Homeless Not Hopeless: The Survival Networks of Latinos and African American Men

by Edna Molina-Jackson

Overview

The 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 African Americans facilitate their integration into a subculture of street life, while those of recent-immigrant Latinos revolve around their struggles to find work, avoid deportation, and enlist the support of paisanos.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761840459
Publisher:	University Press of America
Publication date:	08/29/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	150
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Edna Molina-Jackson is Assistant Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology at the California State University, Bakersfield.

Table of Contents

Chapter 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

Editorial Reviews

Sociologist 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.

Choice Reviews - I. Glasser