Social Inequalities

Social Inequalities - Saint Vincent De Paul

A homeless food shelter is a service created to help feed those in need that might suffer from inequalities. From observing the people at the shelter as well as the foundation of the site, and really paying attention to detail, my partner and I were able to notice many important functions of the St. Vincent De Paul Homeless Food Shelter in Oakland. Like many of the total institutions in Erving Goffman's Asylums, the shelter has a major impact on the lives of its "inmates." The many inequalities are evident not only in the lives of the homeless, but also in their treatment at the shelter. Obedience plays a major role in the effectiveness of the center. Similar to the experiment in Stanley Milgram's "Some Conditions of Obedience and Disobedience to Authority," the set up of the institution causes adherence to the strict rules, regardless of personal interest. Similarly to the gender roles at McDonald's that Robin Leidner describes in "Serving Hamburgers and Selling Insurance," staff at the shelter stick to positions that are better suited to their gender. Each and every observation made at the St. Vincent De Paul led me to see the food service in a new light, a transition in my mind from a simple shelter to a true institution.

My first observation lied in the aesthetics of the homeless food shelter. Located in Oakland on a rough street with lots of graffiti, the place is not very inviting to anybody except homeless people. It seems as if no other people inhabit the area. Barbed wire and fences surround the facility. The people that regularly visit the food shelter are essentially entering a new social arrangement away from the other types of people in society. Only a certain type of person enters this world. These homeless people lack some of the basic social skills that most people possess, and they probably were not able to create a standard living for themselves in terms of getting job and securing a home. The outside of the shelter is not the only part of it that creates a kind of restricted setting. Upon entrance to the shelter, there lies a courtyard with sitting areas and a large net above it. Just walking around made me feel like I was closed away from the outside world. Goffman writes, "Every institution captures something of the time and interest of its members and provides something of a world for them; in brief, every institution has encompassing tendencies" (4). The overall layout of the shelter had a similar feel to the total institutions described by Goffman.

Similar to some total institutions, where inmates are given allotted times to take care of certain duties such as go to the bathroom, change, etc., the homeless people at the food shelter are very limited in their actions. Once they enter the building, their main focus must lie on eating their plate of food at a consistent pace and with no hesitation. They must complete their meal in a limited amount of time because the next person is waiting outside to get his or her meal. There is no punishment for going over the limit, but the shelter still imposes strict time restraints. Goffman describes Chinese political prisons, "The prisoner is hustled from his cell by a guard, double-timed down a long corridor, and given approximately two minutes to squat over an open Chinese latrine and attend to all his wants" (25). Because the shelter is a type of institution and is a service to the people, staff has the right to restrict people's capabilities and level of enjoyment. A person on the outside world would have the privilege of eating a meal in peace and not having to rush. I witnessed a group of people literally shoveling food into their mouths almost like a task, not a pleasing experience. This type of restriction is necessary to keep the shelter in order and make sure all the homeless get a fair share of food.

An important aspect of compliance by the homeless lies in the fact that the shelter represents a place built around a common privilege. The one service that the shelter offers is food. There are certain rules that come along with being able to participate. Just like a school for kids, St. Vincent De Paul has guidelines posted on the wall. Some of them read:

1. No one who threatens our staff with weapons or verbal abuse will be admitted to the dining room. 2. No drinking or smoking. 7. No cutting line. These guidelines featured on large posters around the facility represent a kind of indoctrination to make people act a certain way and continue to do so every time they come to the food shelter. Because the privilege of having food is so vital to the lives of each homeless person, they wouldn't dare break any of the rules. Goffman explains the concept, "Conditions in which a few easily controlled privileges are so important are the same conditions in which their withdrawal has a terrible significance" (51). Because of the strict guidelines, the homeless people do not act up while inside the facility. They are truly agentic in their mannerisms to continue their involvement in the food shelter as a beneficial system.

Though most of the homeless at the shelter complied with the rules and really respected their privileges, there were a select few that really knew how to work the system. They represented the autonomous individuals unshaped by socialization. These few were much more intelligent than they looked and were actually able to utilize secondary adjustments in order to get more than one serving of food. Some developed personalized relationships with the staff in order to gain preference above the others. Some used a salesman approach and trickery. Goffman describes this same effect occurring at hospitals, "In a smaller dining room in a different hospital service, patients who (rightly) feared that seconds would not be available for long would sometimes take their portion of meat from their plate, put it between two pieces of bread, leave this by their place, and immediately return to the line to get seconds" (211). This type of action by the homeless really shows that regardless of the situation, there are always a select few who can manipulate their situation for their individual betterment.

Along with the rules/guidelines of the shelter and the power of privilege lies the powerful effect that the staff has on the homeless. The staff leaders are easily noticeable upon entrance. They are either wearing a large blue apron or an orange vest. They stand out above all the other people there. The staff members are not very friendly until you actually have a conversation with them and explain who