LIVING IN HELL IN THE CITY OF ANGELS

IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION & CONDITION MANAGEMENT

AMONG BLACK HOMELESS MEN OF LOS ANGELES’ SKID ROW

Photo © jimmaybones

MICHAEL HABASHIDUKE UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

SENIOR HONORS THESIS

How do black homeless men of Los Angeles‟ Skid Row

engage varieties of “talk” in constructing their identity

and coping with and explaining their condition?

RESEARCH QUESTION

© Google Maps

A growing body of research on homelessness has

focused on the means by which marginalized individuals

effectively engage in impression management in the

absence of traditional resources for self-presentation.

My research focused on the varieties of “talk” that

black homeless men employ in “identity construction”

and “condition management.” This paper is based on a

mixed methods study of the lives of 20 black homeless

men of Los Angeles‟ Skid Row. Analysis revealed that

respondents utilized four patterns of talk in order to

make sense of themselves and their situation: (a)

blaming, (b) stereotyping, (c) distancing, and (d)

redemptive storytelling. These varieties of talk

represent strategic methods by which the individual

makes meaning of and copes with their state of

homelessness.

THESIS ABSTRACT

DATA COLLECTION OVERVIEW

20 interviews of black homeless

men on Skid Row

o 10 living on the streets and/or

other unsuitable locations

o 10 living at Mission‟s 12-step

recovery program

o Combination of convenience &

snowball sampling

Survey of 120 men of various

races in recovery program

Background statistical data on

debilitating factors causing

homelessness

o US Department of Housing &

Urban Development

o US Census

o Los Angeles Homeless

Services Authority

o National Alliance to End

Homelessness

o Substance Abuse & Mental

Health Services Association

Background literature on self-

presentation and identity talk

PRIMARY DATASECONDARY DATA

Partnership with The Midnight

Mission, a key homeless services

organization on Skid Row, provided

safe access to population

Overview of sample:

Average Age: 53 years-old | Range: 39-72 years-old

Average Level in Program: 1.4 | Range: 0-4

60% never married | Average number of marriages: 1.6

Average number of kids: 2 | Range: 0-15

Average number of terms incarcerated: 6 | Range: 0-25

45% raised in a single-parent household

Interviews coded for four patterns of talk:

DATA OVERVIEW

blame

wrong

deserve

self

Hell

pride

Mexican

Hispanic

Asian

white

black

God

mother

father

pops

parent

teacher

education

crack

alcohol

drink

smoke

weed

cocaine

high

liquor

abuse

beat

hurt

whooping

DATA OVERVIEW:

EDUCATION STATUS

College graduate

5%

GED obtainee

15%

Some middle

school

10%

Some trade school

15%

High school

graduate

5%

Some college

30%

Some high school

20%

© The Midnight Mission

Dining Hall of The Midnight Mission

“These men were supposed to be…“These men were supposed to be…

© The Midnight Mission

Outside The Midnight Mission

…the CEOs, presidents, business owners, and husbands…

© Sheena Yoon

Streets of Skid Row

…that didn’t make it.” (Quincy, age 46)

Research on homelessness often focuses on debilitating

factors such as prison history, mental il lness, substance

abuse, etc.

My research adds to the study of homelessness:

Integrates background statistical data and research on causes of

homelessness

Adds to forms of “identity talk” among homeless populations as

explored by:

David Snow & Leon Anderson (1995) on street people of Austin, TX

Katherine Boydell et. al (2000) on single adult shelter users of Toronto, CA

Leslie Irvine (2013) on homeless pet guardians of Boulder, CO

Expands “talk” to two interconnected frames:

Identity Construction – making sense of self

Condition Management – making sense of situation

FILLING THE GAP

THE SELF

Emerges from social interactions; it is the “experience of ourselves”

as unique individuals (Mead 1934)

SELF-PRESENTATION & IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT

We attempt to control others‟ impressions of the self

We engage in self-presentation in three dimensions (Goffman 1959)

① Defining our place in the social order

② Setting the tone and direction of social interactions

③ Facilitating performance of role-governed behavior

SELF & LANGUAGE

“Words are basic to the formation of his self, and words are the only

way he can control his environment.” (Becker 1971)

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

FORMS OF IDENTITY

ego

social

personalwhat makes us unique:

“identity pegs” and

life histories

what others understand

about us based on groups

we belong to

what we think about

ourselves: “subjective sense”

of who we are and

how we exist in the world

“People who make up the

marginalized groups of a

particular social context are

more often faced with

dilemmas that require them to

choose between acting in

accordance with their self-

values or in accordance with

the expectations of powerful

others. These are the

experiences where the

meanings related to the social

identity attributed by others

conflict with the meanings

related to one’s personal

identity.”(Erickson 1995)

other black menself-blame

blaming others

characterological

behavioral

individuals

institutions

embracement

optimismrole

behavioral

associational

IDENTITY

CONSTRUCTION

CONDITION

MANAGEMENT

physical

loss

HOMELESSNESS

psychological

loss

BLAMINGREDEMPTIVE

STORYTELLINGSTEREOTYPING DISTANCING

absence of conventional

resources for self-presentation

undesired ascription of

marginalized identity

individual relies on “talk”

as a means of control

Conceptual Model© Michael Habashi

Sample employed four forms of blaming:

Self-blame

Behavioral self-blame

Involves attributions to modifiable source (one‟s behavior)

Control-related

Characterological self-blame

Involves attributions to relatively non-modifiable source (one‟s character)

Esteem-related

Blaming of others

Blaming of individuals

Individuals who victimized the respondent

Blaming of institutions

Institutions (i.e. education and prison systems) that victimized the respondent

(I) BLAMING

“Things were going good, but I

dunno…I‟m very selfish. Very, very

selfish. Self-centered. I wanted to do

what I wanted to do because I felt so

deprived all that time prior, living on the

streets and this and that. And I was

like, “the hell I‟m gonna do what I

wanna do.”

