As a practicing sociologist, I am concerned about the many problems that impact the development and structure of society and social relationships. My work concerns every aspect of social life, and I have an interest in all types of the population. Most of all, however, I am concerned about the huge population which is homeless in American in l996. I worry about them as a group, I fear for them as individuals, I deplore what is happening to their families, and I am anxious about what the growth of the homeless, especially among families, will do to the future of the country.
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 a critical issue to all forms of government. Eight years later, l996, 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. As an example, a l990 survey conducted by social services of New York City estimated that more than 5,000 of the most disposed members of American society resided in the abandoned tunnels under Manhattan (McCall 67). These are na...