EqualSoc

Rapid urban changes leading to social polarisation and the increase of social inequalities within metropolis has become a central topic for both social scientists and politics. Many researches have been carried out to explore the determinants of spatial segregation and to measure its evolutions in various parts of the world. However, less has been done, at least in Europe, to take into account the effects of those rapid urban changes (gentrification, urban sprawl, concentration of poverty, etc.) on individuals and groups’ social destiny. The question of “neighbourhood effects” – whose main goal is to highlight the possible influence of some of the characteristics of place of residence on one’s life and social opportunities – is still under-explored in Europe despite a recent increase in the researches conducted by some European social scientists, mainly geographers, economists and social epidemiologists. The reasons for this relative disaffection by European sociologists are manifold (lack of appropriate data, reticence of urban sociologists with the risks of uncontrolled importation of concepts and methods from the US research agenda, abundance of methodological and theoretical difficulties, etc.). Taking note of this statement, it appeared crucial to some of the EQUALSOC members to develop a European research network on this topic and to take it out of its – sometimes – strictly quantitative “ghetto” with the creation of links with other sociological traditions like urban ethnography, network analysis or the analysis of social links and their disruptions for instance, all of them being represented in the research group. By doing so, the network aims to enrich the analysis of urban changes and their associated social effects by confronting the theories and methods rarely used in combination because hard to master for a researcher or even a research team.

Social Exclusion and Urban Inequalities. Focus on Neighbourhood Effects: from Identification to Comprehension