Sociology - Homelessness free essay sample

The operational definition concretises the four housing situations of the working definition. In order to define homelessness in an operational way, we identified three domains which constitute a home, the absence of which can be taken to delineate homelessness. Having a home can be understood as: having an adequate dwelling (or space) over which a person and his/her family can exercise exclusive possession (physical domain); being able to maintain privacy and enjoy relations (social domain) and having legal title to occupation (legal domain). Rooflessness is the most visible form of homelessness, including amongst its number rough sleepers and people who live outdoors. People with chaotic lifestyles or unsettled ways of living may be disproportionately represented among the roofless population. Houselessness refers to situations where, despite access to emergency shelter or long-term institutions, individuals may still be classed as homeless due to a lack of appropriate support aimed at facilitating social reintegration. People who are forced to live in institutions because there is inadequate accommodation in the community to meet their needs are thus regarded as homeless. In this context, homelessness refers as much to the lack of housing as it does to the lack of social networks. Living in insecure housing refers to insecure tenure or temporary accommodation and this may be a consequence of the inaccessibility of permanent housing. This classification also includes people who are involuntarily sharing housing in unreasonable circumstances and people whose security is threatened by violence or threats of violence (e. g. women at risk of domestic abuse). People living in inadequate accommodation include those whose accommodation is unfit for habitation, or is overcrowded, as well as those whose accommodation is a caravan or boat. While rooflessness and houselessness belong to the core of homelessness, the two latter categories should be seen as situations of housing exclusion (and thus of being threatened by homelessness). We will further elaborate this idea when conceptualising in more detail homelessness and housing exclusion an operational definition of homelessness must identify categories that are mutually exclusive and are unambiguous (that is to say, identify clearly how the categories are to be measured). How are the categories in an operational definition to be identified and how are they then to be defined in a manner which allows an unambiguous measurement to be undertaken? One approach is to identify the factors or domains which constitute a home and hence the absence of which can be taken to delineate homelessness. Having a home can be understood to include: I. having an adequate dwelling (or space) over which a person and his/her family can exercise exclusive possession; II. having legal title to occupy. III. being able to maintain privacy and enjoy social relations; Hence the lack of a home i. e. homelessness requires an operational definition that reflects these three domains. I. The physical domain refers to a decent and liveable space of which the person or household has sole occupancy. That is to say, the person or household does not have to share space involuntarily with other people. II. Reference to the legal definition of a tenancy, in many countries, also suggests that for a legal tenancy contract to exist there must be an agreement between two parties (the landlord and the tenant) which specifies: the property to be let (a description of the dwelling an address), a period of tenancy and a right of exclusive possession (by the tenant and his/her family). III. The social domain refers to the right to personal privacy, to have a private space in which social relations can be conducted and to a safe personal space (with right to privacy and safety) . While social intercourse can be undertaken in public spaces and in large institutional environments, this domain refers to the ability to exercise some control over those relations and to be able to enjoy them in privacy. Questionnaire: 1. What is your first thinking when you are asked to come up with a typical form of the word â€Å"homelessness†? . Rooflessness b. Houselessness c. Adequate accommodation d. Your own idea†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 2. Have you ever communicate or get acquaintance with someone who are kind of homelessness? a. Yes, I have b. No, I haven’t c. Not yet, but I hope that I can meet one d. Other idea†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 3. If you have met a homeless people, what would you feel about them at first sight? a. Normal b. So sorry for them c. Sympathetic and try to help them d. Other ideas†¦.. 4. Do you think that homeless people are burden of our society? a. Yes b. No c. Other idea†¦.. In order to get the best results for this research I personally think that survey is the most useful and suitable technique survey is a study, generally in the form of an interview for questionnaire, which provides information about how people think and act. There are two main forms of the survey: the interview, in which a researcher obtains information through face – to – face or telephone questioning, and the questionnaire, in which the researcher uses a printed or written form to obtain information from a respondent. An interviewer can obtain a higher response rate because people find it more difficult to turn down a personal request for an interview than to throw away a written questionnaire. In addition, interviewer can go beyond written questions and probe for a subject’s underlying feelings and reasons. On the other hand, questionnaires have the advantage of being cheaper, especially in large samples. [pic]