Experiencing Homelessness: A Review of Recent Literature

Homelessness holds a longstanding place on the sociological research agenda, and has become particularly prominent in sociological literature since the 1980s. Recent literature reviews have summarized this research, but have only briefly considered the body of work focused on the experience of homelessness. I use this literature review to provide a more complete summary of this work on the daily lives, activities, subcultures, social relationships and networks, and social interactions of homeless individuals. I then explore variations in these experiences across important characteristics – such as gender, race and ethnicity, family status, and sexual orientation – as well as within three particular contexts that have been studied by sociologists: the streets, shelters and other service organizations, and social movements and collective action. I also consider how the homeless encounter and manage stigma and salvage the self. In addition to reviewing this literature, I consider how this work contributes to sociological understandings more broadly, and potential future research directions.