Cross-posted at The Huffington Post.
In most densely-packed urban cities, one will be able to observe a disturbing phenomenon: wealthy people marching past the homeless, day in and day out. Often, the residents of the street and the residents of the apartments recognize each other and even know each other’s routines. And, yet, familiarity doesn’t breed concern.
Psychologists Lasana Harris and Susan Fiske were able to detect a neurological process behind the ability to get used to seeing others suffer. Using functional MRIs, they exposed individuals to images of the homeless. These images tended to activate parts of the brain associated with disgust. This, they argue, supports the idea that “extreme out-groups may be perceived as less than human…” It is easy to overlook the suffering of the homeless, then, because we dehumanize them.
In an effort to disrupt this cognitive process, documentary film maker Goro Toshima has released a new film, Broken Doors. The 36-minute documentary follows a young homeless couple in Los Angeles, Starr and Rico. Not only does it put faces and names to an otherwise reviled and ignored population, the documentary shows viewers just how difficult it can be to survive on the streets and to get off.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 48
Dustin Salzedo — December 13, 2012
Homeless is an adjective. When used as a noun, it obectifies - dehumanizes. Beam/mote Blog title/observed dehumanization by others
myblackfriendsays — December 13, 2012
This is not surprising. I have read that the same brain centers are activated when white people see black people.
Sad. But changeable!
Casey Canfield — December 13, 2012
I was thinking about this recently. It occurred to me that if someone on the street asks me for money, I rarely give it to them. However, if a stranger on the street asks me for a specific amount of money (ex. $0.50 or $10) - even if it's not for a specific action - I give it to them more often than not. I wonder if this is because there is something better about feeling like I helped them achieve a specific goal rather than feeling like I can't make a difference.
Juliet Jimenez — December 13, 2012
Does giving a homeless person a few dollars actually help them?
What about a panhandler? It's possible they're not homeless.
In what way should concern for homeless people manifest itself? What is the goal?
Sometimes the person gets mad if you offer them food, and sometimes they're overjoyed - I've gotten both reactions.
I still don't feel that my offerings are really helping anyone.
Heather Brooks — December 13, 2012
I'll be honest here, I don't give money to a homeless person personally. If I have food or a blanket or the like, I happily part with that. I do give money to organizations that work to help homeless people and I have also volunteered. I don't feel like I can do much to help the individual, but by giving to a larger group and volunteering, I feel that I can help more people.
WG — December 13, 2012
Not all homelessness is equivocal, nor is all homelessness necessarily of concern. The viewpoint in the OP is very egocentric and lacks a basic understanding of cultural relativism. I also speak from experience, as some of the highlights of my life were when I was without perminent residence....although some others have virtually no pleasure at all. To group all homeless in one category is ignorant, but not suprising, as it appears to be a cancerous trend headed by leaders of this blog.
Disgust — December 13, 2012
Disgust is an evolved motivation for avoiding pathogens. So I question the interpretation of the findings by the researchers. I doubt disgust activation is due to lack of seeing them as human. Rather it is activation due to fear of contracting disease. An easy test would be to compare reactions to homeless individuals to reactions to a completely unfamiliar ethnic group. Feeling disgust may then pave the way to dehumanization.
Aran Johnson — December 13, 2012
Basically, when you walk through a super busy city, you are forced to dehumanize everyone. If you actually had to stop and think about every single person's individual identity, your mind would fry with over stimulation.
Tusconian — December 13, 2012
"In most densely-packed urban cities, one will be able to observe a
disturbing phenomenon: wealthy people marching past the homeless, day in
and day out."
I'm not sure this is an accurate portrayal of the interaction between homeless people and, well, everyone else. First and foremost, there is not a cut-and-dry dichotomy between "homeless" and "wealthy." The people marching past could be millionaires, or they could be worrying about the fact that their next paycheck isn't enough to cover rent. Just because someone is more wealthy than any given homeless person does not mean they have much, or anything, to spare. Plus, the people marching past? Could be homeless themselves. There are plenty of people living in shelters or staying on couches for days at a time who go to work 9 to 5 in professional clothes or work uniforms every day. Also, the "marching past" is not inherently indicative of disgust or disdain of the homeless, it's a result of being in a densely populated urban area. You "march past" EVERYONE. People who've never lived in an urban area take "not giving a homeless person money," or to reference a past post, "not pausing their entire life and being late to work to stare at a violinist," as some evidence that people, particularly urban people, are heartless and soulless, when the fact is more that they don't usually have the option of outright compassion or interest towards every person they meet if they want to keep themselves afloat. If a low-paid person walks past 20 homeless people between the train and work, then back again, they probably can't even begin to afford to help them all out (or, again referencing the other post, to stop and "appreciate" the music of every busker they walk by, even if he is a world-renowned violinist).
