The Role of Social Establishment

In Defining a Stigmatized Social Identity

Bart W. Miles, School of Social Work, Arizona State University

Scott W. Renshaw, Department of Sociology, Arizona State University

Stephen J. Sills, Department of Sociology, Arizona State University

Paper submitted to Symbolic Interaction December 2002. This paper results from the
video documentary and ethnographic study “Street Life on Mill” with support from the
Center for Urban Inquiry, Arizona State University.
Cut this when submitting:

Keywords: ........................................................................................................................... 4

Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 5

Homelessness .................................................................................................................. 5

Homelessness in Tempe .................................................................................................. 7

Methods............................................................................................................................... 8

Visual Methods ............................................................................................................... 8

Methods of Analysis ..................................................................................................... 10

Conceptual Considerations................................................................................................ 10

Teams ............................................................................................................................ 14

Stigma ........................................................................................................................... 15

Analysis and Findings ....................................................................................................... 16

Homeless Team ............................................................................................................. 16

Homeless Dramaturgical Loyalty............................................................................... 19

Homeless Dramaturgical Discipline........................................................................... 20

Homeless Dramaturgical Circumspection .................................................................. 21

Deleted: 23
Inserted: 23
DTC Team..................................................................................................................... 22
Deleted: 22

DTC Dramaturgical Loyalty, Discipline, & Circumspection..................................... 24 Deleted: 28

Inserted: 28
City Team...................................................................................................................... 26 Deleted: 27
Deleted: 29
City Dramaturgical Loyalty........................................................................................ 28 Inserted: 29
Deleted: 28
City Dramaturgical discipline..................................................................................... 28
Deleted: 29
Inserted: 29
City Dramaturgical Circumspection........................................................................... 29
Deleted: 28

Interaction of Teams...................................................................................................... 30 Deleted: 30

Inserted: 30
Deleted: 29

2
 Deleted: 34
Conclusions and Recommendations.................................................................................. 34 Inserted: 34
Deleted: 33
References .................................................................................................................. 36 Deleted: 36
Inserted: 36
Deleted: 35

3
Abstract:

Keywords:

4
 They need more places to help the kids out here. I’ve met twelve year olds
out on the streets down here… And no one really helps them… All the PD
[Police Department] do is arrest us and harass us... the State doesn’t care
anymore. It’s sad…The Sally [Salvation Army] helps out a little
bit…Excuse me [begins spanging passerbys] ‘Spare a little bit of change?
Have a nice night’… ‘Could you guys spare some change?’… ‘Could you
guys spare a little change?’… No one really cares out here anymore, they
are more interested in image. And image isn’t’ every thing…it’s how you
treat the people! ‘Excuse me nice people, spare a little change… you guys
have a nice night…’ (E.T.)

Introduction

Homelessness

Homelessness is a pervasive social issue in most urban settings in the United

States. It has been a longstanding social concern, but in the past twenty-five years it has

emerged as a major social problem with civic, political and moral ramifications. The

emergence of homelessness as a social problem was especially evident in the public

policy discourse of the 1980s. It was in the late 1970s and early 80s when the image of

homelessness expanded and changed from prior conceptions due to the growing number

of homeless. The image of homelessness was no longer isolated to the skid row, hobos,

and tramps of earlier decades (Duffield, 2001). Moreover, the discourse regarding the

issues of homelessness increased due to the visibility of the homeless (Schlay & Rossi,

1992; Sommer, 2001). These more visible homeless were younger, more often minorities,

and more frequently women and children (Duffield, 2001; Takahashi, 1997; Sossin,
Deleted: a
1999; Mitchell, 1997). The growth of the homeless problem had multiple contributing

factors including: decreases in public assistance, economic transformations (a shift to

global marketing and service-based economy), deinstitutionalization, lack of affordable

5
housing and healthcare, domestic violence, mental illness, and substance addictions

(Duffield, 2001; Schlay & Rossi, 1992; Sommer, 2001; Sossin, 1999; Takahashi, 1997).

This new visible image of homelessness in the 1980’s lead to a shift in federal

policies (i.e. Stewart McKinney Act), which helped stimulate a tremendous growth in

homeless services. Yet, these efforts lacked the ability to stem the tide of an ever-growing

population of homeless leading to compassion fatigue. The 1990’s saw an increase in

welfare cuts and political conservatism. These cuts, combined with the economic boom

of the 1990’s, lead to a shift in responsibility for the homeless, increasingly placing it on

the local level as the federal government decreased assistance. Furthermore, U.S.

economic growth of the 1990’s created a push for community redevelopment, which, due

to a lack of affordable commercial spaces, focused on areas where the homeless resided.

Thus, new laws and practices aimed against the homeless were created to remove them

from potential commercial spaces (Aguirre & Brooks, 2001; Mitchell, 1997; Oakley,

2002; Snow & Mulcahy, 2001; Takahashi, 1998). While homelessness was no longer

seen as a social problem the homeless themselves were increasingly stigmatized and seen

as the problem. Anti-homeless sentiment became prevalent throughout the country as the

homeless threatened the attractiveness of the image that cities were attempting to portray.

Often the new local anti-homeless policies were sponsored and encouraged by

local officials and neighborhood businesses organizations. These laws were linked to the

increase in negative public perception and caustic treatment of the homeless (Hocking &

Lawrence 2000; Nieves, 2000; Phillips, 2000; Sossin, 1999; Takahashi, 1997; 1998). This

negative standpoint was fundamental to the construction of a stigmatized identity

(Farrington & Robinson 1999; Rosenthal, 2000; Takahashi, 1997; Williams, 1995).

6
Stigmatization was utilized then by policy makers to sustain or enhance local level anti-

homeless policies (Phillips, 2000; Susser, 1996; Sossin, 1999; Takahashi, 1997; 1998).

According to Mitchell (1997), the homeless were not even acknowledged as citizens of

our cities. This exclusion, along with the social stigma placed upon them, became

fundamental to the anti-homeless sentiment. As a result, local anti-homeless policies

became an attempt to make the homeless invisible (Agurirre & Brooks, 2001; Mitchell,

1997; Rosenthal, 2000; & Snow & Mulcahy, 2001).

