Metropolitics

An American in Marseille

Olivier Gaudin & translated by Oliver Waine — 2023-03-17T06:00:00Z

In his latest work, Marseille, Port to Port, the New York-based ethnographer William Kornblum paints a rich and vibrant sociological portrait of France's second city.
Marseille through the kaleidoscope
William Kornblum, emeritus professor at the City University of New York, is a sociologist renowned for his work in the field of urban ethnography, devoted to subjects ranging from a group of Harlem teenagers (Kornblum and Williams 1994) to, more recently, the New York subway's 7 Train, which

- Reviews / Marseille, New York, urban sociology, sociology, ethnography, urban ecology

Thirty Years of Urban Sociology

Christian Topalov & translated by Oliver Waine — 2015-10-30T06:00:00Z

What is urban sociology in France? Christian Topalov, one of the key players in the history of this discipline, looks back on the two key periods during which the label “urban sociology” came into its own: the 1970s, and the era that heralded the “problem of the banlieues” from the early 1980s onwards – two periods in which academics' and public policymakers' visions of the city coincided.
Translated with the support of the Institut Français Series: Urban Studies in France “The city is what

- Essays / France, suburbs, public policy, urban knowledge, sociology, state, urban sociology

Racism: a blind spot in French urban sociology?

Élise Palomares & translated by Oliver Waine — 2013-10-02T04:45:00Z

Why has the analysis of interethnic relations been so long ignored by French urban sociology? For Élise Palomares, although the fading memory of the Chicago School's legacy and a partial vision of social relations have meant that racism has been somewhat “off the radar” in France, recent work has opened up new avenues of research.
Translated with the support of the Institut Français Series: Urban Studies in France The city – the destination of predilection for migrants both national and

- Essays / banlieue, Chicago, racism, social diversity, suburbs, sociology, Chicago School, race