Homelessness has always existed as a complex and contentious issue. Approaches to definition, methods of its analysis and solutions to the problem are constantly changing. Over the past century, there has been a shift of focus towards homelessness as a structural issue, not just a pathological one. On the contrary, since the Poor Laws of the 1500s, England’s fundamental relationship with homeless has been grounded in many clear and unchanging stigmas e.g. the deserving and the undeserving. These fundamental themes partially explain how and why policies to manage homelessness can lead to its criminalisation. However, despite historical factors playing a key role in entrenching such perspectives, they are not the primary force. A sociological
…show more content…
History can however, show us how and why it has been criminalised, by calling attention to the power of political ideologies in defining the importance and depth of an issue. The first section of the essay implicitly displays that a political perspective fails to provide an adequate definition of homelessness whilst illustrating that political perspectives conceptualise the issue according to its own ideological position. For example, neo-conservatives, such as Thatcher, and elements of Blair ideology, blame broken families. Neo-liberals attribute rooflessness to imperfections in the market such as lack of privatised housing. Of course, both positions are incomplete only capturing a partial understanding to supplement its own ideology. However, the prevelance of these ideologies in the political and economic sphere highlight how homelessness is increasingly individualised and …show more content…
Whilst the rise of urban enclosure drove many to the slums, slum clearances and the deregulation of private housing meant there was a significant increase in the visibility of homelessness. However, events like these alone were not the reason why ‘Britain rediscovered homelessness’ (Crawson). The rediscovery was triggered by the televising of Ken Loach’s Cathy Come Home, watched by a quarter of the British population. The programme was ‘an ice pick in the brain of anyone who saw it’ - it was realistic, emotive and it raised awareness of the issues that were not widely discussed amongst the political class and the media e.g. single mothers and homelessness. This awareness intensified through the support of Charites Shelter and Crises at Christmas received as well as a report about single homelessness by the National Assistance Board. A decade later, through persistent lobbying by numerous pressure groups it became statute law that the government provides housing to its citizens. In light of this, there had been an explicit change in attitudes towards homelessness; from the pathological to the structural. This recognition of the structural aspects of homelessness was arguably the biggest theoretical and practical change that occurred in response to homelessness. It shifted the scope of homelessness from an individualised problem to a problem partially caused by the
History can however, show us how and why it has been criminalised, by calling attention to the power of political ideologies in defining the importance and depth of an issue. The first section of the essay implicitly displays that a political perspective fails to provide an adequate definition of homelessness whilst illustrating that political perspectives conceptualise the issue according to its own ideological position. For example, neo-conservatives, such as Thatcher, and elements of Blair ideology, blame broken families. Neo-liberals attribute rooflessness to imperfections in the market such as lack of privatised housing. Of course, both positions are incomplete only capturing a partial understanding to supplement its own ideology. However, the prevelance of these ideologies in the political and economic sphere highlight how homelessness is increasingly individualised and …show more content…
Whilst the rise of urban enclosure drove many to the slums, slum clearances and the deregulation of private housing meant there was a significant increase in the visibility of homelessness. However, events like these alone were not the reason why ‘Britain rediscovered homelessness’ (Crawson). The rediscovery was triggered by the televising of Ken Loach’s Cathy Come Home, watched by a quarter of the British population. The programme was ‘an ice pick in the brain of anyone who saw it’ - it was realistic, emotive and it raised awareness of the issues that were not widely discussed amongst the political class and the media e.g. single mothers and homelessness. This awareness intensified through the support of Charites Shelter and Crises at Christmas received as well as a report about single homelessness by the National Assistance Board. A decade later, through persistent lobbying by numerous pressure groups it became statute law that the government provides housing to its citizens. In light of this, there had been an explicit change in attitudes towards homelessness; from the pathological to the structural. This recognition of the structural aspects of homelessness was arguably the biggest theoretical and practical change that occurred in response to homelessness. It shifted the scope of homelessness from an individualised problem to a problem partially caused by the