Homelessness in Tempe

Tempe, Arizona exemplifies this trend of anti-homeless treatment as a result of

urban redevelopment. Sarah Brinegar (2000), in her article Response to homelessness in

Tempe, Arizona: public opinion and government policy, focuses on the shift in homeless

policies in Tempe. She explains that presently Tempe has a “leaf blower policy” towards

the homeless. Officials attempt to move the problem of homelessness with the hopes that

it will stay away. The City of Tempe has between 500-750 homeless, depending on the

reports (Brzuzy, 2001; Tempe Community Council 2000), 40% of whom are between 18-

23.i Yet, Tempe has no shelters, soup kitchens, and very little in the way of relief

(Brinegar, 2000; Brzuzy, 2001).ii In recent years, the city of Tempe has passed several

anti-homeless laws criminalizing homelessness and also provides a clear example of the

use of privatization of public space to restrict the visibility of the homeless (Holthouse,

1998). Tempe has no shelter; yet residing in public spaces (urban camping law) and even

sitting on the sidewalk (or the side of streets) are illegal. Therefore, no one meeting the

Congressional definitioniii of homeless can live in Tempe without violating present laws.

7
This desire for the homeless to go away parallels the recent trend of urban redevelopment

and criminalization of homelessness across the country (NLCHP, 2002).

This project then stems from questions about the interrelationship between the

City of Tempe, the Downtown Tempe Community (an organization sponsored by the city

which represents downtown businesses), and homeless young people (the largest group of

homeless in Tempe). Through the use of Goffman’s dramaturgical analysis, it seeks to

understand the relationship of the social establishment in defining the stigmatized social

identity of homelessness.

Methods

This project employs critical ethnography and participatory research methods.

Critical ethnography witnesses the voices and stories of the marginalized people through

a critical dialogue about power and inequality (Pignatelli, 1998). This paper represents

the accumulation of information, experiences, and understanding of over seven months of

fieldwork by two ethnographers and over twenty homeless participants. Participants were

recruited during a phase of rapport building and information gathering which lasted from

early July 2001 to late September 2001. The goal of participatory research is to enable

marginalized groups to acquire creative and transforming power with in a research

project, and to develop socio-political thought processes with which the larger society

can identify (Hall, 1993).

Visual Methods

Traditional ethnographic methods of interviewing, observation, and document

analysis were employed as well as more innovative participatory video ethnography

(Collier & Collier, 1986; Crawford & Turton, 1992; Hockings, 1995; Loizos, 1993;

8
Ruby, 2000). By nature, visual media, especially when used as participatory research, has

great potential for giving voice and vision to disenfranchised populations (Wang et. al.,

1996). For this reason, both participants and ethnographers collaborated in filming,

production, and presentation. Video was shot of spontaneous field interviews, more

formal semi-structured interviews, as well as of observations of group life in the

homeless “families.” As ethnography, the research was carried out in a naturalistic

setting, involving face-to-face contact between researcher and participants. Through a

triangulation of perspectives, the project constructs a realistic reflection of the nature of

the social phenomenon of homelessness. The final presentation of accumulated material

was in the form of a documentary video presented at a public forum with invited city

officials, homeless advocacy groups, university faculty, and homeless persons. Primary

data used then for analysis in this paper originates in the forty hours of video shot

between October and December 2001.

The social sciences, and sociology in particular, have historically been less

concerned with visual methods.

Only a very small proportion of sociological papers and monographs have

photographic materials integrated in their published format…. The rule
appears to be that sociology is primarily a verbal rather than visually
communicated discipline; or, to be more precise, that tables, graphs, and
histograms appear to be the sociologist’s preferred visual data (Ball &
Smith 1992; p. 11).

Ball and Smith point out that even the seminal ethnographies of sociology (Asylums,

Street Corner Society, etc.) relied on textual accounts alone. Audiovisual techniques, on

the other hand, provide an alternative or supplement to the extensive written record that is

the hallmark of traditional ethnography, while enhancing the ability of the ethnographers

to observe by creating a broader and permanent record of the events (Schensul, et al.

9
1999). In this case, while the notes and field experiences of the ethnographers were

paramount in developing an understanding of the stigma of homelessness, the videos

provided a “document” that could be reviewed and coded by multiple researchers in an

effort to build inter-subjectivity and greater reliability in findings (Lincoln & Guba, 2000;

Altheide & Johnson, 1998). Likewise, key examples of phenomenon could be drawn

from the tapes, and used to illustrate those findings.

Deleted: s

Method of Analysis

Utilizing Goffman’s dramaturgical analysis we assess the impact of social

Deleted: (culture and social structure)
establishment on the stigmatization of homeless young people as a team. This analysis

depends on the definitions of three key concepts of Goffman: social establishment, team,

and stigma. We also will speak to the impact of stigmatization on other teams and the

interrelationship with the stigmatized group and to each other. The analysis will begin

with impression management. Next, it will address the problems of impression

management of the teams framed in the context of the social establishment. The final

aspect of this analysis will focus on the relational interactions among the teams. This

paper will conclude with suggestions on how these relationships and stigmatizations of

this population might be changed through discourse and communication.

Conceptual Considerations
Deleted: “formal and abstract”
We adopt and conceptually expanded Goffman’s (1959; pp. 238-242) analytical

framework for studying the social establishment; we utilize Goffman’s framework to

analyze the social dynamics associated to the homeless situation on Mill Avenue in

Tempe AZ. Some preliminary considerations are needed. We recognize that Goffman’s

10
formal and abstract analytical framework is a conceptual, intellectual, and linguistic

construct defining a bounded region (form) of a constellation of social acts (functions).

Further, to study social establishments, Goffman (1959) states that there are four

traditional perspectives: technical; structural; political; and cultural. Goffman’s (1959)

sociology adds the fifth: the dramaturgical intersection among the four traditional

perspectives. Technical is defined as an organized system of activity with pre-designed

objectives. Political may be explained as the power to demand actions of other

participants and the ways of enacting that power. The structural perspective is the

division of statuses. The cultural may be seen as moral values that influence daily activity

(Goffman, E. 1959). This framework allows us to analyze social interaction and make

generalizing statements about social establishments and the activities that occur in a

bounded region.

For Goffman “a social establishment is any place surrounded by fixed barriers of

perception in which a particular type activity regularly take place” (Goffman, 1959 pp.

