Mystification, violence and women’s homelessness
Using Steven Box’s concept of mystification, this chapter will first set out the ways in which the state conceals harm and violence caused to marginal populations, by framing them as ‘problem populations’ and by emphasising their alleged pathological tendencies. Second, this chapter considers the wa...
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| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2023
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| In: |
Demystifying power, crime and social harm
Year: 2023, Pages: 407-429 |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Keywords: |
| Summary: | Using Steven Box’s concept of mystification, this chapter will first set out the ways in which the state conceals harm and violence caused to marginal populations, by framing them as ‘problem populations’ and by emphasising their alleged pathological tendencies. Second, this chapter considers the ways in which policy constructions and definitions of homelessness can furthermore be understood as part of the process of mystification, where local states produce contradictory political responses ‘that neither admits nor denies homelessness, that neither provides homes nor leaves the homeless on the streets’ (Marcuse 1988: 85). We argue that dominant political narratives that seek to mystify social problems like homelessness, allow governments to maintain power over how social problems are defined, about which groups are affected by it and assert control over institutional responses. Here we draw on the analytical framework of ‘maximalist’ and ‘minimalist’ understandings of definitions of homelessness and related policy frameworks, and in doing so demonstrate the material and institutional impacts of mystification. Third, this chapter will argue that the historical construction of homelessness has largely drawn upon the male experience and that policy provision for homeless women, or lack of, has been linked to these historical constructions. Here we draw upon the ways in which homeless women are subject to a complex ideology, understood through constructions of gender and the home, and what this means for homeless women who are materially and ideologically out of place. Finally, this chapter explores the gendered experience of women’s homelessness and ongoing risks of violence which fundamentally shape the survival strategies they adopt, such as remaining hidden from public and formal homeless spaces. Here we emphasise the failure of institutional and official responses to support homeless women, where an absence of gender-specific resources effectively forces homeless women to pursue informal and hidden routes that are not necessarily safe but may be safer than the official institutional route. |
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| Item Description: | Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 426-429 |
| ISBN: | 9783031462122 |