THE UNDERCLASS QUESTION ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ATLANTIC

In France, the American concept of the underclass has been used to ref er to certain lower-class neighbor-hoods. Major currents in this socio logical literature on both sides of the Atlantic are examined. In the United States, sociologists agree on defining the underclass as an urb an minority that, in addition, is kept on the fringes in certain ghett o neighborhoods. Debate has arisen around three questions. What weight does the economic factor carry compared with the racial one ? How do specific cultural characteristics come into play ? How are social poli cies and a culture of dependence related ? In France too, certain neig hborhoods accumulate negative characteristics, but without being a mir ror of American ghettos. They are places where mixing occurs and where major government interventions are being made. They constitute hetero geneous cultural and social spaces. By using four criteria (segregatio n, integration ways of life, social policies) to examine the literatur e, the inadequacy of the term ''ghetto'' is shown. The problems in the se neighborhoods mainly stem from massive precariousness and stalled s patial mobility.