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Homelessness and conflict theory
Homelessness and conflict theory
Sociological theories as to why homeless people face social exclusion
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Analysis
Homelessness in the United States and other countries is a global social problem and researchers are constantly researching the causes of homelessness and the effect that homelessness has on the massive of consumers. Both men and women, children and families all share the same risk factors that cause homelessness. One of the main causes that are noted by Karl Marx's Conflict Theory and address the problem is between the capitalism in America; between the wealthy and the poor working-class people. The system uses the poor to build wealth while the poor work very hard every daily and is treated unequally when it come to the financial gains of the most powerful (the government and private companies. The American Dream to home ownership
was a trap to lure the working class people into purchasing a home that he/she could not afford. The banking industry was making money off of deceiving the consumer in taken out these sub-prime loans which cause the housing market to crash. As a result, many working people lost their homes due to not able to pay loans and balloon payments on these properties which cause consumers to become homeless. Research is done in the Atlanta, Georgia downtown area; here people discover the homeless, both men and women staying in the park area, under bridges, in cars, and other places that are not safe or healthy for adults or families with children. Shelters are not equipped to handle the vests need of this population and government funding and private organizations are over-burden to assistance those in need. Researchers know that the homeless population is a serious society problem and there are numerous searches and interviews conducted to find the root cause of homelessness to understand what causes some individuals not to be able to cope with life's hardships and to maintain self-sufficiency. There is multidimensional of factors that are involved in the homeless population especially women they have more issues than men to deal with. In this research study, the focus is on women.
Homelessness is primarily a poverty issue. The persistence of poverty in the United States reflects more than just an aggregation of individual failings. Structural factors, such as the way we understand and define poverty, the inherent features of our economic system that produce income inequality, social inequities and our policy responses to these problems shape current trends. Economic changes have had the strongest association with trends in overall rates, regardless of how poverty is measured. Poverty rate is high amongst minority groups, children and female-headed households (Iceland, 2003). According to professor Iceland’s research, rates of extreme poverty are higher among children and African-Americans and lower for whites, Asians and the elderly. Among families with children, married couples were less likely to be poor (6.9 %) than single parent male (17.5%) and single parent female (35.3%).
The United States will continue to be a developed country if the numbers of people holding cardboard on the street do not decrease. 1 out of 7 people in U.S suffer from hunger and are forced to sleep in parks, under bridges, in shelters or cars (Hunger and Homelessness 1).Every year, the homeless population grows in United States. People become homeless because of many reasons. Because they are homeless, they have been struggling in every way that human possible can have. In order to get back on their feet, they need help in every way. The homeless population is increasing drastically in society. People who are more fortunate than others should put social status aside and take an action to help homeless people to get back on their feet.
The conflict theory established by Karl Marx, suggested that a society is in a place of continuous conflict due to the competition of limited shared resources among members of its community members. It entails that social peace and order is achieved by domination and power, instead of the public agreement and group solidarity. According to the conflict perspective, individuals with wealth and power try to hold on to it, simply by oppressing the poor and vulnerable Homelessness can be understood through the conflict theory (Champion, 2010). This simply holds that capitalism and greed can be seen as some of the causes of homelessness. Families who lack social, economic and human capital will face problems securing and maintaining housing and
It is estimated that, “each year, more than 3 million people experience homelessness, including 1.3 million children” (NLCHP). Clearly poverty and Homelessness come hand in hand, and the economy downfall has only contributed to this growing crisis. “Homelessness stems from a lack of affordable housing. Increasing rents, destruction of traditional low-income housing, and cuts in federal housing programs threaten affordable housing with extinction” (NLCHP). Most people in poverty have a housing affordability crisis, which means that they pay more than half of their income for rent, so therefore they have to buffer to deal with unforeseen expenses.
Homelessness is a problem that happens in many different countries around the world. Definitions of homelessness are defined in different meanings by different people. However, the Stewart B. McKinney Act defines a homeless person as “ one who lacks a fixed permanent nighttime residence or whose nighttime residence is a temporary shelter, welfare hotel, or any public or private place not designed as sleeping accommodations for human beings” (McNamara 1025). It is impossible to find out exactly the number of homeless; however, the researchers can do a study to estimate that number. Based on different statistics from different researchers, the homeless population in America has been increasing as “an alarming rate” (Markos and Lima). Therefore, even though America is one of the most powerful countries in the world, homelessness, which has many common causes, has always been a big problem in society.
