Rachel & Her Children (Jonathan Kozol) Homelessness is a major

Homelessness is a major social problem facing America today, and while many may see it as an intractable problem, it is not clear that this is so. What is reburied first is a close analysis of the causes of homelessness and an understanding of the characteristics of the people who find themselves homeless. Jonathan Kozol offers an analysis of one family that faced this issue that points up some of the dynamics of the issue and that should be applicable to other situations and cases.

Kozol wrote the book Rachel and Her Children in 1988, and at that time the subject of homelessness was serious but was not yet a critical issue to all forms of government. Eight years later, in 1996, most functioning Americans and all government agencies are very aware of and concerned about the number of homeless people on the streets, living in shelters, under bridges, and in tunnels. These are nameless, faceless individuals who do not have much emotional impact on the average person. Not so the story of Holly and her family as described in Kozol's book.

Holly, who spent most of her childhood in foster homes, first became pregnant in 12th grade. At that time, she became the victim of discrimination and stereotyping as an unwed, teen-mother. This led to a series of low-paying jobs, lack of confidence, and in time another child. At one point, she tried to go back to school to complete a GED, but this educational attempt was interrupted when her mother, with whom she was then living,

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ules of welfare and the social department, against the housing authorities who paid more money each month for them to live in unfit conditions than it would have cost to rent them a small apartment. However, the rules decreed how much they were entitled to in housing allowance, and there was nothing to rent for that amount of money. Even David and Holly knew that this type of rationale made no sense. At the same time, the system has made them accustomed to expecting some form of help and has done little to aid them in learning how to care for themselves. This small family, members of which spoke English and had worked at menial jobs, was part of a growing number of families in America with the skills to work at some type of job but that could not gather enough resources at one time to get a start in life. They were isolated from society by the circumstances of their life and unable to plan more than what they would eat or where they would sleep the next day. They were too poor even to buy the medicine they needed to save the life of their child, and they did not have enough self-esteem or social control of their lives to find a way to obtain the medication. Class distinctions often impact on the symbolic interaction theory

Category: Psychology - R