The aim of the authors is the theoretical reformulation of the question of segregation. In order to do this, they examine in turn psycho‐sociological theories, morphological and semiological theories as well as theories of residential location. The authors show how all of these approaches can only define classificatory processes and propose an analysis beginning from those social relations which structure residential consumption; that is, relations of property in housing. Starting from a definition of segregation as a process of exclusive practices of residential space, the authors show how relations of residential property determine two types of segregation: one ‘by antagonism’, based on the valorization of property capital, and one ‘by incongruence’ based on conditions of real appropriation of housing.