In this ground-breaking study, Sophie Body-Gendrot provides a comparative analysis of the growing problem of new forms of poverty and social marginalisation in contemporary advanced societies.

Sophie Body-Gendrot is a CNRS researcher and a professor of political science and American studies at the Sorbonne and the Institute of Political Science in Paris. Her research focuses on comparative public, urban unrest, ethnic and racial issues and citizen participation. Among her books are Ville et Violence (1993), The Urban Moment (1999, edited with R. Beauregard) and a taskforce report written with N. Le Guennec on urban violence for the French Home Secretary in 1998.