Thesis (M.F.A.)--Northern Michigan University, 2009. / "14-62720." Bibliography: leaf 277.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2007 / Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Social Work. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-121).

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-77).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2005.

Urban homelessness is one of the most blatant forms of social exclusion in advanced capitalist societies. In Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, homelessness has become particularly entrenched due to systemic forces such as global economic recession, the restructuring of regional economies, the dismantlement of the welfare state, and the erosion of affordable housing that together have pushed more people towards economic marginality and housing insecurity. Despite years of advocacy and 'high profile' government investments, homelessness has persisted as an intransigent social problem. A central purpose of this doctoral thesis is to provide some insight into how homelessness is being 'managed' in one Canadian city. The papers gathered together in this dissertation are based on three years of ethnographic fieldwork (conducted between 2006 and 2009) in a medium-sized, de-industrializing city in the province of Ontario. The specific focus of the thesis is the emergency shelter system. Over the past ten years, a number of new social service models have emerged in response to rising rates of homelessness. As these have been adopted homeless shelter systems in many Canadian cities have undergone significant reconfigurations. This thesis focuses on some of the new 'management spaces' that are emerging in this unfolding policy context. The first paper explores the experiences of voluntary sector organizations and local state authorities. The second paper explores the experiential dimensions of a unique service environment providing emergency shelter and social services. The third paper examines the personal experiences of chronically homeless men as they adapt to life in an innovative 'special care' facility. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Homeless hostels started being established on the territory of the Czech Republic in the beginning of 1990. At present they are institutions of social services providing persons in unfavourable social situation related with loss of dwelling with accommodation services of social prevention for transition period. The goal of the thesis was to characterize the homeless hostel for men as an institution helping homeless persons with social integration from the point of view of professional staff and to explain life fates and experiences of selected users. The work is conceived as quality research focused primarily on the issues of social work. In order to meet the aim, the following methods and techniques of data collection were used: interview with help of instruction, narrative interview, study of documents and observation. Rules of service provision, internal rules of the institution, social worker activities, course of service and its planning are specified in more detail on the base of the data from interviews with professional staff and their subsequent analysis. The work focuses also on the offer of activities with stress on possibilities of work rehabilitation of the users and compares the individual facilities according to specified criteria. Life experiences of selected users before they stay in the homeless hostel are described together with their expectancies and future plans. Two hypotheses were formulated on the base of the research.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, transient laborers in Portland, Oregon faced marginalization and exploitation at the hands of the classes that relied on them for their own prosperity. Portland at this time was poised to flourish as a major population and industrial center of the American West. The industries that fueled the city's growth were dependent on cheap and mobile manual labor made available by the expansion of the nation's railroads. As the city prospered and grew, the elite of the city created and promoted an image of Portland as an Eden of material abundance where industriousness and virtue would lead inevitably to prosperity. There was no room in Portland's booster image for unemployed but otherwise able-bodied men that fueled this prosperity but saw no benefit from it. Their very existence challenged both the image of the city itself, and broader and deeper pillars of American identity. The response to the presence of this mobile, underemployed and largely white male labor class by Portland citizens and institutions was driven by, and in turn helped shape, competing mythologies of both the American West and American masculinity at a time when the country was struggling to define and redefine these constructs. Examining these floating men through their portrayal in popular culture, laws, and charitable efforts of the time exposes a deep anxiety about the notions of worth, gender, and American virtue.