Just how different? Loïc wacquant's Chicago-Paris comparisons

Addressing Wacquant in the symposium on the book Urban Outcasts, the commentator (Western) notes in introduction certain parallels in both their academic approach and their international experience, and expresses admiration for Wacquant's work. Then, a summary is provided of Wacquant's comparison of the U.S. inner city with the French banlieue (suburban zones of public housing), in particular of two neighborhoods in Chicago and Paris. Strong contrasts emerge along five dimensions: scale/location, race, relative deprivation, criminal violence, and state intervention/inaction. In conclusion, Wacquant's call for engagement, his insistence on agency, and his refusal to submit to seemingly determinant structural-historical factors is appreciatively noted.