"Living in Hell in the City of Angels: Identity Construction and Condition Management among Black Homeless Men of Los Angeles' Skid Row" A Senior Thesis by Michael Habashi of Duke University

1. LIVING IN HELL IN THE CITY OF ANGELS
IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION & CONDITION MANAGEMENT
AMONG BLACK HOMELESS MEN OF LOS ANGELES’ SKID ROW
MICHAEL HABASHI
D UKE U NIVERSITY
D EPARTMENT OF S OCIOLOGY
Photo © jimmaybones S ENIOR H ONORS T HESIS

2. RESEARCH QUESTION
How do black homeless men of Los Angeles‟ Skid Row
engage varieties of “talk” in constructing their identity
and coping with and explaining their condition?
© Google Maps

3. A growing body of research on homelessness has
focused on the means by which marginalized individuals
effectively engage in impression management in the
absence of traditional resources for self-presentation.
My research focused on the varieties of “talk” that
black homeless men employ in “identity construction”
and “condition management.” This paper is based on a
mixed methods study of the lives of 20 black homeless
men of Los Angeles‟ Skid Row. Analysis revealed that
respondents utilized four patterns of talk in order to
make sense of themselves and their situation: (a)
blaming, (b) stereotyping, (c) distancing, and (d)
redemptive storytelling. These varieties of talk
represent strategic methods by which the individual
makes meaning of and copes with their state of
homelessness.
THESIS ABSTRACT

4. DATA COLLECTION OVERVIEW
SECONDARY DATA PRIMARY DATA
 Background statistical data on Partnership with The Midnight
debilitating factors causing Mission, a key homeless services
homelessness organization on Skid Row, provided
o US Department of Housing & safe access to population
Urban Development  20 interviews of black homeless
o US Census men on Skid Row
o Los Angeles Homeless o 10 living on the streets and/or
Services Authority other unsuitable locations
o National Alliance to End o 10 living at Mission‟s 12-step
Homelessness recovery program
o Substance Abuse & Mental o Combination of convenience &
Health Services Association snowball sampling
 Background literature on self-  Survey of 120 men of various
presentation and identity talk races in recovery program

5. DATA OVERVIEW
 Overview of sample:
 Average Age: 53 years-old | Range: 39-72 years-old
 Average Level in Program: 1.4 | Range: 0-4
 60% never married | Average number of marriages: 1.6
 Average number of kids: 2 | Range: 0-15
 Average number of terms incarcerated: 6 | Range: 0-25
 45% raised in a single-parent household
 Interviews coded for four patterns of talk:
blame Mexican mother crack high
wrong Hispanic father alcohol liquor
deserve Asian pops drink abuse
self white parent smoke beat
Hell black teacher weed hurt
pride God education cocaine whooping

6. DATA OVERVIEW:
EDUCATION STATUS
College graduate
5%
Some high school GED obtainee
20% 15%
Some middle
school
10%
Some college
Some trade school
30%
15%
High school
graduate
5%

7. “These men were supposed to be…
Dining Hall of The Midnight Mission
© The Midnight Mission

8. …the CEOs, presidents, business owners, and husbands…
Outside The Midnight Mission
© The Midnight Mission

9. …that didn’t make it.” (Quincy, age 46)
Streets of Skid Row
© Sheena Yoon

10. FILLING THE GAP
 Research on homelessness often focuses on debilitating
factors such as prison history, mental illness, substance
abuse, etc.
 My research adds to the study of homelessness:
 Integrates background statistical data and research on causes of
homelessness
 Adds to forms of “identity talk” among homeless populations as
explored by:
 David Snow & Leon Anderson (1995) on street people of Austin, TX
 Katherine Boydell et. al (2000) on single adult shelter users of Toronto, CA
 Leslie Irvine (2013) on homeless pet guardians of Boulder, CO
 Expands “talk” to two interconnected frames:
 Identity Construction – making sense of self
 Condition Management – making sense of situation

11. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
 THE SELF
 Emerges from social interactions; it is the “experience of ourselves”
as unique individuals (Mead 1934)
 SELF -PRESENTATION & IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT
 We attempt to control others‟ impressions of the self
 We engage in self-presentation in three dimensions (Goffman 1959)
① Defining our place in the social order
② Setting the tone and direction of social interactions
③ Facilitating performance of role-governed behavior
 SELF & LANGUAGE
 “Words are basic to the formation of his self, and words are the only
way he can control his environment.” (Becker 1971)

12. FORMS OF IDENTITY
what we think about “People who make up the
ourselves: “subjective sense” ego marginalized groups of a
of who we are and particular social context are
how we exist in the world more often faced with
dilemmas that require them to
what others understand
social choose between acting in
accordance with their self-
about us based on groups values or in accordance with
we belong to the expectations of powerful
others. These are the
experiences where the
what makes us unique: meanings related to the social
“identity pegs” and personal identity attributed by others
life histories conflict with the meanings
related to one’s personal
identity.”(Erickson 1995)

13. HOMELESSNESS
physical psychological
loss loss
absence of conventional undesired ascription of
resources for self-presentation marginalized identity
individual relies on “talk”
as a means of control
REDEMPTIVE
BLAMING STEREOTYPING DISTANCING
STORYTELLING
self-blame other black men associational embracement
behavioral
role optimism
characterological
behavioral
blaming others
Conceptual Model
individuals
IDENTITY CONDITION © Michael Habashi
institutions
CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

14. (I) BLAMING
 Sample employed four forms of blaming:
 Self-blame
 Behavioral self-blame
 Involves attributions to modifiable source (one‟s behavior)
 Control-related
 Characterological self-blame
 Involves attributions to relatively non-modifiable source (one‟s character)
 Esteem-related
 Blaming of others
 Blaming of individuals
 Individuals who victimized the respondent
 Blaming of institutions
 Institutions (i.e. education and prison systems) that victimized the
respondent

15. BEHAVIORAL
SELF-BLAME
“Things were going good, but I
dunno…I‟m very selfish. Very, very
selfish. Self-centered. I wanted to do
what I wanted to do because I felt so
deprived all that time prior, living on the
streets and this and that. And I was
like, “the hell I‟m gonna do what I
wanna do.”
(BARRY, age 56)

16. CHARACTEROLOGICAL
SELF-BLAME
“My mind…It obsesses. It‟s insane and
brings about a craving. A craving that
doesn‟t go away, like an allergy…It just
never will stop. It‟s more spiritual than
anything else.”
(QUINCY, age 46)

17. “Ever since I can remember, the white
man has devised ways to crumble the
black family structure…When they put
that crack in our neighborhoods, that
INDIVIDUALS
BLAMING OF
was the one that broke the camel‟s
back…That crack, man, it‟s phenomenal.
It really cut at the very structure of the
black family.” (BARRY, age 56)
“[Race] made me susceptible. Being
black…strongest man on earth…Born
rich. Africa sold us to America. Our
government sold us. We became captive
slaves to Americans, but really, we were
sold by our own people. We cannot
blame the white man. We sold
ourselves.” (ISAIAH, age 54)

18. “I‟d be a cop-out to say race plays a part
in the decisions I made. No. I‟ve made
the decisions I made on my own. But
INSTITUTIONS
race, racism exists. Racism does hinder
BLAMING OF
and discourage you from certain
things…You know you might not be able
to get this job. You know you might not
be able to go over here and do this…But
that‟s just the way it is. So you can‟t use
that as a cop-out. That just means you
got to strive a little harder to advance.
It‟s just gonna make the road a little
more difficult than it is…You can‟t
change it…And you just got to keep on
pushing, man.”
(PHIL, age 46)

19. (II) STEREOTYPING
 Sample employed one form of stereotyping:
 Racial stereotyping of other black men
 Candor and comfort when using such stereotypes may have
been product of my racially ambiguous appearance
 Could speak about blacks in a certain way without fear of offending me

