'The Others Don't Want ...'. Small-Scale Segregation: Hegemonic Public Discourses and Racial Boundaries in German Neighbourhoods.

This paper examines the interplay between hegemonic discourses on segregation and small-scale segregation in neighbourhoods. In the German mass media, segregation is mainly discussed in the context of so-called 'problematic neighbourhoods'. Thereby the discourse concentrates on cultural differences and blames immigrants for building parallel societies instead of integrating into German society. However, boundaries in neighbourhoods are often due to racialised stereotypes rather than differences in cultural practice. Small-scale segregation is not necessarily related to migration or cultural differences but corresponds to racialised images of who is perceived as German and who is not. Qualitative interviews with White German residents of three neighbourhoods in Berlin indicate that the discourse about 'problematic neighbourhoods' in itself furthers small-scale segregation and racialised stereotypes in neighbourhoods. Instead of interpreting small-scale segregation as immigrants' lack of will to integrate into German society, I suggest Bourdieu's concept of Habitus and social space as an explanation for boundaries in neighbourhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]