According to Neal (2007, p.46) “Potent social forces [capitalism, patriarchy, imperialism, home ownership] do exist and being homeless is to lose a stake in several of them” This paper will explore three different theoretical approaches to addressing the homeless problem that plagues our society from three different social theorists in the historical context of Classical, modernist and postmodern. Karl Marx, a social theorist from the classical era challenged the status quo by illustrating the effect the rich bourgeoisie had on the proletariat. According to Marx the bourgeoisie, represented the rich oppressors who exploited the working class.
There are more than 500,000 homeless people in America (Johnson). There are many reasons and causes for people to end up living this way, but the biggest cause is tragic life events, for like loss of loved ones, job loss, domestic violence, divorce, and family disputes. Other reasons for homelessness are depression, untreated mental illness, PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), and physical disabilities ("Top Causes of Homelessness in America."). Many people see homelessness as a bad thing and an issue, but it does serve a purpose in society. Homelessness can be seen in many different ways.
The homeless require help to get out of the situations they are in, but often people do not offer help because they attach negative symbols to the homeless. The social interactionist theory tries to understand how society views the homeless and how the homeless view themselves, based on the symbols that are projected onto homeless people. During the 1970s Madison Square Garden was filled with homeless people. Rising rents caused many people to lose their homes and apartments and to join the homeless community. Dozens of homeless women lived in the public restrooms as an attempt to escape the harsh weather.
Homelessness is a societal injustice and a health issue present in the Australian community. The concern about homelessness extends beyond the absence of secure housing (living on the streets). Vulnerable individuals who reside in homeless shelters, crisis accommodation, or safe housing can also be classified as "homeless". There is no typical homeless person, as people of all ages and backgrounds can experience homelessness. Homelessness has a significant impact on the Australian community, both in terms of the cost to the economy and the social and health impacts on individuals.
Homelessness due to individual factor or structural factor? Homelessness is the condition of people without a permanent dwelling. It is an uncontrollable issue around the world and influences different ages of people. Homelessness can be divided into two camps which is structural causes and individual causes .Structural
Although homelessness is caused by many things, homeless people are usually labeled as homeless. But there are types of homelessness. One type of homelessness is Situational or Transitional homelessness. This is when someone is forced into homelessness because of uncontrollable circumstances such as losing a job, important material lost, lost of a main breadwinner (Father, husband, wife) etc. The second type of homelessness is Episodic or cyclical homelessness.
Essay on The Homeless Introduction to Human Resources Columbia college By Kawana Roberts The issue of contemporary homelessness has took a huge shift from the common perception of homeless people. I am witnessing a shift from the image of ‘homelessness’ being a physically dirty, pan handling, poor, uneducated individual who does not have a physical home for shelter. Initially, I failed to recognize that ‘homelessness’ can be a temporary state on can live in. Not all homeless people are homeless by “choice”, sometimes people are homeless by “force”.
Many people think of cult as a new illness or anomalies. In the book of Cult written by Marc Galanter, he talks about what the cult is, and how they become one whole group including why people join in to the group. A cult is form when groups of people who are bound together have similarities beliefs, seeking for healing or could be other purpose. People in this group share a charismatic performance. Charismatic groups are mostly created from cohesiveness which consist of sharing belief system, social cohesion, behavioral norms, and charismatic leader.
There are three main factors that lead to homelessness which are structural factors, system failures and individual and relational factors. The structural factors is when a person is affected by economic and societal issues that affect their opportunities and social environment for example, the lack of adequate income and/or the experience of discrimination may lead to homeless. Furthermore, the system failures occur when the support from individual’s family and care fails resulting people become homeless helplessly. The third factor is individual and relational factors in which family violence and extreme poverty plays a role. The family with violence, abuse, addiction, mental health problems of other family members and extreme poverty can lead to being homeless.
The reasons for these children 's homelessness may be interlinked with social, economic, political, environmental causes or a combination of any of these. Homelessness represents deprivations from basic human needs. However, while other types of deprivations, such as hunger, mainly occur as a result of poverty and economic insecurity, factors that contribute to homelessness are multi-faceted; the factors also vary by the type of homelessness experienced by children and youth. These factors include lack of affordable housing, economic insecurity, violence at home, behavioral health, lack of social support, and involvement in the child welfare system (Aratani, 2009). In a 1993 report, WHO (World Health Organization) offered the following list
The homeless problem costs society millions of dollars, predominantly through medical bills. Society assumes homelessness is normally distributed. However, that is not the case. Homelessness follows a power-law distribution, meaning the problem is not concentrated in the middle but rather at one extreme. This distribution pattern is also evident in police violence allegations.
During the recent years homelessness has increased eminently. Although homelessness is not a new phenomenon it has become a huge social issue in today’s society. In urban areas homelessness is visible by the masses but ignored by society’s negative perception. Characterized as unstable individuals, alcoholics and criminals by society, these negative stereotypes have only escalate the issue. Homeless can occur at any stage of life for multitude of factors.
Homelessness is a struggle that most people don’t know, or that people ignore because they frown on homeless people. These people frown on homeless people because the homeless are often unshaven ruff looking people that had a bad turn in life, this life changing event that turned them into what some people frown upon. These people are frowned upon by so many but the people that frown upon them have no idea what their going through. Being homeless, a struggle known by too many in the United States, in fact there are estimated numbers of 633,782 people being homeless in just the United States alone. These people have found their self’s homeless for many different reasons like bad decisions, not a high enough paying job, or no job could be found,
Data and Analysis My main focuses were on the types of people walking about (e.g. I observed homeless people walking with shopping carts), the amount of maintenance (trash piling where trash cans should be), and the surrounding structures. This allowed me to see a general demographic of people and the present economic class . From my observations, the streets are not well-cared for, having uneven pavement and depressions. Graffiti is also a prominent feature and is all over buildings, ATM machines, signposts, parking meters--almost any available flat surface.
According to the Suitcase Clinic organization homelessness means a temporary condition that people fall into when they cannot afford to pay for a place to live, or when their current home is unsafe or unstable. (Suitcase Clinic Organization ) Main reasons being homeless: cyclical nature of mental health/ substance abuse, unavailability of affordable accommodation-waiting lists for public housing and lack of reasonably priced houses. For example, in UK and USA housing stocks are unaffordable.
