Description
Book SynopsisThe importance of moving toward a national policy to end homelessness is crucial. In this striking examination of the roles that homeless people and the U.S. government play in causing and curtailing the escalating phenomena of homelessness, Edna Molina-Jackson asserts that there is a great need to alter the socio-economic structures that generate extreme and entrenched forms of poverty that lead to homelessness. Homeless Not Hopeless explores the role social networks play in the daily survival of homeless Latino and African American men. Using a qualitative research design, author Molina-Jackson observes how these men initiate, participate in, and maintain social networks and how these networks function. The findings support a more empowering view of homeless men as active, rational, and competent actors engaged in negotiating their social world. Members rely on social networks composed of a hierarchy of casual and intimate affiliations. The networks of Americanized Latinos and Afric
Trade ReviewSociologist Molina-Jackson documents social networking through a qualitative study of 41 African American and Latino homeless men in Los Angeles. The author argues that in the tough terrain of the street, an exchange of information (e.g., about jobs, soup kitchens, shelters) is crucial for survival. Useful for academic library collections on social networking research and as a companion to ethnographic works on homelessness. Recommended. -- I. Glasser * CHOICE, July 2009 *
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 1. Homeless Not Hopeless: The Survival-Networks of Latino and African American Men Chapter 3 2. The Social World of Homeless African American and Latino Groups: Background Traits and Daily Struggles to Survive Chapter 4 3. Informal Non-Kin Networks Among Homeless Men: Form and Functions Chapter 5 4. The Saliency of Weak Ties: The Acquaintances and Associates of Homeless Men Chapter 6 5. Getting by with a Little Help from Their Friends Chapter 7 6. A Valuable Component in the Larger Mosaic of Solutions Chapter 8 Appendix Chapter 9 Bibliography Chapter 10 About the Author
