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AbstractInspired by Bourdieu's theory of homology between social, mental and spatial structures, this essay dissects the relationship between spatial and social divisions in the Danish city of Aalborg using varied data from official statistics, surveys, qualitative interviews and field observations. Spatial divisions reflect differences in the objective distribution of economic and cultural capital, and are accompanied by symbolic divisions in residents' minds. Some nuances are, however, added to Bourdieu's homology argument, as there are discrepancies between objective distributions and mental schemes, such that the latter exaggerate and dramatize the former. The neighbourhood of Aalborg East is subjected to this symbolic exaggeration in the form of spatial stigma or territorial stigmatization. An analysis of residents' strategies for coping with spatial stigma furthermore provides an illustration of Wacquant's claim that this stigmatization can be met with a range of socially patterned responses ranging from acceptance or indifference to recalcitrance.

The Danish state is preoccupied with its citizens' social skills, which are seen as important for the nations' competitiveness. Such skills regard self-presentation, communication, emotional control etc. This article relies primarily on interviews with Danish social workers who are involved either in assessing young marginalized welfare clients' personal readiness for schooling or employment or in preparing them for this through social skills training. Secondarily, it relies on fieldwork data from young Danes at the margins of the educational system and/or the labour market, who are frequently confronted with a devaluation of their personal ways of being. As personal resources related to ways of being, communicating, handling emotions etc. are ascribed social value, especially at the labour market they may work as a form of capital, while the lack of them may be a source of marginalization. These findings are discussed as signs of more general social normative demands, theoretically grasped in the meeting point of Bourdieu's understanding of embodied cultural capital, of Skeggs' analysis of how subjects are attributed value or not, and of Illouz's investigation of the emotional demands contemporary capitalism puts on employees. Understanding the experiences of those who fail to comply with implicit social requirements for personal resources thus shed light on contemporary requirements regarding how to behave and communicate with other people as well as on the state's investments in the most personal spheres of its citizens.

Adult Ethnic Minority Men - Marginalization and IntersectionalityAdult ethnic minority men make up a blind spot in gender and masculinity research. The article contributes to Danish gender studies by examining adult ethnic minority men in a suburb of Aalborg. The analysis applies an intersectional perspective as well as conceptualizations of class travel and othering. Methodologically it is based on qualitative interviews with 24 ethnic minority men living in the area. The article analyzes specific processes of marginalization in relation to local culture and social politics; implications of downward class journey; and processes of othering. One of the main findings is that the marginalized position of these adult ethnic men is related to intersecting categories where for instance the downward class journey and the processes of othering are intertwined and inseparable.