238). Goffman generally refers to a social establishment and its fixed barriers of

perception “as those formal organizations that are lodged within the confines of a single
Deleted: 1957/
building or complex of adjacent buildings” (Goffman, 1961:176). Also for Goffman

(1961b), social establishments generate activity systems. Activity systems are framed by
Deleted: lunch time
the clock, breaks, lunchtime, physical objects, and the bueurecratic scheduling of Deleted: , and
Deleted: and conversations
everyday business operations. They are the buzz of social interactions, social acts, and

conversations of gestures develop a regularity, a routine, a stability. Activity systems are

the social establishment’s daily round.

11
 Goffman’s dramaturgical mode of analysis is employed to explain the patterns

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observable activities that are found in the intersection of culture, politics, structure and

Figure 1 - Mill Avenue Bounded Region

technology. It focuses on techniques of impression management, problems of impression

management, and the identity and interrelationship of several performance teams, which

operate in the social establishment (Goffman, 1959). With the dramaturgical mode of

analysis, our projected selves are both influenced and maintained by impression

management through a conversation of gestures. Impression management further

12
employs dramaturgical loyalty, discipline, circumspection, and teamwork in the

definition of the situation. With Dramaturgical Loyalty (1959:212), we impression

manage to maintain a social establishment's activity system, as well as our individual

Deleted: 1956c:137;
performances. Dramaturgical Discipline (1959:216) demands that we have performance

discipline as we loyally impression manage to maintain a social establishment's activity

Deleted: 1956c:139;
system and our impressions on others. With Dramaturgical Circumspection (1959:218),

we think in advance and prepare for our loyal and disciplined impressions to maintain a

social establishment’s activity system. Goffman notes that we use Teamwork (1956c:47-

65,140-5; 1959:77-105, 226-37) as a group level of impression management thus

maintaining the social establishment’s activity system.

We expand the conceptual boundaries of Goffman’s social establishment and

analytical framework to include the cluster of social establishments that are bounded by

the dynamics of Tempe’s Arizona’s Mill Avenue [See Fig. 1]. We also assume that

numerous activity systems overlap within and extend beyond the bounded region of Mill

Avenue. We acknowledge that a technical, political, structural, cultural, and

dramaturgical analysis of these clustered activity systems is possible, but beyond the

scope of this report. Therefore, for analytical purposes we utilize Goffman’s (1961b)

situated activity system to conceptually contain the constellation of those situational-

interactions that are lodged within the Mill Avenue setting. Here we also acknowledge
Deleted: analytical reach
that the interaction order within this situated activity system is immense. However,

within our situated activity system we do expand Goffman’s ideas on Teams to describe

the mezzo level impression management that influences, maintains, and projects

definitions of homelessness in the interaction among three teams on Tempe’s Mill

13
Avenue (the homeless; the Downtown Tempe Community, Inc.; and the City of Tempe)

[See Fig.2].

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meenntt

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Ciiitttyyy ooofff
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Teeem
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Stttiiigggm
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m
HHHooom meeellleeessssss
m
P
PPooopppuuulllaaatttiiiooonnn

Figure 2 - Interactions within Social Establishment

Teams

A team may then be defined as a set of individuals whose intimate cooperation is

required if a given projected definition of the situation is to be maintained. A team
is a grouping, but it is not in relation to a social structure or social organization
but rather in relation to an interaction or a series of interactions in which the
relevant definitions of the situation is maintained. (Goffman, 1959 pp. 104)

Goffman points out that a team is always in progress and requires continuous

collaboration amongst the members. Team performances have both front regions and

14
back regions. The front region is where the performance for the audience occurs. The

back region (or back stage) is where the performers engaging in behaviors inconsistent

with their public “performance” (Goffman, 1959). The front region for all three teams is

Mill Avenue’s public arena. The back region for Mill Avenue’s homeless are the “squats”

found in abandoned buildings, alleys, underneath bridges, and other sheltered spaces

where they may participate in daily activities out of the public view. . The back regions

for the Downtown Tempe Community, Inc.; and the City of Tempe, on the other hand,

are the meetings and conferences associated with their given formal organizations. It is

here that these teams make the policy decisions that heighten stigmatization of the

homeless.

Within the setting of the front region, the team must maintain its’ performance, so

the members follow the three principles of impression management. The first principle is

dramaturgical loyalty, or moral obligation to the teams’ line of performance. The second

is dramaturgical discipline, -the ability to play a part with out faux pas and to monitor

and respond to any disruptions of the performance. The third is dramaturgical

circumspection, the ability to exercise foresight and design in how best to perform the
Deleted: E.
show (Goffman, 1959).

Stigma

Goffman sees stigma as an attribute of a persons “social identity” that is deeply

discrediting. He states that there are three different types of stigma. These are

abominations of the body; blemishes in individual character; and tribal stigma. This

presentation is in particular concerned with the blemishes of individual character. Yet,

while individuals may be stigmatized for personal characteristics they often come

15
together into a sub-community, or social milieu, and are defined by the mainstream
Deleted: E.
community as social deviants (Goffman, 1963).

If there is to be a field of inquiry called “deviance,” it is social deviants as

here defined that would presumably constitute its core. Prostitutes, drug
addicts, delinquents, criminals, jazz musicians, bohemians, gypsies,
carnival workers, hobos, winos, show people, full time gamblers, beach
dwellers, homosexuals, and the urban unrepentant poor--these would be
included. (Goffman, 1963 pp. 143-144)

Moreover, social deviants may embrace the label and engage in further stigmatized

performances of deviance. Goffman points out that social deviants’ refusal to accept their

place is tolerated within the community providing that it functions as an example of the

consequences of deviating from the norm. Along with this concept of deviance and

stigma, Goffman identifies a “professional performance code” of the social deviant. The

essential aspect of this code are: knowing the patterns of revealing and concealing

stigma; maintaining interactions with the broader community; understanding kinds of

prejudices that are to be either ignored and/or challenged; finding the acceptable level of
Deleted: E.
performance of stigma; as well as identifying and taking pride in one’s group (Goffman,

1963).

