Inkluzja społeczna osób bezdomnych : badania narracyjne (Akademia Ignatianum w Krakowie, 2020)
The issue of supporting people in a crisis of homelessness is often undertaken by representatives of social sciences. In pedagogical sciences, the phenomenon of leaving this state is considered primarily through the prism of provided/received social support, which is expressed in educational activities. From this perspective, the focus of research by educators are especially borderline cases (getting out of homelessness of a person receiving social support versus getting out of homelessness without any help ``from outside''), as well as breakthrough events that materialize, among others, through the help received, the quality of the relationship with a loved one, or, for example, religious conversion. These issues are biographical in nature, yet research of this type receives little attention in social work with the homeless. Therefore, this publication attempts to answer the question – the main problem – what is the biographical phenomenon of getting out of homelessness? In order to gain knowledge on the biographical significance of the social inclusion of homeless people, the authors of the publication referred to the autobiographical narratives of men who came out of homelessness. In interpreting these narratives, they used the analysis of the interactions of the respondents, developing on its basis the trajectories of the homelessness process and their effects. In this way, the publication shows the reasons that caused the state of homelessness until the problem was overcome and social re-integration took place. In other words, it includes a description of the events in the life of the respondents, at the same time showing the quaint dimension of various ways out of homelessness. The considerations presented on the pages of the publication are preceded by a literature review on the subject, which includes the basic definitions of homelessness and explains why, from the theoretical point of view, it is considered a social problem. As a result, the authors also presented various forms of help and support aimed at improving the quality of life of the homeless and the activities of aid institutions and non-governmental organizations. Such a selection of content, confronted with the narratives of former homeless men, presents knowledgeabout the functioning of these people in the environment, their lifestyle, conditions related to life situations and the possibility of organizing processes supporting social inclusion. On this basis, it was possible to develop appropriate implications for social work with socially excluded people. The findings also provide pedagogical sciences with new impulses regarding the possibilities of pedagogical support for homeless people in the field of promoting pro-social activity undertaken for these people, including the pedagogy of accompaniment or the pedagogy of testimony. In this context, it can be said that the proces of social inclusion of the homeless is developmental, and the appreciation of the sphere of subjectivity in this process – which is characteristic of the approach emphasized by the above-mentioned pedagogies – only strengthens the mechanisms of self-reflection or self-denial of the homeless, thus increasing the very chance that their biographical work on their own experiences will contribute to the restore and strengthening of self-steering predispositions in everyday life.
Keywords: pedagogika; Russian language; sociolinguistics; language commodification; language policy; politics of language