University of Maryland
Sociology 498: Homelessness 

Rossi: Down and Out in America
Reading questions

Rossi's macro-micro distinction:

The vulnerability-enhancing factors I will consider here are personal characteristics. Although they may help explain who becomes hoemeless, let me stress that fluctuations in homelessness as a social condition are likely to be explained better by conditions in the larger society. That is, the amount of homelessness is likely to be affected by the amount of inexpensive housing available: the less housing is available and the more expensive it is, the more people are homeless. But no matter what the availability of inexpensive housing, personal characteristics are likely to explain who becomes homeless.

Peter Rossi, Down and Out in America, page 143

See also our broader list of causes.
 


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Last updated February 15, 2006
comments to: Reeve Vanneman. reeve@cwmills.umd.edu