Analysis and Findings

Homeless Team

Homeless young adults, as well as those under 18 years old, comprise a

significant number of the homeless population in Tempe (Brzuzy, 2000) and the trend of

large numbers of youth and young adults in America’s homeless population has been

cited throughout the research (United States Conference of Mayors, 2002; Urban

16
Institute, 1999). These youth are sometimes affiliated with groups such as “gutter punks”,

“rainbow children”, or other transient sub-cultures. The “Scum of Tempe” is a great

example of this homeless group affiliation and identity as a social deviant. They declare

this affiliation by tagging iv that identifies their back region areas and other markings on

clothing or even body that identified them as Scum. This group is represented by some of

the long time and more permanent homeless young people in a setting characterized by a

seasonal homeless population.v Many in this group take street names accompanied by the

surname Scum to identify themselves as members of this street “family.” In various

conversations, Seven, Forty, Cowboy, Tweety and J Scum explain some of the ways in

which Team boundaries may be maintained:

Seven
[The Scum of Tempe] is nothing like a gang its just bunch of people
watching out for everybody else. Trying to make sure that everybody is
safe. And taking the people who shouldn’t be on the Avenue, taking them
to the tracks and telling them to get lost in one-way or another…

Forty
Those are the ones who are making stupid mistakes… Like robbing,
starting fights, stealing…

Seven
Yeah like starting fights and stealing… we don’t do that. We come up
with our own money. Yeah it might be from everybody else. But we will
never go in a store and jack anything. We don’t do that… We’re just
trying to make sure that everybody is safe. And if we find out someone
was beaten or messed with, we find out who did it and we take care of the
problem.
__________________________
Cowboy
What we are about right now…we try to help people out. If somebody
needs help we try to help them out. If you need a sleeping bag we’ll get it
for yah, you need to know where to go clean up and take a shower…if
you’re hungry if I got money in my pocket I give it to you to something to
eat. That’s exactly how it is…
__________________________

17
 Tweety
If you’re here and you’re scum and you want to call other scums you
yell…

J Scum
HEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYY BBOOOOOBBBBBBBBB!!!!!!!!

Tweety
That’s what you do….

Another major form of homeless identity is found in the unification of the

homeless in the drum circle held every weekend. Here a sizeable group of

homeless and othersvi gather to dance and socialize while perhaps a dozen or so

people play drums, flutes, and other instruments. The younger homeless and older

homeless; the “gutter punks” and the “rainbow children”; and the “old school”

homeless and the “newbies” all gather together.

There are two major problems with maintaining impressions of this stigmatized

group as a unified team. The first of these is the fluid nature of the homeless population

in the Tempe area. Of the homeless participants in this project, only a handful remains in

Tempe throughout the year. As a result, socialization of new team members may be

hampered. The lack of knowledge of team codes and difficulty of managing a large

performance team are vital elements in the problem of performance. The second problem

is the inability of an actor to maintain the performance over time. A key feature of this Deleted: P.
Deleted: P.,
problem is the fact that many young homeless people have mental illnesses or are Deleted: S.
Deleted: , S.
substance users (McCaskill, Toro, & Wolfe, 1998; Pavis & Cunningham-Burley, 1999; Deleted: S.
Deleted: , M.
Robertson & Toro, 1998; Shlay, & Rossi, 1992; Whitbeck. & Hoyt,1999). Mental illness
Deleted: P.
Deleted: A.
may in fact be such a problem for team performance as to completely exclude the
Deleted: P.,

individual entirely from membership. In one case, a homeless male with possible Deleted: L.
Deleted: , D.

18
schizophrenia was found to be incapable of even typical survival skills such as

panhandling, and was excluded from group participation. In another case, Taxman

explains: “a lot of people are homeless because they have no choice they have mental

illnesses. Like me I suffer from borderline schizophrenia, which makes it extremely hard

to get a job because I’m not on medication.” Additionally, though Taxman does associate

with the homeless team, he sometimes is forced by his illness to become isolated (for

example by incarceration for violent acts). Therefore the individual may be limited by

impairments of cognition, due to mental illness or substance use, which prohibit them

from successfully maintaining the expected team perforce.

Disruptions in team performance may lead to removal of the individual to the

backstage region by other team members. This allows the group to maintain the expected

public performance and thereby reduce the risks to the group caused by individual actors.

Frequently, when codes are violated in front stage regions, thus drawing attention from

other teams (DTC, City Officials, etc.), there may be negative consequences for the entire

team, as well as the individual actor. Adherence to team codes is maintained through

dramaturgical loyalty, dramaturgical discipline, and dramaturgical circumspection.

Homeless Dramaturgical Loyalty

As previously explained, Goffman’s concept of dramaturgical loyalty involves the

ability of an individual, or group, to adhere the appropriate performance. This concept

applies well to the performance of Tempe’s homeless young people as a team. This

stigmatized population has a code that is to be followed. The Scum of Tempe, one of the

larger homeless groups in the city, has both formal and informal norms (with clear

19
sanctions) for new team members and even homeless individuals who are simply passing

through. Seven and Forty Scum explain how they socialize new members to these norms:

Seven
Like when we hit up people for change, it’s like nobody with kids and
nobody like over the age of our parents… It’s standard… you can’t go
hitting up people that are like 65. They already worked their asses off and
ain’t going to give you shit anyways. It just code of ethics… If we’re
sitting in front of a store sometimes they get pissed off, and we are like
‘look we’re letting them go into your store let them give you there money
and then they come out and then we hit them up’. So we both make out.
Some stores don’t’ understand that, but yet a lot of them will see what is
going on and eventually stop calling the cops on us.

Forty
Another main function is to help out the newbies, the kids that just got on
the streets…

Seven
…Yeah, telling them where they can got take showers, telling them were
they can go find food. Show them the ropes. Don’t do this.. don’t hit that
person up .. don’t talk to him… don’t ask any cop what time it is…

Homeless Dramaturgical Discipline

Dramaturgical discipline is the various social controls utilized by a team to assure

dramaturgical loyalty, or adherence to the code. One example of dramaturgical discipline

is the previously noted group sanction for violation of the code by “taking them down to

the tracks” and “teaching them a lesson.” This statement implies the outright use of force

and even violence to censure team members and maintain dramaturgical loyalty. Another

example of dramaturgical discipline as a means of maintaining the performance is to

“pull him off the street,” meaning to take someone out of the front stage performance

area and bring them backstage.

Seven
…when he [points to Cowboy] is tanked, we have to make sure that he
doesn’t get in trouble and pull him away from people and turn him away

20
 from things he shouldn’t go do. [Like] trying to start fights with
everybody. Usually he is really, really trashed and we are half buzzed, and
we have to watch out for him.
Cowboy
…it’s the other way around…
Seven
And when we are really, really trashed and he is half buzzed, he has to
take care of us. Otherwise we will get the blue and white taxi called on us
[police].

