Homeless people organize among themselves when poverty takes on a shared positive content

Evidence

One finds among them a type of incipient organization, whereby the Penner of each district have a kind of headman who assigns to the members of the district their places in the night shelter and arbitrates their quarrels. The Penner scrupulously see to it that no criminal infiltrates them, and, when this happens, they denounce him to the police to whom they often render good services. The headmen of the Penner are well-known persons whom the authorities always know how to find when they need information about some obscure character. Such a specification of poverty, as the lack of shelter implies, is necessary today to contribute an element of association. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 447

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s essay: this is a counterpoint to Lofland’s civil inattention and Simmel’s blasé attitude — here the urban homeless form internal hierarchies and self-policing as a defense against the anonymous crowd, a form of trust-building that civil inattention forecloses for the flâneur. — connects to: Shame arises from individual isolation and dissolves within collective action — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 735; The poor form a social stratum united by society’s attitude, not by interaction — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 446; Community support during crisis doubles as self-policing and discipline

Broader Connections

• The poor form a social stratum united by society’s attitude, not by interaction #complicates (0.70) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 446
• Shame arises from individual isolation and dissolves within collective action #qualifies (0.60) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 735
• Community support during crisis doubles as self-policing and discipline #complicates (0.60)