Socializing Students in Higher Education to Alleviate Human Suffering Among the Homeless

Abstract

Homelessness is a critical issue facing societies around the world. The scale of human suffering around homelessness stretches beyond shelter insecurity to include hunger and malnutrition, lack of healthcare, greatly increased crime victimization, deprivation from job markets, and embarrassingly visible marginality within society. Using data from a small, longitudinal study of undergraduate students at a medium-sized Catholic university in the upper Midwestern United States, this chapter considers the potential role of higher education in socializing undergraduate college students to engage in community-based learning around social justice for people living homeless. Student attitudes tended to persist between the pre- and post-tests, with small to moderate changes in the direction of less negative stereotypes regarding the homeless and more accurate knowledge following the sociology course. Initially, students leaned toward negative or inaccurate stereotypes of homeless communities: that homeless people are unclean; predominately nonwhite; have enough funds to live on; and often get permanent housing. By the end of the course, the students shifted significantly on all four items toward greater accuracy in their perceptions. While the findings are not as dramatic as community-based learning advocates might like to see, this research suggests how higher education has the potential to promote attitudes conducive to relieving suffering.