Homeless Dramaturgical Circumspection

While Dramaturgical Loyalty is seen in the “code” of the homeless team, and discipline

in the sanctioning of its members, dramaturgical circumspection is the internal rehearsal

or preplanning of the performance. Often, the public actions of the homeless team are

found to be premeditated, practiced, and deliberate. Dramaturgical circumspection is

common in the activities of work and “spanging”vii. Though homeless, many on the street

have jobs where concealment of their stigmatized status becomes important:

Terri
Some people look like they’re the kid next door. There are some people
that might take great pains to keep their clothes clean and shower and they
don’t even look like they are homeless. There are people that get up and
go to work everyday and still don’t have a place to stay. I did that, I did
that for a while.… I got a job, and I would get up and go to the methadone
clinic, to get my medicine. And then I would go to work. I worked at a
telemarketing job, I just was an awful telemarketer…My boss knew that I
was homeless and he felt sorry for me so he didn’t fire me. But everybody
there was totally mean to me. Even though I would go and take showers at
the airport, at a service agency, a shelter or something. I would make sure
to take showers and wear deodorant. But people would still think I was
dirty or that I smelled, and they treated me like a leper. Everyday I would
go to work and then sleep on the ground at night… [When spanging]
people say all the time “get a job,” but it is harder than you would think. If
you don’t have an address or a phone number to put on an application,
then you’ll have to tell them you’re homeless. You can’t shower every
morning, and what are you going to do with your clothes. I don’t have an
office wardrobe. And if you have to tell your boss that your homeless,

21
 because you don’t; have an address or phone number, then they think
she’s going to steal or she’s on drugs or she must be a prostitute, or she’s
gonna be smelly. So people aren’t going to hire someone who is homeless,
they don’t trust a homeless person. You know it really is pretty hard…

Circumspection is evident in the concealment of the stigmatized identity by her careful

consideration of dress, hygiene, and residence. While concealment of one’s poverty is the

strategy for those who are employed, emphasis of one’s poverty is the tactic for

spanger's. The stigma of homelessness is seen to increase their income when spanging.

Thus, revealing and performing the stigmatized role is essential:

Seven
So I walk over and plant my ass on the wall… And I’m all sad and
pathetic… and I say [voice softens to a whisper] ‘Excuse me can you guys
spare any change..’ and the dude looks at me and digs through his wallet
and hands me 2 bucks. And I’m like God bless you sir you don’t know
how much this means…

You got any spare change…Please help out the disadvantaged… could I
have your leftovers….

While performing, the spanger may even purposefully adapt the pitch to the passerby:

E.T.
My friend over here calls me master spanger. I’ll switch in and out of
different voices, different lingo’s… because I notice like he is a gangster,
so I will go to his lingo, or he is a stoner so I will go to his lingo… It’s
fun….

In these examples, we find that dramaturgical circumspection is used as a survival

technique, highly related to the homeless team member’s access to the economic

resources controlled by mainstream society.

DTC Team

The second team in the social establishment is that of Downtown Tempe

Community Inc. (DTC), which is a non-profit organization that was created by local

22
business and property owners, in collaboration with the City of Tempe. The goal of the

DTC is to “increase the value” of downtown Tempe through public relations and

management services (DTC, 2000).

The Downtown Tempe Community has been an effective downtown

management and services organization for the stakeholders of downtown
Tempe since it was founded in 1993. Fundamentally, the DTC has
accomplished many, if not most, of the objectives … downtown is a safer
place, parking is easier and more available, the economy has grown
substantially, the quality of public and private space has been dramatically
improved, a new image has been crafted and the status of the downtown as
Arizona’s best city center has been clearly established. (DTC, 2000)

The theme of a highly polished image that promotes business and safety for shoppers is

clearly evident. The DTC further identifies that its vision for the future of the Mill

Avenue area has six elements:

Organize the downtown community and advocate for its interests

Help make the downtown a safer place
Develop excellent and convenient access to the downtown
Be a leader in the growth of the downtown economy
Create and market an image for the downtown
Plan for the future of the downtown
(DTC, 2000)

Again, we find that in this plan the DTC’s emphasis is on the themes of image, business,

and safety. This vision is in fact neglectful of the interests of the residents of the area,

homeless individuals, and social service agencies in favor of those of the business

community. The DTC further states that they are the team with the legitimate political

power within the social establishment of the downtown Tempe:

[The DTC is] officially recognized for this role by the City of Tempe and
Arizona State University, our responsibility is to serve as a forum for the
development of a consensus of ideas of the stakeholders and to advocate
that consensus (DTC, 2000).

23
Here we find the issue of not only impression management of the team, but a team that by

influencing other groups and teams defines the context of the social establishment.
Deleted: forms
Deleted: a
Additionally, the DTC’s committees are organized into three roles: planning of use and
Deleted: code

allocation of space (thus cultivating image); business administration; and public safety. Deleted: of conduct for how
Deleted: is to be done
As with other teams, the performance of these roles is maintained through dramaturgical Deleted: . This code of how business is
to be done

loyalty, discipline, and circumspection. Deleted: In

Deleted: o

DTC Dramaturgical Loyalty, Discipline , & Circumspection Deleted: f

Deleted: a
Dramaturgical loyalty when applied to Tempe’s homeless was used in reference to their Deleted:
Deleted: against his establishment by
code of conduct. Similarly, the image of the downtown as a safe and prosperous center of one homeless street vendor a
Formatted: Not Highlight
commercial activity acts as a code for DTC members. The DTC code , which establishes Deleted: a local bar
Deleted: , and
the way in which business is to be conducted in Tempe, may be found in the way in Deleted: ed
Deleted: against a
which DTC members attempt to maintain the ideals of the business community, while
Deleted: They stood on the corner of a
busy intersection in front of the homeless
challenging the homeless population. One example of dramaturgical loyalty was street vendor with signs that read to
boycott the homeless street vendor.
Formatted: Not Highlight
especially poignant. Following the occasion of a homeless street vendor donning a sign
Deleted: Meanwhile

protesting treatment by a local bar, the business manager of the establishment, Deleted: e
Deleted: reason for
accompanied by four of his employees, in turn donned placards protesting the homeless Deleted: was that
Deleted: Street
street vendor. When asked about this tit for tat exchange, the manager explained that they Deleted: wants
Deleted: a
were boycotting the homeless vendor because he wanted free food for his referrals to
Deleted: states
Comment: I’m still not sure I like this
their business. The manager citing the DTC position explained, “That’s not how we do example here as it sounds like a
complaint more than an example of code.
Bart: I re-wrote this does it make it
business in the Downtown Tempe Community.” clearer that this is the manager loyalty to
the code (which includes not giving food
to homeless)
The DTC has a vested interest in maintaining the “consensus” of the business
OK… I re-wrote the re-write… see how
this reads. I still try to portray Dennnis in
community. This is accomplished by enforcement of the code on DTC members. In one a favorable light while illustrating the
DTC code
example of discipline the DTC asked a merchant not to give food to the homeless Deleted: Here the manger cites the
rhetoric of the DTC, and even mentions
Downtown Tempe Community in his
quote.

