Dear Brem

I am not clear which group of homeless people you are talking about. Are they from the deprived or underprivileged segment of any society or homelessness is because of any natural/humanitarian disaster? However....

I think you should search for the Media researches in which media talks about humanitarian crisis in the world. Media plays a very important role in creating or highlighting prejudices and stereotypes against any community. In the third world countries where humanitarian crisis like Internally displaced people, homeless people after flood or earth quake and issues like this are common. You can critically analyze how these communities are being treated or given space in the media or other literature.

Dear Sahifa,

thank you very much for your quick answer! I want to analyse stereotypes / prejudices of homeless people, who are an underprivileged segment and are living in Germany or other western europe countries or other industrialised countries.

It's clear to me, that stereotypes are like a mirror of a society, respectively the culture. If solidarity, fairness and tolerance are respected values in a society, you'll find more willingness to help poor or homeless people (and there are less stereotypes).

Thank you for your reference to Media researches. (Background: I'm not an expert of Medea research, but I will check this.)

Best regards

Detlef

Knecht T, Martinez LM. Humanizing the homeless: does contact erode stereotypes? Soc Sci Res. 2009 Sep;38(3):521-34.

Renedo A, Jovchelovitch S. Expert knowledge, cognitive polyphasia and health: a study on social representations of homelessness among professionals working in the voluntary sector in London. J Health Psychol. 2007 Sep;12(5):779-90.

Tompsett CJ, Toro PA, Guzicki M, Manrique M, Zatakia J. Homelessness in the United States: assessing changes in prevalence and public opinion, 1993-2001. Am J Community Psychol. 2006 Mar;37(1-2):47-61.

There are a lot of articles by Fichter & Quadflieg dealing with the situation in Munich (prevalence of psychiatric disorders among homeless people) and the course of disease following to an intervention (providing stable housing). => stigmata of homelessness and mental disorders cumulate in homeless people.

Kind regards

Ulrich

Hola:

You can also take a look at the recent work by Harris and Fiske on dehumanization. Everything you need is at http://bsclab.info/bsc-publications.

Dear Ulrich, dear Vanessa,

thank you very much for your helpful informations and links!

Kind regards

Detlef

Detlef, You seem to be interested in public perceptions.

Try also:

Lee, B. A., Link, B. G., & Toro, P. A. (1991). Images of the homeless: Public views and media messages. Housing Policy Debate, 2(3), 649-682.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10511482.1991.9521068#.UsoiOxW4bmI

Also, I hope there has been a change since then, but Dear and Gleeson published in 1991 on a content analysis including over 200 newspaper accounts of homelessness (1985-1988). They found that negative accounts outnumber support statements by three to one. Opposition was largely from local resident and business groups.

See:

Dear, M., & Gleeson, B. (1991). Community attitudes toward the homeless. Urban Geography, 12(2), 155-176.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2747/0272-3638.12.2.155#.UsomLRW4bmK

An interesting study about stereotypes of homeless in spain mass media could be download from here: http://www.academia.edu/1909882/La_imagen_de_las_personas_sin_hogar_en_dos_diarios_madrilenos

I was homeless for over 10 years. I have a few things I will send you if I have time. I once passed out on a bench while I was homeless. I was right in front of a gate to the state fair. more than 60,000 people walked past me and not one inquired about my condition. I knew a woman who was incinerated by some local people because they wanted to target a homeless person. They poured gasoline on her and ignited her in a bus stop. I knew a man who hobbled to a wealthy church he had belonged to many years before and never asked for a thing. He was without shoes in the 100 degree Texas heat. His feet were blistered and bleeding and all he asked for was a pair of shoes. He was told to return the next day that no-one there could help him. There were 1500 people there at the time. I knew homeless women who were prostitutes that were routinely raped and robbed because the police did not care and the public despised them. There has been plenty written about the stigma of homelessness. One of the most damaging misconceptions about homelessness is that the homeless problem is about housing. For the people who have become chronically homeless the problem is no longer just housing; their relationship with society has been broken. They have become disenfranchised from society. An flat or a new set of clothes or even a job will not fix that. These problems require a more thorough intervention over a period of time.

For a view of the situation in Sweden see: Carlsson,R & Björklund, F (2010) Implicit stereotype content: Mixed stereotypes can be measured with the implicit association test. Social Psychology, Vol 41(4), 2010, 213-222. It is a quantative study but the references are very useful