Study Questions: Chapter 13
(Javascript must be enabled for this exercise.)
1. What are the various ways to categorize homelessness?
Homelessness can be difficult to categorize as it can relate to the lack of shelter as well as to the impermanence of the shelter available. Rooflessness is the most extreme and visible sign of homelessness. Houselessness describes people who routinely sleep in shelters. People can also live in insecure housing, as well as in inadequate accommodation—poor quality housing, for instance.
2. What are some positive aspects of residential segregation?
Residential segregation can perform a critical cultural preservation and heritage function because it facilitates interactions within a group with a shared group identity. Further, it can serve an important function as a socially familiar area for new immigrants.
3. What are some of the myths concerning slums and what is the reality?
Myths about slums are that they serve no purpose; that slum dwellers are poor, a burden on the economy, and do not pay rent; and, finally, that all slums are the same. However, slums do serve an economic purpose: they are a solution to the rapid growth at a particular stage of industrialization and urbanization. Slums also have inhabitants who are not poor, as well as those with broad ranges of income, such as civil servants, factory workers, and entrepreneurs. Slum dwellers are not an economic burden, since they generate income and economic growth, and many of them do pay rent. Finally, there is a wide variety of slums, with varying levels of sanitation, transportation, and housing value.
4. What are some of the ways to improve slums?
Slums can be improved in a variety of ways. For one, if the growth of slums is anticipated by government, then it can be planned for. Governments can also support the programs available to provide assistance to slum dwellers. This assistance could be financially supported if international aid is redirected from rural to urban areas. Also, these improvements would likely be even more effective if residents become involved.
5. What is the process of epidemiological transition?