Youth Homelessness in Late Modernity: Reflexive Identities and Moral Worth

177 Pages·2016·1.739 MB·English

by  David Farrugia (auth.)

Perspectives on Children and Young People
David Farrugia
Youth
Homelessness in
Late Modernity
Reflexive Identities and Moral Worth
Perspectives on Children and Young People
Volume 1
Series editors
Johanna Wyn, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia
Helen Cahill, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13560
David Farrugia
Youth Homelessness
in Late Modernity
fl
Re exive Identities and Moral Worth
123
DavidFarrugia
University of Newcastle
Callaghan, NSW
Australia
ISSN 2365-2977 ISSN 2365-2985 (electronic)
Perspectives onChildren andYoungPeople
ISBN978-981-287-684-3 ISBN978-981-287-685-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-981-287-685-0
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SpringerSingaporeHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
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Acknowledgments
Thisbookwouldnothavebeenpossiblewithoutthegenerosityoftheyoungpeople
who shared their lives by participating in the research. I was humbled by this
generosity and by their confidence that I would value their stories.
Research does not take place in a vacuum, and a number of others provided
intellectual and collegial support throughout the research and writing of this book.
TheseincludeJohanna Wyn,AniWierenga, ShelleyMallett,DanWoodman,Julia
Coffey, Jessica Crofts, Juliet Watson, Jessica Gerrard, and Steven Threadgold.
Finally, I would like to thank my partner, Deidre Ryan, for everything.
v
Contents
1 Introduction: Understanding Youth Homelessness . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Youth Homelessness as an Object of Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Public Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Situating the Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Dimensions of Subjectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Identity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Embodiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Intersubjectivity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
The Research Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Overview of the Chapters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2 Youth Homelessness, Reflexivity and Inequality
in Late Modernity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Theorising Young People in Late Modernity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Individualisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Neoliberalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Reflexivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Reflexivity and Inequality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Youth Homelessness in Context. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Youth Inequalities and Family Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Home. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Youth Homelessness as a Structural Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3 Young Homeless Subjectivities: A Symbolic Economy . . . . . . . . . . 39
Material Inequalities, Symbolic Power Relations
and Abject Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
A Symbolic Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Youth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
vii
viii Contents
Home/Homeless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
The Symbolic Economy of Youth Homelessness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Lived Subjectivity and the Symbolic Economy of Youth
Homelessness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Assembling the Subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Reflexivity and the Symbolic Economy of Youth
Homelessness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Agency?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Identity, Embodiment, Intersubjectivity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Identity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Embodiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Intersubjectivity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4 Identity: Becoming a Homeless Youth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Homeless? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Homelessness as a Biographical Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Denigration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
5 Identity: Subverting Homelessness and Making a Home. . . . . . . . . 77
Pleasures and Subversions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Constructing Homed Identities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Discipline, Self-possession and Authenticity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Making Home as Becoming Adult. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
6 Bodies: Being and Feeling Homeless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Homeless Bodies: Unwelcome, Objectified and Displaced. . . . . . . . . . 94
The Feeling Body: Homelessness and Sensuous Embodiment . . . . . . . 97
Aesthetics, Cleanliness, and Sensuous Experience
of Moral Worthlessness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Reflexive Embodiment and Homelessness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Consumption, Reflexive Embodiment and Making Home . . . . . . . . . . 107
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
7 Relationships: Constructing the Other, Constructing the Self . . . . . 113
Couchsurfing: Responsibility Amidst Dependence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Belonging and Recognition: Making Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Reflexive Intersubjectivity and the Crafting of a Moral Self . . . . . . . . 120
Contents ix
Becoming Homed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Creating a Home. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Homeless/Homed: Belonging, Self-governance
and Moral Worth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
8 Conclusion: The Symbolic Economy of Youth Homelessness
and the Purpose of Homelessness Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Social Change and the New Landscape of Youth Inequality . . . . . . . . 134
Tracing the Symbolic Economy of Youth Homelessness. . . . . . . . . . . 135
Re-writing Reflexivity—The Significance of Youth Homelessness. . . . 138
The Problem of Agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
The Purpose of Youth Homelessness Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
9 Afterword: The Practice of Ethical Research Interviews
with Homeless Youth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Interrogating Benefits and Harms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Interviews as Intersubjective Encounters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Implications: The Meaning of Ethical Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Chapter 1
Introduction: Understanding Youth
Homelessness
Youth homelessness is a unique position within the material inequalities and cul-
tural divisions that shape the contemporary youth period. It is a form of structural
disadvantage, a process of cultural marginalisation, and a manifestation of social
changesthathavereshapedallyoungpeople’slivesinrecentdecades.Drawingon
two research projects which explored homeless young people’s personal bio-
graphical narratives, this book explores the kinds of subjectivities available to
young people experiencing homelessness in order to show how structural
inequalitiesandhierarchiesofmoralworthoperateintoproducethepossibilitiesfor
who homeless young people can become. In creating new narratives about youth
homelessness, the book also intervenes in the intellectual politics of contemporary
poverty. Too often young people who experience disadvantage are represented as
unruly subjects, problems to be managed in order to alleviate disturbances in the
otherwiseharmoniousoperationofcontemporarycapitalistsocieties.Thistendency
papers over ways in which the ‘normal’ operation of power and privilege in late
modernity produces young homeless subjectivities as a part of wider youth
inequalities.
Toaddressthis,Iintroduceanddeveloptheconceptofa‘symboliceconomyof
youth homelessness’. The symbolic economy of youth homelessness describes the
intersecting structural and symbolic processes which contribute to the way that
young people relate to themselves and others whilst experiencing homelessness.
The symbolic economy of youth homelessness is part of social changes that have
influenced all young people, albeit in different ways. Contemporary young people
are under pressure to manage their own lives in a context of widespread and
growing material insecurity. New forms of biographical work and ‘reflexivity’ are
emerging across the youth period as young people respond to the challenges that
late modern societies create for them. The symbolic economy of youth homeless-
ness shows how their identities, embodied experiences and personal relationships
are produced as part of these broader shifts in the structural and personal dimen-
sions of late modernity. The concept shows how these dynamics of power and
privilegeproducehomelessnessasapositionofmoralworthlessnesswithinawider
terrain of youth inequalities. This structural violence resonates throughout all
aspects of young people’s lives.
©SpringerScience+BusinessMediaSingapore2016 1
D.Farrugia,YouthHomelessnessinLateModernity,Perspectives
onChildrenandYoungPeople1,DOI10.1007/978-981-287-685-0_1