Confrontations and Donations: Encounters between Homeless Pet Owners and the Public

This study examines the interactions between homeless pet owners and the domiciled public with a focus on how the activities of pet ownership help construct positive personal identities. Homeless people are often criticized for having pets. They counter these attacks using open and contained respons...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sociological quarterly 2012, Vol.53 (1), p.25-43
Main Authors: Irvine, Leslie, Kahl, Kristina N., Smith, Jesse M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal care
Animals
Companionship
Dogs
Donation
Ethics
Food
Freedom
History of medicine
History, 20th Century
History, 21st Century
Home
Homeless people
Homeless Persons - education
Homeless Persons - history
Homeless Persons - psychology
Homelessness
Identity
Identity formation
Judgment
Morality
Ownership
Personal identity
Personality. Social role
Pet food
Pets
Pets - psychology
Public Sector - economics
Public Sector - history
Relief Work - economics
Relief Work - history
Resistance
Self Concept
Social Behavior - history
Social construction
Social Identification
Social identity
Social interaction
Social psychology
Social Stigma
Sociology
Stigma
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Summary:This study examines the interactions between homeless pet owners and the domiciled public with a focus on how the activities of pet ownership help construct positive personal identities. Homeless people are often criticized for having pets. They counter these attacks using open and contained responses to stigmatization. More often, they redefine pet ownership to incorporate how they provide for their animals, challenging definitions that require a physical home. Homeless pet owners thus create a positive moral identity by emphasizing that they feed their animals first and give them freedom that the pets of the domiciled lack. Through what we call "enabled resistance," donations of pet food from the supportive public provide the resources to minimize the impact of stigmatization.
ISSN:0038-0253
1533-8525
DOI:10.1111/j.1533-8525.2011.01224.x