The Social Causes of Homelessness, Research Paper Example

Abstract

In this research paper I’m going to examine the main social causes that lead to homelessness. In the first section of the paper I researched the issue from the viewpoints of three different sociological perspectives – Marxian, functional, and symbolic interaction theories. Then I conducted a more detailed study of the issue of homelessness from the position of the conflict theory that states that it is society that must be blamed for the emergence of the problem. The conclusion to which I came in the end is that the issue of homelessness can’t be examined only on the basis of one sociological perspective as the problem itself is quite complex and it is influenced by both social and individual causes.

Introduction

The issue of homelessness is a huge problem both globally and nationally that is now being affected by the present economic crisis, the results of which can be observed world widely. According to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development homelessness is the condition and social category of people who don’t have a regular house or dwelling because they can’t afford, pay for, or are otherwise unable to maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing (2009). The Organization of Human Rights estimates that approximately 100 million people in the world are homeless. At this point it is also important to state that there exist three types of homelessness: 1) transitional – include those who have undergone one incident of homelessness that lasted no longer than 59 days; 2) episodic – include those who had 4-5 incidents that totally lasted under 266 days; 3) chronic – those who had 2 incidents and more that totally lasted 650 days and longer. In this paper I’m going to research the issue of homelessness (all three types of it) from the position of social causes that lead to such a problem.

It seems to me that the issue of homelessness requires a complex examination and application of various theories. Therefore, in the course of my research work I will look through three sociological perspectives in order to find out how different theories identify the root of the problem. Those sociological perspectives are conflict theory, functional and symbolic interaction perspectives. As the task of my paper is to figure out what social elements contribute to the emergence and development of the problem of homelessness, later in the paper I will concentrate my attention on application of a single sociological perspective that puts the blame on the society-based conditions.

As the result I’m hoping to identify the key sociological elements and issues that cause people to live on streets and also to examine the problem from the viewpoint of possible effects for the whole society to which homelessness may lead. But even more importantly I’m striving to lead the readers to the conclusion that the emergence and flourishing of homelessness is not simply the fault of single individuals or otherwise just of a society and government, but rather it is a complex issue that has different forces influencing it.

Homelessness From Different Sociological Perspectives

In this discussion section I’m going to examine the causes of homelessness from three different sociological perspectives. Notably, I’m going to study the issue from the viewpoints of the conflict theory, functionalists, and symbolic interactionists.

• Marxian Perspective (Conflict Theory)

According to the conflict theory homelessness is caused by the faults of the capitalistic society (notably the elite that runs it), in which all the workers are viewed simply as means of production. When a worker is no longer able to fulfill a job the way an employer needs it to be done that employee simply looses it. Thus a capitalistic world doesn’t care for those who are no longer productive and able to support their own living and living of their families. But more importantly, according to the conflict-theorists the problem of homelessness persists not only because of individual’s inability to advance oneself, but also because upper class of the capitalistic society oppresses those who don’t have a physical address or who cannot find a place to work (Kornblum, 2003). In such a way the work is denied to those who really need it and if a person has lost a job once there is a great doubt that one will be able to find a new one.

• Functional Perspective

From a functional perspective homelessness is a fault of an individual that causes problems to the whole society. Thus according to the functionalists homelessness is a great burden to the society, therefore it is absolutely necessary to bring all its members to a certain minimal standard of living (Kornblum, 2003). In such a way all individuals in society will play a productive role and will contribute to the well-being of society as a whole.

However, functional sociologists also point out that even though homelessness is a problem for society, still society has turned it into a functional component. For instance, there are many jobs related to providing for homeless people (shelters, food banks, etc.)

• Symbolic Interaction Perspective

The main point that symbol interaction perspective raises in regards to the question of homelessness is that the individual and society are both interdependent. Therefore, the problem of homelessness is the fault of both single individuals and society in general. As symbolic interactionists research all the problems from the viewpoint of relationships between individuals, in the same way they study the issue of homelessness. For instance, symbolic interactionists observe the behavior of individuals towards homeless people through a number of status symbols. Those include the way people talk to homeless, look at them, etc.

At this point a conclusion may be drawn that each sociological perspective has its own approach towards the examination of the causes that lead to homelessness. Thus conflict perspective blames society for the emergence of this problem; the functional perspective states that it’s the fault of individuals; and symbol interaction follows the idea that homelessness in caused by both single individuals and society as a whole.  In the next section of this research paper I’m going to examine the society-based issues that lead to homelessness, thus applying the conflict perspective.

