Salvaging The Self From Homelessness Analysis

Within David Snow’s and Leon Anderson's expert, Salvaging the Self From Homelessness, the homeless individuals identified within the article were noted as “deviant” as a result of societies sanctions towards them. Additionally within the oppression of a dwindling identity, the homeless employed distancing, embracement, and fictive storytelling as strategies to rekindle their sense of self.
Unfortunately, the homeless struggled with the notion of society establishing “deviance” as a their full time identity. The credence of this identity was “attributed or imputed” by others; such as individuals that were not homeless. Moreover, outsiders looking in labeled the homeless “deviant” as a result of their physical settings, personal appearance,
Through associational and ideological embracement, the homeless were able to embody their “deviant identities” and find acceptance within them. The excerpt alone acknowledges numerous individuals that immediately announced themselves as “tramps”, “bums”, “brethren of the road” or “expert dumpster divers”. Through this identification, the homeless individuals allowed their street roles to function as their source of “positive identity and self-worth” within their “deviant” self. Akin to role embracement, association embracement illustrated proud groups that embodied their homeless identity in order to enact acceptance within their “deviant” identity. For example, Gypsy was offered a job at the Sally. However, this position came at the cost of his friendship, specifically his homeless friends. Proudly, Gypsy declined the offer and acknowledging that he was a “bum” and “knew who his true friends were”, thus he refused to excommunicate his friends as a result of his pride within their group. Ideological embracement additionally functions within the salvaging of self for the homeless individual. Since traditional occupational roles were out of reach for the homeless, they garnered their identity by finding “alternative realities” for “a positive identity”. For example, Tanner Sutton classified himself as a “spiritual guide” that was able to see into the future. Through this shifted reality, Sutton's identity was based on his promising abilities within his homeless environment that was illuminated by his positive