Piętno w procesie demokratyzacji. Przykład bezdomności
Stigma in the Process of Democtratization. An Example of Homelessness

Author(s): Małgorzata Kostrzyńska
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Culture and social structure , Social differentiation, Studies in violence and power
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: stigma; stigmatization; homelessness; help; the process of association forming
Summary/Abstract: This monograph describes experiences of the world without home, which are the result of accompanying closely people experiencing homelessness by the researcher, her engagement in their everyday affairs and cooperation promoting changes. Each research involved a few-years participation and was a socially committed research. The aim of this publication is to present the signs of a stigma in the process of democratisation as well as the paradoxes that become a part of this process, as a result of social mechanisms of institutional help, perpetuated stereotypes and relations with those who bear the stigma. Here, homelessness has become an example allowing us to observe social and educational phenomena related to various social groups interacting at the intersection of two worlds: that of the ordinary and that of those bearing the stigma. The purposefulness of entering into mixed interactions as part of e.g. organisations or associations, as presented in this monograph, is an example of maintaining the stigma in its bearers and reveals a certain power play, entangled in seemingly noble ideas. The first chapter presents the ways of understanding the key theoretical categories in this work, i.e. those of homelessness and stigmatisation. In the second chapter the democratisation process is depicted together with the paradoxes involved. It directly discloses the mechanisms of exclusion and reinforcing homelessness, or instrumental treatment of the idea of creating associations. The third chapter presents an analysis of specific strategies used by people experiencing homelessness in order to adapt to the democratization process. The fourth chapter shows the democratisation process difficulties in the field of aid directed at the stigmatized.

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