Society-Based Causes of Homelessness

Many view homelessness as a kind of a lifestyle assuming that it is individual’s own fault that one doesn’t have home. Even though among homeless such people make up a steady portion, still the majority has no shelter due to non-personal issues. Nowadays the most significant causes of homelessness are lack of affordable housing, no possibility to find stable employment which leads to poverty, and lack of affordable healthcare.

The lack of affordable housing. In the USA (as well as other countries) this problem very often occurs due to the so called redevelopment and gentrification activities. Those are based on the demolishment of low-income neighborhoods in order to free the space for construction of more revenue-generating projects. In such a way a shortage of housing affordable for elderly poor, disabled, and low-income families emerges. Another problem that contributes to the issue of homelessness is the failure of the nation-wide urban housing projects aimed to provide secure and safe homes for the poor. The third reason is the constantly raising rental costs. For instance, according to the Economic Report of the President, in the period between 1999 and 2004 “the rental price of primary residences rose by 19% while the consumer price index rose only by 13%” (2009).

No stable employment / poverty. One of the key causes of homelessness is high unemployment rate. There are several reasons that contribute to the lack of stable employment and high unemployment rates: 1) economic depression and economic crisis; 2) lack of opportunities for people who are at risk of becoming homeless to obtain meaningful job training (those include war veterans, school leavers without family support, foster children, etc.); 3) mechanization and industrialization processes that lead to the substitution of manual work by work of machines. Poverty can also be caused by underemployment when people are working at low-wage jobs while searching and being unable to find employment with higher salaries.

Lack of affordable healthcare. As a result of it many patients loose rooms while having no place to go, thus they don’t get proper community health support and eventually end up in the streets. High costs of health care very often lead to homelessness for low-income individuals due to the fact that such people have difficulty paying for basic necessities such as food, rent, and utilities as a result of high medical bills. According to the McCauley’s research 40 per cent of uninsured respondents go through such kind of troubles (2003). In overall the connection between the homelessness and poor healthcare is somewhat interdependent. From one point of view inadequate use of medical care leads to health problems which result in inability to work which in its turn results in unemployment and eventually homelessness. However, from another point of view homeless people don’t receive necessary consistent medical treatment.

At this point a conclusion may be drawn that it is quite difficult to indentify some truly social causes of homelessness, as this issue is influenced by a great variety of elements that is a mixture of economical, political, individual (both physical and mental), and social issues.

Conclusion

As a result of the conducted research I can come to the conclusion that it is very difficult to identify only few main causes of homelessness. In addition it is also quite a tough task to distinguish certain truly social causes among them.

After examining in the first section of the paper three different sociological perspectives I came to the conclusion that it is absolutely incorrect to blame only one certain force for the flourishing of homelessness. It seems to me that both conflict theorists and functionalists are not right when they try to put all the blame on either the society or a single individual. It is a problem of both as the symbolic interaction perspective states. However, this theory also has its deficiency as it looks for the symbols that accompany people’s attitudes and behavior towards homeless while ignoring the root causes that lead to the emergence of the problem. At this point my conclusion is that a combination of all three perspectives must be applied in order to be able to objectively study the issue.

However, in the second part of the paper I concentrated on the society-based causes and was using conflict perspective in order to show the reader that it is quite impossible to find some truly social reasons for the development of homelessness. Once again I want to state that the cause for homelessness is a mixture of economical, political, personal and interpersonal issues and reasons.

Therefore, my final conclusion is that in order to be able not simply to understand the problem of homelessness, but also to be ready to provide some meaningful solutions to the sated issue it is absolutely necessary to use the tools and revealed results obtained by all three sociological perspectives. At this point we can apply the society-based faults that are proposed by the conflict theory, the individual-based roots stated by the functionalists, and to idea of interdependence of society and individuals discussed by the theory of symbolic interaction.

References

Economic Report of the President: 2009 Report Spreadsheet Tables. (2009, January). Tables B 60-61. Retrieved Oct. 20, 2009, from http://www.gpoaccess.gov/eop/tables09.html

Kornblum, W. (2003). Sociology in a Changing World. Belmont: Thompson.

McCauley, M. (2003). Lack of Health Care: A Root Cause of Homelessness. Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (2009, March 31). Federal Definition of Homeless. Retrieved Oct. 20, 2009, from http://www.hud.gov/homeless/definition.cfm