Ghettos and Wirth

After learning about Wirth and his writing on ghetto's, it really was different from what I thought a ghetto actually was. As individuals in the ghetto accumulate capital, that these individuals will eventually try to leave the ghetto. The model goes as follows: 1.) The subject starts in the ghetto which eventually wants to get out due to economic lifts which then moves to step 2. 2.) Next, the subject moves out of the ghetto and begins to assimilate and the people begin to get integrated. Finally, after this the subject moves out from the second step then he/she finds their way to the suburb in all different directions. This is an enclave according to Wirth. This generational model moves to assimilation then to a melting pot which is known as the city and eventually to a suburb.

There are a few differences between ghettos and enclaves.


Ghettos Enclaves

1.) Dually segregated 1.) Doubly diluted
2.) Negative 2.) Positive
3.) Enforced 3.) Voluntary
4.) Expand 4.) Residual
5.) Real 5.) Symbolic
6.) Threat 6.) Touristic


Wirth believes that the ghettos are an institution, "which represents a prolonged case of isolation." Wirth's ideas seem to go hand in hand with one another for the reasons that one will end up in a ghetto and the reasons why it occurs.
We often hear the stories of ghetto's through WWII with the Jews all together.
"Jews were to be found in every part of the city, but predominantly in the Northern part, with many apartment houses and certain streets inhabited exclusively by Jews. In 1935 the city limits covered an area of 54 square miles with a population of 1.3 million people. On the eve of World War Two the Jewish population in Warsaw numbered 337,000 about 29% of the total population of the city, this figure rose to 445,000 by March 1941" (http://www.thoughts.com/Holocaustresearchproject/blog/the-warsaw-ghetto-230704/).
In conclusion, ghettos still exist outside of just WWII and I believe it is because of the isolation of one and also their economic status.