Concept Application Blog

My expectations of researching and observing the culture that I had chosen turned out to be not what I had actually expected. The homeless people of Lincoln can be considered the working class or the impoverished. There’s a wide range of people in the lower class who stay at People’s City Mission. I have learned that some people are living at the Mission because they were court ordered, have mental health problems, alcoholics, drug addicts, or some have ended up in there because it just happened to them. As I walking down the streets of West O Street, across the bridge, I stumbled upon many people without homes. One of them was a very reserved gentleman named Gary.

My experience with talking to homeless people is close to zero, so I was clueless on how to communicate with them. Luckily, I got a little help from a near by gas station clerk in the beginnings of my research. Helen said she sees hundreds of people without homes walking past her as they walk to People’s City Mission. She was the one who introduced me to Gary, who seemed a little off putting at first as he saw me holding my video camera in one hand and a note pad in the other. I respected his choice to not be filmed on camera and I went on with my interview. As he warmed up to me, he asked me why the cops will ticket the pitched tents where it’s the people’s homes but not the pitched tents of the protestors in front of the Capitol. Even though the tents are set in a public place, the cops will ticket the homeless people because of social economic issues, the difference in class.

This is a video I have created containing interviews I have conducted with a variety of people. It will explore the communication between this culture and how it affects the people around them.

Along with class identity, minority identity is clearly developed in this culture. It is a sense of belonging to a nondominant group and it develops in these following stages; unexamined identity, conformity, resistance and separatism, and integration (Martin & Nakayama, 2009). The upper class and the middle class tend to not think about their wealth or where they are going to sleep at night often; where as the lower class, mostly the homeless, are often aware of their class identity being different from the majority and develop a sense of class identity earlier than people who have homes and a job (Martin & Nakayama, 2009). A year ago, Gary had a job, was happily married and had his beautiful daughter. Then he got a divorce and his wife took everything from him, even his rights to see his daughter; on top of that Gary lost his job and ended up at People’s City Mission. He told me his ex wife and his daughter have no idea he is currently living at the Mission because he says it’s embarrassing. Gary’s minority identity is in the beginning stages of developing where it’s characterized by the lack of exploration of identity.

From the other side of the People’s City Mission, the staff and the volunteers, the concept of code switching was explored. It’s a technical term in communication that refers to the phenomenon of changing languages, dialects, or even accents (Martin & Nakayama, 2009). People code switch to accommodate the other speakers, to avoid accommodating others, or to express another aspect of their cultural identity (Martin & Nakayama, 2009). A.J., a staff of People’s City Mission, explained how this one woman went through difficult times and doesn’t like it when the staff asks her how she is doing. She will get offended and react negatively, so the staff avoids that question to accommodate her. Another woman sees things that seem only real to her. For example, she’ll claim she’s been sprayed by acid and the staff can’t deny what she says or else she’ll get very upset. However, they can’t encourage her either so they adjust to her or ask how did it happen, do you need medical help? It is important to change languages to accommodate this culture because they will react negatively.

From my experience as a middle class college student, I had to apply the code switching concept to accommodate this culture. Helen, the gas station clerk, observed me and said “No offense honey but you’ve got too much pride. Just be yourself.” I was not holding any pride; I was simply just being myself. However, to their eyes I will always be the middle class college student who has no idea what it’s like to be living in their culture. The homeless people are considered to be part of the lower class, however they are not any different from the rest of us. They just want to be heard and be treated equally as the people with homes, jobs, family, and friends.

References:

"Homelessness." Home. Web. 09 Mar. 2012. <http://www.peoplescitymission.org/index.php/about/16-homelessness>. 

"Homelessness In Lincoln." Lincoln Homeless Coalition. Web. 7 Feb. 2012. <http://www.lincolnhomelesscoalition.org/homelessness-awareness/>.

Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2009). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (5^th Edition ed). New York, NY: McGraww-Hill.