Homelessness in the United States has been an important subject that the government needs to turn its attention to. There has been announced in the news that the number of the homeless people in many major cities in the United States has been increasing enormously. According to United States Interagency Council on Homelessness reported that there was an estimation of 83,170 individuals have experienced chronic homelessness on the streets of the United States’ streets and shelters on only a single night of January 2015, which is a small decrease of only 1% from the previous year (People Experiencing Chronic Homelessness, n.d.). The United States must consider this subject that most of the people underestimate it and not pay attention
According to Streetwise of Street News Services (2010), the first reported instances of homelessness dates as far back as 1640, in some of the larger cities in the original 13 colonies. At this time, there were wars being fought between settlers and Native Americans, and people were left with no shelter in both sides (Street News Service, 2010). Later, the industrial revolution caused more homelessness, industrial accidents left many former hard-working families with a dead provider, or with severe disabilities, and then the economy entered a recession in the same time period (Street News Service, 2010). Wars always left a large number of veterans homeless. Later, in 1927, there was an astronomical flood along the Mississippi River, across multiple state, leaving about 1.3 million people without a home (Street News Service, 2010). Natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, the Asian tsunami in 2004, and the earthquake early this year in Japan are still a major cause of homelessness.
The economic component of the homelessness situation can be broken down into two interrelated parts: housing affordability and a low income rate. The economic recession that followed the financial crisis of 2007 left many individuals unemployed during a time that saw a spike in the price of housing. So not only did the cost of living increase, the rate of income also decreased accordingly. Unsurprisingly, during these same years homelessness rose from 24.2 percent in 2007 to 29.4 percent in 2009 (citation).
Tyler Mai Fletcher ELA Period 5 February 21, 2014 Housing the Homeless (Rough Draft) Homelessness around the world has risen. An abundance of men, women, and even children are homeless and sleeping on the streets. Citizens often feel sorry for these people and want to help them out and put them into a community shelter so they can be safe, but couldn’t because of the lack of shelters nearby.
There are numerous of things that are impossible to believe about people who are in poverty or homeless. Almost a quarter of all individuals do not have electricity. Not many people imagine living on less than ten dollars a day, but eighty percent of people actually does. (Eleven facts about global). Think that is bad? Actually, “one half of the worlds population—more than three billion people — live on less than 2 dollars and fifty cents a day. More than one billion and three hundred million live in extreme poverty— less than a dollar and twenty five cents a day” (Eleven facts about global). A lot of people in the world complain about how much they make but actually they should be proud because over half of the world live off a few dollars
Homelessness has become a serious problem in today’s society. Despite the organizations that help multitudes of homeless people, homelessness is continually increasing. In recent years, America’s culture has been changing due to economic, political, and social issues. These issues have caused a lot of stress on America resulting in abject poverty in several cities. Poverty is not nationwide, but if dealt with lightly, the affects can be catastrophic. Homelessness is increasing more than ever, and research proves that changing culture contributes to rising amount of homelessness.
Homelessness is not something that was created over night; it has existed for a long time; often we choose not to see the homeless, or bother with them, so we look the other way. Homelessness is not prejudice toward race, creed, or religion--it has no boundaries; all homeless people should not be stereotyped as being drug abusers or the mentally ill that have been released from mental hospitals. Homelessness is not a disease that a person can catch from bodily contact, but it certainly has afflicted many Americans. We need to find the cause of homelessness before we can find a solution. More money for more programs is the typical response, but we should look at what has already been instituted and reevaluate them.
A simple cardboard sign that read, “homeless, please help.” Behind this sign is a man standing on a traffic corner with hopefulness in his eyes. His clothes are dirty and he has not been able to shave for a long time. He looks with longing at the drivers passing by, hoping that someone will identify with the hardship that has befallen him and show compassion. One, maybe two people in the line of cars offers some money. Accepting the money, he humbly says thank you.
Homelessness is a problem virtually every society suffers from. There are many things that cause people to become homeless, such as unemployment, relationship problems, and being evicted from ones domicile either by a landlord, friend or even a family member. However, with every cause there must be an effect. Some of the effects of one becoming homeless, besides the obvious change of lifestyle, are various health problems which often times may lead to death.
This great nation of awesome power and abundant resources is losing the battle against homelessness. The casualties can be seen on the street corners of every city in American holding an ?I will work for food? sign. Homeless shelters and rescue missions are at full capacity. There is no room at the inn for the nation?s indigent. Anyone who has studied this issue understands that homelessness is a complex problem. Communities continue to struggle with this socio-economic problem while attempting to understand its causes and implement solutions. The public and private sectors of this country are making a difference in the lives of the homeless by addressing the issues of housing, poverty and education.