Here, Loïc Wacquant discusses the folk category of the ‘Underclass’ and its weak epistemological foundations. He also discusses his ethnographic investigation of the south-side of Chicago as an amateur boxer to explain the connections between the state, the ghetto, the body. He also argues for the use of apprenticeship to sociologically understand practice and how the ‘ethic of sacrifice’, and its accompanying moral and practical lessons, are inscribed onto the body, as oppose to formal forms of pedagogy.
At the Danish National Centre for Social Research on May 30th 2013, Loïc Wacquant clarifies the conceptual and structural misunderstandings between ‘Ethnic Cluster’ and ‘Ghetto’. He also comments on the political mis-use of the term ‘ghetto’ and its relation to adequate social policy.
Loïc Wacquant 