The 'Homeless Problem' and the Double Consciousness

Bibliographic Data

ID2275007
AuthorsJason Adam Wasserman (0000-0002-1891-1350, Kansas City University), Jeffrey Michael Clair (University of Alabama at Birmingham), Chelsea Platt (University of Missouri)
Year2012
Volume82
Issue3
Pages331-355
Publication date2012-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociological Inquiry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0245 • E-ISSN: 1475-682X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1475-682x.2012.00410.x
OpenAlexW1577413335
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited45

The purpose of this article was to identify manifestations of a social discourse that construct those who are homeless as an existential problem. Based on 4 years of ethnographic data and grounded theory analysis, we illustrate the nature of exclusionary social practices that emerge from discourse on the 'homeless problem' as well as the conflicting identities experienced by those who are homeless. Herein we frame the data using DuBois concept of 'double consciousness.' Our findings indicate that those who are homeless mix together discourses of value and legitimacy with self-applied stigmas and self-denigrating political perspectives in ways that directly mirror DuBois' notion of the conflicting nature of African and American identities around the end of the nineteenth century. We illustrate identity problems that manifest in the contemporary conflict between being both 'homeless' and 'American

Aesthetics · Consciousness · Construct (python library · Epistemology · Ethnography · Existentialism · Frame (networking · Identity (music · Legitimacy · Political science · Politics · Self · Social constructionism · Social science · Sociology · Value (mathematics · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Homelessness and Social Issues · Law · Philosophy · Social Work Education and Practice · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies

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