(BARRY, age 56)

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“My mind…It obsesses. It‟s insane and

brings about a craving. A craving that

doesn‟t go away, like an allergy…It just

never will stop. It‟s more spiritual than

anything else.”

(QUINCY, age 46)

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“Ever since I can remember, the white

man has devised ways to crumble the

black family structure…When they put

that crack in our neighborhoods, that

was the one that broke the camel‟s

back…That crack, man, it‟s phenomenal.

It really cut at the very structure of the

black family.” (BARRY, age 56)

“[Race] made me susceptible. Being

black…strongest man on earth…Born

rich. Africa sold us to America. Our

government sold us. We became captive

slaves to Americans, but really, we were

sold by our own people. We cannot

blame the white man. We sold

ourselves.” (ISAIAH, age 54)

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“I‟d be a cop-out to say race plays a part

in the decisions I made. No. I‟ve made

the decisions I made on my own. But

race, racism exists. Racism does hinder

and discourage you from certain

things…You know you might not be able

to get this job. You know you might not

be able to go over here and do this…But

that‟s just the way it is. So you can‟t use

that as a cop-out. That just means you

got to strive a little harder to advance.

It‟s just gonna make the road a little

more difficult than it is…You can‟t

change it…And you just got to keep on

pushing, man.”

(PHIL, age 46)

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Sample employed one form of stereotyping:

Racial stereotyping of other black men

Candor and comfort when using such stereotypes may have

been product of my racially ambiguous appearance

Could speak about blacks in a certain way without fear of offending me

(II) STEREOTYPING

“Most black men have the decision to

make f***ed up choices in life. Instead

of going to school and trying to get a

job, they want to…getting in with the in-

crowd, hanging out with gang

members, selling dope, selling

weed, doing…shortcuts.” (NATHAN, age

48)

“Black people…a lot of them is like

discouraged. I should say, well, a lot of

them is egotistical. They don‟t want to

work no honest 9 to 5…They think

someone owe them something for the

past. „Everybody gets retributions but

the blacks.‟ So a lot of people use that

as a cop-out.” (PHIL, age 46)

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Sample employed three forms of distancing:

Associational distancing

Distancing from other homeless individuals

Role distancing

Distancing from current condition of homelessness

Behavioral distancing

Distancing from actions and decisions of their past

(III) DISTANCING

“I‟m the type of black…I‟m notghettoish, as you would say. I haveculture…So dealing with my people onthis level is very hard for me. It wasreally traumatic. Just the part I wasn‟tready for.”

(BARRY, age 56)

“A lot of them are just damn lazy…WhenI was your age, I had an apartment, acar, and I was working…But the youngpeople that just come down here tohang out…“What the hell is wrong withyou people?” They don‟t want to doanything and this is the life…“How canyou think this is the life when you‟re22?” This ain‟t it. Get a job. Go worksomewhere. Get off your butt.”

(CHUCK, age 56)

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“A lot of these guys…don‟t really want

the help. They on SSD [Social Security

Disability] and they‟re content with that

check every month. It‟s really sad. I

could get on it, but I don‟t want it. I‟d

rather work…But then you have decent

enough people that, like myself, if they

just had that help, they‟d get off here.”

(BARRY, age 56)

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“If I could turn the clock back, I would.

Because when I first started drinking, I‟d

maybe drink a 30-ounce on the weekend

with my girl and get a couple of movies.

But it just progressed and progressed

and now…if I ain‟t got none I gotta go

and recycle some.” (ALEX, age 39)

“I definitely did not want to be what I

am now. I had dreams. A lot of dreams. I

wanted to be a model at first. I liked

modeling and then I got sidetracked off

of that…Reality set in real quick. I never

really pursued it.” (NATHAN, age 48)

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Sample engaged in redemptive storytelling:

Redemption enters somewhere between losing hope

and everything turning out for the best

Embracement

See positive outcomes even from negative events

Embrace past, present, and future condition

Optimism

Envision a positive, idealized future

Predict some Higher Power bringing them to a favorable

future state

(IV) REDEMPTIVE STORYTELLING

“I suffered a lot…being shot…I‟ve been

stabbed…The drug use is just going in

and out of prison. I wouldn‟t want to

repeat that, but it‟s an experience that

God…as far as I‟m concerned, it

happened for a purpose. Because I‟m

still here. Maybe because of the

circumstances, I shouldn‟t be here after

all that I went through. But that‟s why I

feel that He has a purpose for me.

Hopefully it will be fulfilled.”

(LUKE, age 65)

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IMPLICATIONS OF FINDINGS

CONDITION

MANAGEMENT

IDENTITY

CONSTRUCTION

TALK

blaming, stereotyping, distancing, redemptive storytelling

o Homelessness engenders a

physical and

psychological, personal and

social loss of identity

o Individuals can adopt a new

form of identity through

invoking varieties of “talk”

o New identity both localized

and removed from social

context

o Individuals must cope with

stigmatized condition

o Talk enables individual to

control environment – to

reject past, to reject social

context, and to embrace a

future idealized self

o Talk supplements lack of

physical resources with

psychological resources

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I’d love to hear from you.

For comments, questions, and concerns,

please email me at mikehabashi@gmail.com.

THANK YOU