsghettoization
  • US
1 8.4

To exclude someone from a group as punishment or social rejection

involves longer term institutional isolation and resulting disadvantage
social ostracism
vsghettoization
1 7.6

Leaving a person out of social activities so they feel alone

is a broader, often systemic process that creates long term disadvantage
untouchability
vsghettoization
  • Offensive
1 9.9

Excluding people from normal social life because they belong to a low caste or class

is the general process of separation that produces social and economic harm
enclavement
vsghettoization
9.9

A place or group that is cut off and surrounded by a different area

emphasizes social and economic disadvantage resulting from that separation
othering
vsghettoization
  • Offensive
9.2

Using language or behavior that treats people as different and outside the group

leads to practical isolation and clear disadvantage rather than just attitude
outcasting
vsghettoization
  • Archaic
8.5

Leaving someone out of a group so they cannot join in

is more systemic, creating separate areas or roles that cause harm

Antonyms

55 4.1

To bring people from different races or religions into a community as equals

How Segregated

apartheid
  • Offensive
92 8.1
segregation
  • Offensive
18 5.3
ghettoization
  • Specialized
1 8.9
marginalization
  • US
8 7.9
isolation
172 3.7
separation
89 2.6

Surface Forms

ghettoization singular

Morphology

ghettoization = ghettoize (transparent) = ghetto + ize + ation

The word is a regular noun formation from the verb 'ghettoize', so the meaning of the process is directly recoverable from the base.

Etymology

Ghettoization comes from ghetto, an Italian name for the part of a city where Jews were once 'forced to live', giving a clear picture of people kept apart. So ghettoization is the process of making a group or place 'separate' and often poor or disadvantaged.