| Popis: |
In 2002 a group of men and women, coming from different professions but sharing an interest in social issues, joined together in a Citizens' Study (medborgarundersökning) in the Swedish city of Malmö. They were inspired by a classic Swedish citizens' study "Men of 1912" (1912 års män) which was a clandestine field study of the deplorable conditions in Stockholm's hostels in 1912. This book is a compilation of the various reports written by the men and women of 2002. Over a period of several months they visited different places in Malmö where homeless people live and spend their lives. The reports provide us with different images of homelessness, from tent camps, hideouts in public parks, cheap hotels and shelters to overpopulated apartment buildings in the suburbs. It accounts for the City Council's expensive policy of solving the problems through putting up homeless in hotel rooms on a long-term basis. Striking in the reports is the frustration of the men and women of 2002 when they are confronted with access problems to shelters, and with the demeaning and contemptuous treatment of homeless people. As a method for social research the citizen's study does not have the theoretical and methodological consistency of the scientific study. However, it oversteps social borders and promotes social integration in a way that scientific studies were never able to do. The men and women of 2002 were drawn into the process, and formed private social relationships with homeless people and their places. Apart from the reports of the men and women of 2002, the book also includes a re-print of the edited version of the report of the men of 1912 published in Social Tidskrift 1913. |