The rest of the post is interesting and relevant, but the use of language that demonizes and segregates people for going about their lives while not being homeless/appearing to be homeless doesn't really contribute much positive to a discussion on how we as humans force people into an out-group to demonize them.
Paul Harrison — December 13, 2012
Every religion teaches that the unfortunate deserve what they get.
... sorry, I should phrase that in the contrapositive... um... every religion teaches that good people will be rewarded. Logically equivalent. Don't know that I should pick on religion, chances are we'd invent this idea even without it. See: victim blaming.
beach party — December 13, 2012
It's the baggage of acknowledgement. I suspect that one reason street people are ignored by non-street people has to do with a sense of intimacy and association. I think there is a strong awareness of a power differential, one that is more complicated than simply rich/poor, and a hesitance to enter into that power differential. You imagine yourself stopping and fishing for money for a stranger. The action of stopping and fishing for money feels intimate in a weird way. You could be judged by passerby along with the homeless person. You could open up an obligation. You may or may not have anger at them over the perceived reasons for the way they cope with homelessness. I also think that these ambiguities manifest in a long series of procrastinations...."I'll give him some money tomorrow...", "I need this cash now...", "I just paid all my bills...", "that bible verse about taking care of yourself first?", "I want to be anonymous...", "bad mood today..." etc. Again, it's about acknowledgement, except internally in this case.
Anna — December 14, 2012
The first paragraph of this post is manipulatively simplistic and lacking in sociological thinking. It's like a diary entry of the country mouse visiting the big, bad city for the first time, and deeming all its inhabitants cold and cruel. Lisa Wade has a Phd in sociology, from American institutions no less, which means she is perfectly well-read in Erving Goffman's concept of civil inattention, and the way it shapes and informs urban life. Why be deliberately obtuse towards this concept?
Is there a fear that it somehow undermines or takes away from Harris and Fiske's work? Because it doesn't. It just boldens and enrichens their research, in that we actually have to, you know, look at the interaction between homeless and non-homeless people from a complex, multi-faceted perspective, one that any research in the urban experience necessitates. Rather than a simplistic, morally pat "indifferent, disgusted rich people/helpless, dehumanized homeless people" binary. Goffman is rolling over in his grave.
will — December 14, 2012
why not the government kills homeless people and harvest their organs. it doesnt sound like they have any family that care about them. death could be quick and painless but important the organs be preserved. or they could given a choice and go into the army, if they are fit.
Guest — December 14, 2012
http://youtu.be/_KztNIg4cvE
LS — December 14, 2012
I don't give cash. I will give food, stop in to a nearby shop to buy a cup of coffee, that sort of thing. But cash is one of those things where the few poison it for the many -- there are a lot of people on the street (maybe homeless, maybe not) who'll take cash and buy drugs or booze, or who are working with someone and basically are scoping out where exactly your wallet is. Are there lots of (probably more of) the honestly just need some help sort? Yeah, most likely. How do you tell which is which? And given that I've had food -- both stuff I was carrying on me, and offers to buy it for them -- rejected by people who were coming at me with the "just a dollar for some food" line, I'm not inclined to pass around cash.
So yeah, I 'march past' people. Making eye contact invites encounters that are difficult to extricate yourself from. I am really not comfortable with having a guy bigger than me follow me down the street in my personal space telling me how awful I am for not giving him money. And I've had this happen MANY times.
Lesley S — December 14, 2012
I do not agree that it is only wealthy people who are "marching" past the homeless on the streets. The people walking past may not have money to spare either, and you have to "march", or just walk past the people on the streets to get to your destination, no matter what. However, I do agree that there are stereotypes about people in poverty and the homeless, and that the we tend to dehumanize the homeless to only see the suffering, and not the individual. Although there are stereotypes that the homeless are only on the street because they are too "lazy" to get a job to improve their conditions, the documentary showed how it is hard for people to actually get off the streets and improve their conditions. Especially in these economic times, it is hard to get a job, as the unemployment statistics show. The attitudes towards the homeless need to change from disgust and ignorance to concern and compassion.
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