In working class neighbourhoods, contrary to received wisdom conveyed in the media and by politicians, “problem-ridden” urban areas do not undergo a process of anomie, social disorganisation or dereliction, but are, rather, experiencing a redeployment of politico-institutional resources and modes of intervention by a number of social actors, in charge of regulation or social control. Social regulations are being reconfigured. Actors of the socialisation of risk are multiplying. By combining several action logics, they are favouring two dimensions, which are, however, in tension : the maintenance of social order and “democratic emancipation,” through the promotion of processes of individualisation stemming from models of intervention on the grounds of security or of democracy.