Alex R Castenon Soc.

122 04/18/2012

Homeless Movement

The assignment for this week was to review the articles assigned on the Homeless Movement and to provide a short comparison between the Two. My hopes upon completing this report to identify the common similarities between the articles that were reviewed and to draw my conclusion based on these findings. During the process of comparing these articles, a Content Analysis was conducted utilizing the NVIVO program in an attempt to point out various terms and text which were synonymous throughout my research. I hope to gain a new insight into the past and continuing struggle of the Homeless movement and how this struggle can either succeed or is destined to fail throughout its existence. The first article I reviewed for this paper was required and called The Outcomes of Homeless Mobilization: The Influence of Organization, Disruption, Political Mediation and Framing. The Article was written by Daniel M Cress and David A Snow. The article focused on the different terms listed in the title and analyzed how they affected the way each of the Social Movement Organization (SMO) was able to achieve their individual goals. As the title suggests, many of the groups that were studied employed a singular or combination of the different tactics and a review was systematically conducted to see what impact or what effect the groups actually had in initiating their own agendas within the systems they were fighting about. The major debate in the article was if the above factors associated and used within these Social

Movements had a lasting effect of the relative success of the group. What was eventually conceptualized was the category of direct outcomes which dealt with the gaining the trust and assistance from Constituent benefits and gaining the trust of organizations and people of interest. The other category was the indirect outcome which sought to gain trust through changing the public image of the movement by the use of community activists and counter movements to spread the word. Many of the groups that were studied were all established social movements that were actively seeking out minor and/or major changes within their respective districts. All the movements were within large metropolitan areas and were seeking changes against housing for homeless, educational need for homeless children and the discrimination and abuse from local law enforcement in the area. Each of the groups employed a different type of tactic to address their concerns and in some cases, utilized a combination of them. Some of the differences in the groups tactics involved the types of disruptions that were utilized and the positive support from local activists and politicians some of the groups had. These were explained in terms of disruptive tactics, Sympathetic allies, and city support. After reviewing the groups involved in the study and the analysis of the data was completed, the authors came to several interesting conclusions. As many of the social movements utilized the tactics and/or a combination of them, they were able to show that when political mediation was involved, they had a greater chance of having success. They were also able to show that when social movements specifically utilized disruptive tactics of

violations of the law and violence, they had the least amount of success in the long term even with the outcome of disbanding. As a comparison, I was reviewed New Hobos or Neo-Romantic Fantasy? Urban Ethnography Beyond the Neoliberal Disconnect written by Teresa Gowan. The Article was a personal review of her time spent with several Homeless people whom called themselves Recyclers. The Recyclers were a small section of the homeless community that believed in working hard to provide for oneself even though the opportunities were very minimal. They turned to concept of collecting for cash after California created legislation that created the redemption tax for all recyclable items. This created the opportunity for homeless to make a living and continue to feel positive about their situations. As the author continued her research and was able to spend quality time with many of the homeless, she was able to identify the two groups within the Homeless that seemed to be on opposite sides of this discussion. One group was the Recyclers and the other group was the Beggars and pan-handlers. Both groups did not get along with each other and were at odds most of the time. Yet, the one thing that she continued to find in common was the use of drugs/alcohol and the criminality that was involved in both groups. The author utilizes this study to address the work of a previous article that criticized the Recycler concept and made the attempt to portray the homeless movement in a romantic themed constant. Teresa was able to prove on several fronts that the previous criticisms were wrong and on the border of being discriminative. She was able to prove that the economy was the major factor that was leading to the fall-out of the homeless blight but was also able to create the political culture and recycling boon that created the Recyclers ways of life.

After reviewing both articles, I utilized the NVIVO program which enabled me to conduct a content analysis of the articles along with several news articles utilizing the keywords Organization, Disruption, and Political. Upon completing the analysis, I was not able to find any true comparison among the articles and the newspaper reviews that were truly notable. Many of the terms were not very common other than Political. It seemed that this term has been synonymous throughout the last three years as it pertained to the Homeless movement. Due to the recent struggles with the housing market and economy, the homeless struggle continues to be a constant problem for local governments and charities that cannot seem to provide enough assistance. After having completed my research on this topic and reviewing the data that I was able to analyze, I could definitely see why the homeless continue to struggle within their local communities. Both the articles outlined the struggles that the homeless continued to deal with on a daily basis and made light of many of the comparisons. Both definitely outlined the need and work ethic of both groups of homeless that continued to work hard and fight for their rights. The social movements and the Recyclers both saw the benefit of applying there energy and voice into getting what they needed to survive and provide for their movement causes.

Cress, Daniel M, & Snow, David A. (2000). The Outcomes of Homeless Mobilization: The Influence of Organization, Disruption, Political Medication, and Framing. American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 105, No. 4, pp. 1063-1104.

Gowan, T. (2009). New Hobos or Neo-Romantic Fantasy? Urban Ethnography Beyond the Neoliberal Disconnect. Qualitative Sociology, 32, 231-257.