24
 Comment: Is this different from the
Riordan example?
(Holthouse, 1998). The following is an example of pressure in the specific case of one Bart: Also rewrote

homeless individual.

According to Keaton Merrell, owner and general manager of the Paradise

Bar & Grill on Mill Avenue, the DTC asked him to stop giving Skolnick
free meals for his services as a food critic. (Riordan, 1999) Deleted: N.

While dramaturgical loyalty may be found in the cultivated image of the downtown area,

and dramaturgical discipline in its enforcement, dramaturgical circumspection is evident

in the strategic planning to limit access of the homeless to the public spaces of downtown

Tempe.

‘The whole Centerpoint area is what's known as a super block,’ says Rod Keeling,
executive director of Downtown Tempe Community, Inc. ‘It's a public space, but
its not public property. It was turned over to the developer by the city.’ Which
means Centerpoint can make and enforce a different set of rules. No panhandling,
for one,… and no hanging around unless you buy something, which most of the
kids don't. Instead, they play cat and mouse with DTC, Inc.'s white-jacketed
TEAM security guards,… and seeing how long they can hold them before getting
86ed, only to come back a few hours later for another go. (Holthouse, 1998) Deleted: D.

Several of the youth stated they have even been arrested for trespassing, after returning to

the Centerpoint property. They say that TEAM Security officers will often detain them

radioing Tempe Police Department Bicycle Patrol Unit to come and ticket them for

trespassing.

Likewise, circumspection is evident in the cultivated image of the downtown area

as a safe commercial district. The DTC is especially satisfied with its success in

promoting this image and “cleaning up the town”:

Fundamentally, the DTC has accomplished many, if not most, of the

objectives … downtown is a safer place, parking is easier and more
available, the economy has grown substantially, the quality of public and
private space has been dramatically improved, a new image has been
crafted and the status of the downtown as Arizona’s best city center has
been clearly established. (DTC, 2000)

25
 Even though the DTC claims to represent the consensus of the public, they appear

to represent only that of the business community. The threat to impression management

for this team then is that their political agenda might be exposed in potential conflicts

between advocating for the community of Tempe and the business community

simultaneously. While land use statistics show the area of Tempe’s is 34.8% residential
Comment: Newer stats online:
Bart: can’t find on newer on their
and only 7.4% commercial (City of Tempe, 2001d), none of the DTC’s board members website… it is key to cite their website
material
are identified as representing residents. Instead they are identified as business leaders Yup.. didn’t find anything either…
Deleted: not
(DTC, 2000), thus emphasizing the importance of area economics over citizenry.

City Team

The third key team in the social establishment is Tempe City Government. The

city team, much like the DTC, tends to neglect homelessness or treat it as an obstruction

to commerce and a secure community. The City’s approach has been to either send the

homeless elsewhere, criminalize their actions, or ignore them completely.

While the city has no shelter (Brzuzy, 2001), it had in its 2000-2001 budget

allocated funds in the excess of $212,500 for shelters in other cities in the Phoenix

metropolitan area (Tempe Community Council, 2000). At the same time, urban camping

and sleeping in public has been made illegal. The lack of shelters therefore makes it in

essence against the law for the homeless to live in Tempe.

The city has various boards and commissions on public issues, none of which
Comment: What is the task force then?
Bart : The task force is TTC which is a
address the issues of homelessness/poverty. Yet, there is a Golf Committee and a Bicycle non-profit, a city agency

SJS: Maybe point it out… “While various

Advisory Committee (City of Tempe 2001b). Remarkably, when searched for the terms community agencies have begun to focus
on the growing need for homeless
outreach and support, the city has yet to
‘homeless’ and ‘social services’ the city code of the City of Tempe produces no results. address this concern. However, the city
has various….”

26
However, the terms ‘business’, ‘image’, ‘appearance’, and ‘safety’ produced multiple

results (City of Tempe 2001a):

Keyword Hits
Business 31
image/appearance 11
safety 47

These three key concepts also appear in multiple places on the City of Tempe website

(City of Tempe 2001c) and parallel the themes of the DTC.

Deleted: ,
Surprisingly, the Tempe Community Council’s (a non-profit agency that handles Deleted: the
Inserted: , a non-profit agency the
the city’s human services needs) Homelessness Task Force Report (2000) also reflects Deleted: ies
Inserted: ies human services funding
these themes and minimizes the prevalence of homelessness in the community. Statistics
Deleted: funding
Deleted: ,
presented on the size of the homeless population varied significantly in their report.
Inserted: ,

While they do cite a 1995 census estimate of 525 homeless in the City of Tempe, the

report prefers to utilize a figure of 200-300 (with a drop to 50 during summer months),

based on an estimate from the Tempe police department. Moreover, of the Short Term

Priorities identified by the Task Force only a few have been implemented:

1. Establish a Homeless Coordinator Position

2. Establish a Day resource center for the homeless population
3. Increase outreach and provide long term case management
4. Enhance community safety
5. Expand Tempe’s Crisis Assistance Response Effort
6. Enhance affordable transitional living and emergency shelter for
Tempe
7. Expand Community efforts to prevent homelessness
(Tempe Community Council, 2000)

Deleted: Town
According to the director of the Tempe Community Council, only three of these goals

have been implemented: community safety, efforts to prevent homelessness, and crisis

response team (personal conversation with Kate Hanley Director of TCC, January

27
 Comment: Again does this need to be
revised as 1, 2, 3, 4, & 7 have been
2002). Much like the DTC, the task force report highlights issues of safety as “many approached?
Bart: 1- not done no coordinator, city
stopped search due to budget; no day
resident of Tempe” are afraid of homeless people (Tempe Community Council, 2000). resource center exists for homeless
poipualtion (only for under 22), and no
case management provided by TTC… so
Likewise there is an attempt to minimize the number of homeless in the community by no cahnges
Deleted: as “
questioning the validity of the census data and favoring the use of the local police
Inserted:
Deleted: While
statistics on the number of homeless. Again, the issue of safety and appearance are the
Deleted: ing

areas that are emphasized by this team. Deleted: as inflated

Deleted: justifying
City Dramaturgical Loyalty Deleted: of the use
Comment: Need an example of
Tempe’s mayor Neil Giuliano demonstrates a commitment to the City’s position appearance? Inserted sentence
Deleted: So
on homelessness: Deleted: a

"Tempe may be known as a fun-filled, hospitable environment for

travelers, or slackers, or whatever they call themselves," he says. "But that
can change."

