THE HOMELESS IN AMERICA As a practicing sociologi

In the study of sociology, we learn that a social structure is composed of many interrelated and interdependent parts or structures. In America, being homeless is only one part of the structure, but homeless people impact on and affect everyone. Government agencies, social workers, educational systems, community budgets, neighborhoods, the medical institutions, and all other aspects of the population are affected, directly or indirectly. Homelessness is a part of the structural functionalism of the nation. Just as the military service is a structure with the function to defend the people of a country, homelessness is a structure whose function demoralizes and defeats a percentage of the population, both adults and children (Burke 19).

When the book, Rachel and Her Children, was written by Jonathan Kozol in l988, the subject of homelessness was serious, but it was not yet

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different roles, and this leads to a wide array of social positions. A stratification develops as these positions are ranked in order of importance. The lower down one is in the ranking of wealth, the more difficult it becomes to compete. This leads to lower self-esteem, lower expectations, lower educational levels, and fewer of the necessities to live. All of these characteristics were evident in the story Holly told about herself and her life. The poorer she became, the less social control she felt she had of her life, and the more social conflict she felt with those who did have the power to control her life. For example, she was told that she could not have medication for her very sick child because the "system" could not procure it for her fast enough. She was told to use the money she was given for food for her other children. This led to the baby having a series of seizures which hastened his blindness and probably his death. The development of personal identity is a complicated process. Charles Cooley theorized that the idea of self develops in a process that requires references and associations with other people. He called this process the looking-glass self. In this theory, much of how a person feels about
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2272
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)