In Search of the Homeless Person
If the first European social construction of homeless persons can be traced back to the Middle Ages, it still underlies the basis of the collective memory concerning the homeless person. Though unchanged in current popular discourse, this collective memory is being redefined on the political and institutional levels in order to readdress questions of mendicancy. We will first describe how the volunteers of a charitable institution in Marseille (France) have built a new social construction of the homeless person by discovering her or his otherness through social intervention. Volunteers experience conflicting emotions : on the one hand, they wish to offer aid (social intervention) and on the other hand, they are averse to the physical conditions of those in need of aid. Afterwards, through the dynamic transmission of fieldwork information within their association, these volunteers newly categorize the homeless person. We will then discuss the effects of this construction at the political and governmental levels and on the social link.