The urban-camping and aggressive-panhandling ordinances were only a

first step, says the mayor. "We're going to pass whatever laws we need to
pass to make sure we have the tools we need to manage the homeless
population." However, Giuliano says he has no idea what those laws might
be yet, but one thing's for sure--he does not support the idea of a homeless
shelter in Tempe.

"We got attacked last year for not having a shelter, and it's like, 'Well,
yeah, we can open a three-car-garage-type shelter somewhere near
downtown,' but why should we? We don't have any other services for
these kids nearby, and we're not going to just warehouse people."
(Holthouse 1998)

City Dramaturgical discipline

The City appointed Task Force on homelessness hired an ASU faculty member to

do an enumeration study, and cited a lot of faculty’s demographic data in their report

(Tempe Community Council, 2000). But failed to give her estimate of the number of

homeless, which estimated up to 500 homeless in Tempe and reported that in a 6-month

28
period the Tempe Salvation Army served over 700 different homeless individuals

(Brzuzy, 2001). In her report to the Task Force, Stephanie Brzuzy (2001) highlights that

of 80% of the homeless interviewed thought that the City of Tempe should have a shelter.

This finding is cited in the Task Forces Report with and asterisk that reads:

During discussion of this preliminary report at the Homeless Task Force

meeting on 9/21/00, ASU staff indicated that a number of those expressing
a need for shelter in Tempe said, for various reasons, they would not wish
to go into a shelter. (Tempe Community Council, 2000)

City Dramaturgical Circumspection

Appearance of the desire to address the issue of Homelessness is a portion of the

team performance. Assigning a taskforce and hiring a researcher to study then only using

data which maintains the city agenda is a perfect example of circumspection. The

presentation of the desire to change, while maintaining the status quo is consistent with

the dramaturgical performances of city governments (Futrell, 1999).

The problem with this performance maintenance is that public records and meeting

minutes might be utilized by the media in challenging the city’s status quo on homeless

issues. Several media articles have highlighted the role of the City in a negative

relationship to the homeless population (Amster, 1998; Holthouse, 1998; Riordan, 1999;

Zawicki, 2000). During Homeless awareness week, the university put together several

awareness activities and had panelist of homeless talk to students and faculty. Ironically

the police did a “round up” of homeless people on the first night of homeless awareness

week picking up 13 of them. Here the team of the homeless presented a threat to the

performance of the City.

29
Interaction of Teams

This analysis concludes with the interrelationship between the teams within this

social establishment. The first is the Image-Safety-Business are the core themes of Mill

Avenue as emphasized by the dominant teams; the City and DTC. These teams have a

unified agenda of creating a community image that is marketable and safe. The DTC is

the self-identified constructor of culture/ideology of the community. The City of Tempe

is the social structure in which power is enacted to maintain the safe marketable image of

Mill Avenue. The city establishes and enforces the laws, and the DTC creates a

“consensus” for the community by proposing and supporting those laws. These two

teams both regularly highlighted a mutual agenda of emphasizing Image/appearance,

Business, and Safety (DTC, 2000; City of Tempe, 2001a).

The presence of homeless creates a problem for this agenda. The homeless are a

threat to a marketable image and according to the city they make people feel unsafe

(Tempe Town Council, 2001). The city instituted several anti-homeless laws over the

past few years, which were proposed by Rod Keeling, the Director of DTC (Holthouse,

1998). These laws are a way of addressing the threat presented by the homeless team to

DTC’s and the City of Tempe’s mutual agenda of Image/appearance, Business, and

Safety. These laws are the aggressive panhandling law, the sitting on the sidewalk law,

and the urban camping law. These are all laws utilized to maintain the agenda of image,

business, and safety. Further social control of DTC is seen in the following quote.

Keeling says DTC has asked Mill Avenue restaurants not to give homeless
kids throwaway food, and lobbied for the aggressive panhandling
ordinance. Also, Keeling says, the management firm's four downtown
ambassadors, who wear aqua sports shirts and ride bikes, have a directive
to hand out cards to transients, titled "We'll give you a hand, Not a
handout." The card reads:

30
 The Downtown Community Council has zero tolerance for those who
practice illegal behavior--including panhandling [which is a bit
misleading; panhandling isn't illegal in Tempe, only rude panhandling].
The organizations on the back of this card can help you with food, clothes,
shelter, counseling and work. This is our helping hand. Reach out and take
it.

"We understand that most of these kids come from difficult

circumstances," Keeling says. "We understand that. But if we're going to
have successful civic places, and not just shopping malls, we have to deal
with the issue of disorder in public space." (Holthouse, 1998) Deleted: D.

Here we how they are interrelated when looking at their agenda and how they

impact the homeless street youth. Another example is the order of DTC to have City

employees to place fences on the Salvation Army’s property as a means of detouring the

homeless from camping on the Salvations Armies property. But this was done with out

the permission of the Salvation Army. The action was taken based on complaints by local

businesses about the homeless gathering on the Salvation Armies lawn.

“We have become, by default, a place where people can come when they
don’t have any place to go…. We are trying to maintain our stance that it
is not a crime to be homeless.” Major Sparks commanding officer of the
Tempe Corp

“ If we’re going to have a homeless service center, we need on that is well

managed. The Salvation Army has not managed the population, and to
give them an environment where they are enabled to be there, I think, is
wrong.” Rod Keeling, Director of Downtown Tempe Community Inc.
(Zawicki, 2000).

