Homelessness in Berlin

Between Americanization and Path Dependence

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11670435
AutoresJürgen Von Mahs (New School, autor de correspondencia)
Año2011
Volumen32
Número7
Páginas1023-1042
Fecha de publicación2011-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaUrban Geography (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0272-3638 • E-ISSN: 1938-2847
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.2747/0272-3638.32.7.1023
OpenAlexW1990171490
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5
Referencias citadas24

This study examines the potential Americanization of homelessness and homeless policy in post-Unification Berlin in light of recent neoliberal policy reforms and simultaneously declining levels of homelessness. Drawing upon original ethnographic research from the late 1990s, secondary sources, and key informant interviews, it is shown that partial Americanization exists in that homeless people find themselves displaced from the commercial center, contained and warehoused in poor areas surrounding the center, and subject to substandard welfare, service, and shelter provision. The harshest consequences, however, are ameliorated by the still-existing, more comprehensive welfare system that, abetted by slowed urban rental markets, is more effectively used to facilitate homeless people's re-entry into the housing market. Given that the new workfare policies facilitate the formation of a new class of working poor, the long-term prospects of homeless people remain grim, especially after the economy begins its next contraction

Americanization · Economic growth · Economics · Ethnography · Neoliberalism (international relations · Political economy · Political science · Sociology · Welfare · Workfare · Homelessness and Social Issues · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies