Many people may find the term “ghetto” to be offensive when discussing the inner-city poor. “A ghetto is a place where a certain minority group lives, whether by choice or force, and is subject to economic and political discrimination.” One must wonder, however, what
psychological and sociological theories apply to these people. I will focus on the black ghetto rather than the Hispanic ghetto, since the plight of African-Americans seems to be more publicized.
We must first establish that a black ghetto does exist in America. Many people may cite the facts and try to pretend that a ghetto does not exist, though the facts are certainly misleading. In total number, white poor outnumber the amount of black poor. We must look at more than just these facts. Even if the percentage of white poor was higher, which it is not, the poor whites are still spread throughout the country, whereas blacks tend to live in certain sections of large cities. These blacks do tend to suffer inequalities, but many people disagree to what extent blacks are discriminated against. Almost all people think that the way to end said discrimination is for the ghetto dwellers to get out of the inner city. Why don’t more people get out then? Many programs such as Head Start and Affirmative Action have tried to help blacks toward a new direction, but with how much success? I will attempt to prove that the existence of numerous psychological and sociological factors help to keep the blacks in the ghettos.
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