Abstract

SUAREZ GARCIA, Carlos José. Stigma, Communitas and Corrective Ways to Homeless People in Bogotá (2000-2010). Soc. Econ. [online]. 2017, n.32, pp.195-216. ISSN 1657-6357.

This essay reflects, from a symbolic perspective, about the ways in which the contemporary Colombian society faces up to the existence of homeless people. From the “Calle de El Cartucho” case and based in researches about the institutional offer to homeless people in Bogotá, it tests two theoretical assumptions: the stigma in Erwin Goffman, and the communitas in Victor Turner. In this way, the paper shows the social representations that have about homeless people, governmental, nongovernmental and religious professionals that work with this population, and their association with danger and vice. Then, it observes the ways in which homeless people considered outsiders undergo a “corrective” process, similar to the rites of passage observed in organic societies. Finally, it presents two general options offered by the contemporary society to those homeless people who inhabit the city: the possibility of “return to life” thanks to therapies, or die victims of the “social cleansing”.

Keywords : Homeless; violence; social cleansing; social control.

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