Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
¶ … homelessness an issue that involves the general public of the United States instead of the (relatively) few victims who suffer from this condition. Nearly all of these factors have to do with the notion of the sociological imagination, a concept that was innovated by Charles Wright Mills and which essentially enables people to look beyond their a particular person's fault to understand how the larger society may have contributed to that person's circumstances (Carl, p.6). From the angle of sociological imagination, then, homelessness is a public issue and not a private one for all of the homeless people because there are several systematic factors that are responsible for people being too poor and for housing being not affordable or not in great enough demand to account for the number of people who need it.
One of the major structural issues that is responsible for these factors and for homelessness is wage-labor hierarchy, which in many occasions, may be directly responsible for the high levels of poverty that affect many homeless people (Carl, p. 3). Many people become poor because there are not enough jobs to go around. As a result, another important structural issue that affects the homeless population is the fact that there are fewer jobs than people who are able and who want to work. This issue is made even worse by the fact that there are also a number of cases in which there are people who are able to find low income jobs, but who still cannot afford the expenses to live by themselves in affordable housing and take care of the basic necessities that is a part of independent living. Even though these people may work, they have to face the facts that they w ill not make enough money to support themselves (Carl, p.3). These issues relate to the United States society as a whole, and are systematic reasons that explain why homelessness is society's problem, and not just the problem of those who are homeless.
Works Cited
Carl, John. Think Sociology 2011. Pearson: New Jersey. 2011. Print.
" How many people are homeless? The number of homeless is difficult to ascertain because estimates vary depending on the methodology used. Numbers also vary substantially depending on whether a measurement is taken on a single night or is extrapolated to a given year. One approximation of the annual number of homeless in America is from a study done by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, which estimates between 2.3 and
Crime is not the only issue where homelessness is concerned, however, and homelessness in and of itself can be very difficult for someone to deal with, especially if the homelessness was unexpected or there are many familial obligations that suddenly will not be met (such as in the case of a single mother, for example). When homelessness occurs this way and causes these kinds of problems, there can be very
Homelessness in the United States has been a growing social concern. It has also become clear that measures to deal with the problem have not been significantly effective. Specifically vulnerable to this problem are women, often the sole care takers of young children. The problem then imprints itself not only on the unemployed, but also upon those who depend upon these individuals for their livelihood. Homelessness then becomes a vicious
Homeless Mental Health Mental health is an issue that is deemed to be very under-treated and very under-diagnosed within the United States. Beyond that, there are populations that are much more at risk than others. A good example would be the prison population where drug use and mental health issues are both rampant. However, there is another group that is highly stricken and very vexing and difficult to treat and that
Homelessness in Orange County California HIV / AIDS, Homelessness, and Race in Orange County, California Descriptive Epidemiology Approach Orange County, California, located south of Los Angeles, is not widely known as a place of cultural diversity. Southern Californians often think of life south of 'the Orange Curtain' as consisting of theme parks (e.g. Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm), high-tech economic growth, master planned communities, suburban affluence, and conservative politics (Anonymous, 2004). But life
Initiative for Homelessness Reduction and Access to Health Population chosen and reason for the choice. What data and/or public policy support your choice? According to federal law, homeless individuals are those lacking an adequate, stable, and regular nighttime dwelling. Their primary nighttime abodes include: (a) Institutions offering temporary residence to those meant to be institutionalized; (b) Supervised private or public organization-run shelters offering temporary accommodation; or (c) Private or public places not