20. “Most black men have the decision to
make f***ed up choices in life. Instead
of going to school and trying to get a
STEREOTYPING
job, they want to…getting in with the in-
crowd, hanging out with gang
members, selling dope, selling
RACIAL
weed, doing…shortcuts.” (NATHAN, age
48)
“Black people…a lot of them is like
discouraged. I should say, well, a lot of
them is egotistical. They don‟t want to
work no honest 9 to 5…They think
someone owe them something for the
past. „Everybody gets retributions but
the blacks.‟ So a lot of people use that
as a cop-out.” (PHIL, age 46)

21. (III) DISTANCING
 Sample employed three forms of distancing:
 Associational distancing
 Distancing from other homeless individuals
 Role distancing
 Distancing from current condition of homelessness
 Behavioral distancing
 Distancing from actions and decisions of their past

22. “I‟m the type of black…I‟m not
ghettoish, as you would say. I have
culture…So dealing with my people on
this level is very hard for me. It was
ASSOCIATIONAL
really traumatic. Just the part I wasn‟t
DISTANCING
ready for.”
(BARRY, age 56)
“A lot of them are just damn lazy…When
I was your age, I had an apartment, a
car, and I was working…But the young
people that just come down here to
hang out…“What the hell is wrong with
you people?” They don‟t want to do
anything and this is the life…“How can
you think this is the life when you‟re
22?” This ain‟t it. Get a job. Go work
somewhere. Get off your butt.”
(CHUCK, age 56)

23. DISTANCING
“A lot of these guys…don‟t really want
the help. They on SSD [Social Security
Disability] and they‟re content with that
ROLE
check every month. It‟s really sad. I
could get on it, but I don‟t want it. I‟d
rather work…But then you have decent
enough people that, like myself, if they
just had that help, they‟d get off here.”
(BARRY, age 56)

24. “If I could turn the clock back, I would.
Because when I first started drinking, I‟d
maybe drink a 30-ounce on the weekend
BEHAVIORAL
DISTANCING
with my girl and get a couple of movies.
But it just progressed and progressed
and now…if I ain‟t got none I gotta go
and recycle some.” (ALEX, age 39)
“I definitely did not want to be what I
am now. I had dreams. A lot of dreams. I
wanted to be a model at first. I liked
modeling and then I got sidetracked off
of that…Reality set in real quick. I never
really pursued it.” (NATHAN, age 48)

25. (IV) REDEMPTIVE STORYTELLING
 Sample engaged in redemptive storytelling:
 Redemption enters somewhere between losing hope
and everything turning out for the best
 Embracement
 See positive outcomes even from negative events
 Embrace past, present, and future condition
 Optimism
 Envision a positive, idealized future
 Predict some Higher Power bringing them to a favorable
future state

26. “I suffered a lot…being shot…I‟ve been
STORYTELLING
stabbed…The drug use is just going in
REDEMPTIVE
and out of prison. I wouldn‟t want to
repeat that, but it‟s an experience that
God…as far as I‟m concerned, it
happened for a purpose. Because I‟m
still here. Maybe because of the
circumstances, I shouldn‟t be here after
all that I went through. But that‟s why I
feel that He has a purpose for me.
Hopefully it will be fulfilled.”
(LUKE, age 65)

27. IMPLICATIONS OF FINDINGS
TALK
SEL F -PRESENTATION
IDENTITY o Individuals must cope with
CONSTRUCTION stigmatized condition
o Talk enables individual to
o Homelessness engenders a control environment – to
physical and reject past, to reject social
psychological, personal and context, and to embrace a
social loss of identity future idealized self
o Individuals can adopt a new o Talk supplements lack of
form of identity through physical resources with
invoking varieties of “talk” psychological resources
o New identity both localized
and removed from social CONDITION
context
MANAGEMENT
blaming, stereotyping, distancing, redemptive storytelling

28. THANK YOU
I’d love to hear from you.
For comments, questions, and concerns,
please email me at mikehabashi@gmail.com.