Forum: english.stackexchange.com
Tags: <differences><nouns>
Title: What is the difference between a "ghetto" and a "slum"?
Question: What is the difference between a  ghetto  and a  slum ?

Answers:
sents: text: A slum is characterized by its run-down status, while a ghetto is characterized by the people who live there.
text: Both usually mean some degree of poverty, being overcrowded, and having high crime rates.
text: Historically, a ghetto would be a place to put groups such as immigrants, Jews or black people, who weren't allowed to live anywhere else.
text: Nowadays the reasons are mostly economical and cultural; people can't afford to live wherever they like, and choose to live among others with similar background.
text: A ghetto doesn't have to be particularly poor, some Chinatowns for example can be called ghettos even though they are not really slums.
text: Sometimes, "slum ghetto" is used to clarify both the ethnic grouping and the poverty of an area.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/3365/Guffa
score: 18
sents: text: Originally, yes, but people not aware of the history use them interchangeably now.
text: The word ghetto was used to refer to a concentration of a particular ethnicity into a single neighborhood.
text: In Poland during WWII Jews were forced to live in communities where they did not mix with others.
text: In the United States this term was used to describe the ethnically-centered neighborhoods in the big cities.
text: A slum is a very low income area marked by poor living conditions, sometimes crime.
text: Some ghettos became slums and so now the two ideas have intertwined in the minds of many.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/914/Picturepocket
score: 10
sents: text: In a ghetto you will find people of the same race/socio-economic status/etc.
text: While today indistinguishable from a slum, from a historical perspective, a ghetto was meant as a separate part of a society where 'certain' people were moved (as for instance the Warsaw ghetto for Jews during WWII).
text: A slum, on the other hand, is merely a very poor neighborhood.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/3664/0sh
score: 4
sents: text: Ghetto can also be used as an adjective, and not necessarily a negative one, depending on context and speaker.
text: While the modern ghetto is usually of a lower socio-economic class, I think of a slum as much more destitute.
text: Also, lest we forget the term slumming it, as in stooping beneath one's self, indicating perhaps again the implied undesirable factor of a slum.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/9607/Elizabite
score: 2
sents: text: I can't afford to move out of east oakland California.
text: There is extreme poverty, and where the violence is sickening to me.
text: Full of turf gangs creating what mainstream media usually calls the killing fields.
text: I dont think Ive ever called this area a 'slum'.
text: The term ghetto started in WW2 to describe some of the areas the Jewish people were forced to live.
text: I think that term applies more because it's more about a specific race of people forced to live in a specific area due to whatever reasons.
text: Here it's due to poverty and a horrid educational system.
text: When I hear the term "Slum" or "Slums", I tend to think about people forced to live under slum lords that will grossly over pack their land with people.
text: I consider parts of Rio de Janeiro to be slums where there is people so over packed they're almost standing on each other.
text: Mostly for bad areas, people use the term "hood"
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/185708/NerdTrapdinEoaklandGANGLANDha
score: 2

Summary of the answers:
Whilst the two concepts have intertwined in the minds of many and people use them interchangeably now, there is a difference between a "ghetto" and a "slum". Both usually mean some degree of poverty, being overcrowed and having a high crime rate, but a slum is characterised by its run-down status, while a ghetto is characterised by the people that live there. In a ghetto, you will generally find people of the same race/socio-economic status.
Slums are characterised by their run-down status, whereas ghettos are characterised by the group that live there. Sometimes, ghettos are not necessarily poor. Some Chinatowns are called "ghettos". The term "slum ghetto" denotes an area of poverty with a particular ethnic group. An example of a slum would be some parts of Rio de Jainero. Historically, the ghetto was a concept that emerged during WWII when the Jews were quartered into small areas of cities. By extenstion, the word "slumming" means stooping below oneself. A similar word to "ghetto" is "hood" which denotes a place where criminal activity occurs and of low socio-economic status.
Whilst the two concepts have intertwined in the minds of many and people use them interchangeably now, there is a difference between a "ghetto" and a "slum". Both usually mean some degree of poverty, being overcrowed and having a high crime rate, but a slum is characterised by its run-down status, while a ghetto is characterised by the people that live there. In a ghetto, you will generally find people of the same race/socio-economic status.
A slum refers to a run-down, poor place, whereas a ghetto is characterized by a neighbourhood that houses a certain type of people.
A slum is characterized by its run-down status, while a ghetto is characterized by the people who live there.
A slum is a run-down area whereas a ghetto is characterised by the people who live in it.