What is the difference between slum and ghetto

Harlem is a run down area in New York. They sell drugs in slum areas. They sell drugs in ghetto areas. They sell drugs in run down areas. Thanks in advance. I don't hear "ghetto" much these days, Konstantinos, but in this context it means an economically depressed area.

That meaning is also carried by the other two terms. Both "slum" and "ghetto" have social implications that "run-down area" doesn't necessarily have. People often expect crime or general bad behavior from the residents of a slum or a ghetto. Last edited: Apr 15, Traditionally the word "ghetto" refers to a usually poor area of a city that is mostly populated by one racial or ethnic group: a group that is a minority in that country at that time.

There have been Jewish ghettos, black ghettos, hispanic ghettos, white ghettos, cambodian ghettos, and many others. The other two words imply nothing about the racial or ethnic mix of people living there. In a "slum" most of the people are poor, buildings are in bad repair, crime is high, and the area is filthy. The term "run-down" just refers to the buildings. They are old and not well-repaired. Thanks owlman5. Also maybe ghetto, is a run down area in which it is implied that the majority of people are from a different nation than the major nation of the city for example gypsies or immigrants , or from different religion group, something that is not implied from slum?

Ok, dojibear said that. Only the user who asked this question will see who disagreed with this answer. Read more comments. A slum is a poor neighborhood. The living conditions are very bad, and the houses and apartments are too small to hold everybody that lives there. A ghetto is a neighborhood where a minority group lives. The original ghettos were formed in Europe, when Christian people forced Jewish people to live in certain city neighborhoods.

See a translation. Highly-rated answerer. Describing somebody as a hood means a person who lives in a hood and possesses the essence of urban culture. The word ghetto emerged in Venice for the first time to refer to the area where a community of Jews was forcefully restricted to live in.

In contrast to the past, the word Ghetto is used to refer to the area or part of any city where the poor and deprived minority groups reside in modern times. Ghetto has many versions of it across the globe, and all of have different categories and community. In the past, the ghettos were treated badly. They were not allowed to leave their walls in which they were enclosed. The Jews were kept away rest of the city population.

Keeping the essence of the word from the historical times, the word now refers to the slums or any minority caste dwelling of any rural area. Just like the Jews were made to lead a low life ghetto in present times is used for poverty-stricken people and their residence area.

The word hood emerged from the nearby neighborhood that lay in the southern part of Chicago where black people lived. Thus, it was derived from the word neighborhood.