Fragmenting Cities: The State, Territorial Stigmatization and Urban Marginality [Hardback]

This book is a dazzling, compelling analysis of the urban ramifications of the disturbing re-shaping of the Danish welfare state. Taking inspiration from Bourdieusian sociology, the authors articulate with sparkling clarity how state-based stigmatization and discrimination based on place has served to fragment and divide a society commonly associated with human rights and tolerance. It is a book of profound importance that will help guard against the spread of symbolic violence. -- Tom Slater, Columbia University, New York, USA Troels Schultz Larsen and Kristian Nagel Delica shed an original and essential light on the ghetto problem. Rather than taking this representation / category as granted, they direct our attention to those who have imposed it in the Danish public sphere. Elucidating the complex processes that fabricate territorial and racial stigmatization is crucial for new progressive perspectives to emerge. That is exactly what this book achieves. -- Sylvie Tissot, University of Paris-8, France Fragmenting cities is a bold and original contribution to the political sociology of urban marginality inspired by Pierre Bourdieu and grounded in a deep historical case study of the making and unmaking of the so-called ghettos of Denmark. It is packed with sharp observations, smart theorizing and lucid policy elaborations reaching far beyond its national borders: in short, a must-read for serious students of the neoliberal metropolis. -- Loļc Wacquant, University of California, Berkeley, US