This highlights the enmeshed relationship of the DTC and the City of Tempe. Their

unified agenda of Image, Business, and Safety, is inconsistent with a visible homeless

population. Therefore measure must be taken to eliminate the homeless both visual,

discursively, and physically

31
 In summary the relationship of the two of these teams is organized in the

maintenance of the stigma of the homeless population. These two teams identifying

homeless young people as criminals, as people looking for a handout looking for

handouts, as blemishes on the image of the downtown, as a population that makes Tempe

residents feel unsafe. So these two teams promote the criminalization of homeless young

people’s behaviors the “asking for handouts” (anti-panhandling); “creating a blemish on

Tempe” (loitering/urban camping)’; and “creating lack of safety” (sitting on

sidewalk/urban camping). Not to mention the trespassing violations on the privatized

public space of Centerpoint that where given to many of our interview subjects. These

types of laws regarding space are utilized to disenfranchise and remove homeless

populations (Mitchell, 1997). These laws are maintained through exclusionary citizenship

(Mitchell, 1997), and stigmatization of the homeless population (Takahashi, 1997). This

tension relationship creates a triangulation of power that marginalizes the homeless.

Therefore increasing the likelihood of criminalization, which produces strain in the

homeless individual. Hagan and McCarthy (1992) have identified that strain creates

further criminalization, thus increasing the cycle of deviances. Therefore the stigmatized

performance of this population becomes embraced and embedded in the identity of these
Deleted: P.,
individual actors (Burke, 1991).

Mill Avenue’s homeless population provides society a unique glimpse into the

(word) tensions of the modern and/or postmodern self. One on hand and similar to the

total institution, the Tempe social establishment, as we have outlined it, has “official

expectations as to what he participant owes the establishment” (Goffman, 1961: 304).

Homelessness in Tempe’s social establishment is not to be heard of, spoken of, or seen.

32
 Perhaps, the situated activity system associated with the homeless dynamic on

Mill Avenue may be viewed as an amorphous total institution. A total institution

regulated not by walled in boundaries but rather the cluster of teams with in a social

establishments that surveil, define, and project the official definition of the homeless

stigmatized identity.

Yet, as Goffman notes with secondary adjustments against total institutions, “this

recalcitrance is not an incidental mechanism of defense but rather an essential constitute

of the self” (Goffman, 1961:319). The life trauma of many homeless individuals are

brutal, enough to wilt the most resilient. “The practice of reserving something of oneself

from the clutch of an institution is very visible in mental hospitals and prisons but can be

found in more benign and less totalistic institutions, too” (Goffman, 1961:319).

“Without something to belong to, we have no stable self. . . . Our sense of being a

person can come from being drawn into a wider social unit; our sense of selfhood can

arise through the little ways in which we resist the pull (Goffman, 1961:320). The Mill

Avenue homeless belong to and work as a team to paradoxically resist power and

authority, but also pull off and fully engage in their stigmatized identity. As noted, when

spanging many mobilize selves and present their stigmatized homeless identity by

employ their arts of impression management to strategically navigate their social

circumstances. This use of stigma in spanging has been noted in many ethnographic
Deleted:
studies of homelessness (Finley & Finley, 1999; Lankeau 1999a; 1999b; Williams, 1995).

The Mill Avenue homeless have a face, and do exist. Though excluding their existence

might be the purpose of the stigmatization placed upon them by the authorities (City of

Tempe & DTC) of the Social Establishment on Mill Avenue.

33
Conclusions and Recommendations

In summary the social establishment, much like a total institution, allows those

with power and access to structural social controls to construct and maintain a

stigmatization of the homeless. The expansion of Goffman’s concepts from Asylums and

Stigma into a mezzo level analysis of the unwalled institution or social establishment of a

downtown area, allows for new frame application of Goffman's methods of analysis. The

constructions of a stigmatized identity has become common practice in many local

communities through out the country. In the light of these exclusionary practices, a

potential solution to this issue of stigmatization is to create a community dialogue for the

purpose of consciousness raising activity, which humanizes the homeless. Several

researchers have highlighted the use of pro-social communication as a means to develop

Deleted: , J.
relationship between homeless and their community (Chriss, 1995; De Swaan,et al., Deleted: A.
Deleted: , L.
2000; English & English, 1999; Hocking, J. & Lawrence, 2000; and Rosenthal, R. 2000). Deleted: N.
Deleted: S.,
This research project utilized this method in the presentation of the finding in a

documentary format at a community meeting. The homeless, community members,

academics from the university, religious organizations, city officials, and homeless

service providers attended this community meeting. This public discourse engaged teams

(service providers, religious organizations, the university, and community residents)

previously exclude from the interaction. This has tremendous potential for shifting the

power dynamic embedded in the stigmatization of the homeless in any community. A

second possible solution to this stigmatization is the empowerment of the homeless,

through the use of participatory research. In this study the homeless were not the subjects

of investigate, but participants in the project. They shot video on the street, assisted in the

34
editing process, identification of qualitative analysis, and as recorded music for the

documentary. This allowed for homeless street musicians to produce CD’s of their music,

homeless participants a chance to speaks about their lives and be heard. Additionally, the

use of visual methods created an opportunity to create an image of homelessness that is

contrary to the stigmatized construction developed ion the interaction of these teams.

This new image allows for a public deconstruction of the intense stigmatization present in

the Tempe Community.

35
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i
The target population of this study were 18 to 24 year olds.
ii
As a result of ongoing pressure, Tempe has recently allowed a drop-in center with limited hours servicing
only those homeless between the ages of 16 and 21.
iii
The U.S. Government, in the Stewart McKinney Act, defines a homeless individual or homeless person
as:an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; and an individual who has a
primary nighttime residence that is a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide
temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and transitional housing
for the mentally ill), an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be
institutionalized, or a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping
accommodation for human beings.
iv
An act of spray painting or otherwise marking a location or territory with a signature or symbol
v
Many homeless come to Tempe’s Mill Avenue (one of the few pedestrian thoroughfares in the Phoenix
area) during the winter months. Often theses seasonal migrants will follow a pattern of movement from
northern states to Arizona.
vi
“Mill Rats” (suburban kids who hang out Mill Avenue), House Punks (temporarily homeless or runaway
kids who often return to their parents’ homes), former homeless, local musicians, etc.
vii
Spare + Change = Spange. In the eyes of many homeless this is distinct from panhandling as it seeks
money that is surplus to the individual whom they are asking rather than asking for a handout.

40
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