Nicholas Pleace

VIRTUAL COMMUNITY CARE? SOCIAL POLICY AND THE EMERGENCE OF COMPUTER MEDIATED SOCIAL SUPPORT

This article argues that the emergence and growth of internet use in Britain has important implications for the analysis of social policy. It attempts to outline a research agenda for social policy in relation to one particular aspect of internet use, that of on-line self-help and social support – what we term here virtual-community care . The article presents data on patterns of home based internet use in Britain and outlines some contemporary debates in social policy about the importance of self-help and social support. It also considers how the internet is being used for self-help and social support with a particular emphasis on the emerging situation in Britain. Three illustrations of on-line self-help and social support are presented: two from newsgroups, which are part of the ‘uk.people.* hierarchy’: one concerned with disability and one with parenting issues; and one web based forum concerned with issues surrounding mortgage repossession. Drawing upon this illustrative material the article discusses some emergent issues for contemporary social policy discourse: the rise of self-help groups; the privileging of lay knowledge and experience over the ‘expert’ knowledge of health and welfare professionals; the nature of professional-client relationships; the quality and legitimacy of advice, information and support; dis/empowerment; and social exclusion.

Single Homelessness as Social Exclusion: The Unique and the Extreme

Recent research into single homelessness and rough sleeping has begun to consider the issue using the concepts and the language of social exclusion. This paper considers the new literature and what it may mean in terms of changing our understanding of single homelessness and rough sleeping (called street homelessness in the United States). The paper begins by reviewing the concept of social exclusion and the recent literature on single homelessness and drawing associations between the analysis of social exclusion and the emerging academic work on the nature of single homelessness and rough sleeping. Drawing on this literature, it is argued that single homelessness needs to be reconceptualized and viewed as one of the products generated by the process of social exclusion. The paper concludes with the argument that single homelessness and rough sleeping are a form of social exclusion, characterized chiefly by the inability of a section of the socially excluded population to get access to welfare services and social housing, and that “homelessness” does not actually exist as a discrete social problem with unique characteristics and causes.

Medicine on the line? Computer‐mediated social support and advice for people with diabetes

The advent of thousands of Usenet groups on the Internet, covering a vast range of medical and welfare issues and ostensibly devoted to the mutual social support of participating members, has raised the potential for the development of new forms of ‘virtual’ health care. This article critically analyses the use by people with diabetes of one such Usenet group. It seeks to establish, first, the extent to which such a site provides some demonstrable measure of social support to its participants. This is approached by undertaking a structural analysis of the site to identify the extent of usage, and the nature of supporting interventions using a fivefold classification (instrumental, informational, esteem and social companionship and other). Second, the article attempts to identify any disparity between the lay health-knowledge in evidence and biomedical opinions proffered by the use of a panel of consultant diabetiologists. The results of the analysis suggest that the diabetes newsgroup provides an example of an active forum for largely well-informed participants who routinely use the media as an aid to the reflexive management of their medical condition. It also raises the prospect of a renegotiated relationship between medical knowledge and lay experience based upon shared learning

The New Consensus, the Old Consensus and the Provision of Services for People Sleeping Rough

The British policy response to rough sleeping, or street homelessness, has been characterised by increasing consensus between government, the voluntary sector and academics. The dominant paradigm suggests that people sleeping rough are often individuals who are predisposed to becoming homeless because their individual characteristics make them especially vulnerable to changes in housing supply, labour markets and other structural factors that precipitate homelessness. Policy responses, such as the Rough Sleepers Initiative, have been increasingly characterised by their emphasis on reintegrating people sleeping rough into society on the basis that many in this group are vulnerable people who have become homeless essentially because they need assistance and care. However, there is a marked contrast between this broad consensus and popular views of the causes of rough sleeping. In the popular imagination, rough sleeping is caused by fecklessness, moral weakness and an active choice to sleep on the streets. This view has its origins in pre-20th century views of poverty and exclusion but has recently been reinforced by the ideology of a succession of Neo-Liberal governments in the UK. This paper is concerned with the impact of the popular view of rough sleeping on the environment in which services for people sleeping rough have to work. It is also concerned with the more subtle impact that the popular view of rough sleeping continues to have on the design and operation of such services.

Homelessness and social policy

Preface John Greve 1. Homelessness in Contemporary Britain: Conceptualisation and Measurement Nicholas Pleace, Deborah Quilgars and Roger Burrows 2. Homelessness and the Law Stuart Lowe 3. Theorising Homelessness: Contemporary Sociological and Feminist Perspectives Joanne Neale 4. The Social Distribution of the Experience of Homelessness Roger Burrows 5. The Characteristics of Single Homeless People in England Peter Kemp 6. Mortgage Arrears, Mortgage Possessions and Homelessness Janet Ford 7. Soldiering On? Theorising Homelessness Amongst Ex-Servicemen Paul Higate 8. The Housing Needs of Ex-Prisoners Jane Carlisle 9. The Health of Single Homelessness People Wendy Bines 10. Health, Homelessness and Access to Health Care Services in London Nicholas Pleace and Deborah Quilgars 11. Rehousing Single Homeless People Nicholas Pleace 12. Opening Doors in the Private Rented Sector: Developments in Assistance with Access Julie Rugg 13. The Capacity of the Private Rented Sector to House Homeless Households Mark Bevan and David Rhodes 14. Hostels: A Useful Policy and Practice Response? Joanne Neale 15. Addressing the Problem of Youth Homelessness and Unemployment: the Contribution of Foyers Deborah Quilgars and Isobel Anderson 16. Working Together to Help Homeless People: an Examination of Inter-Agency Themes Christine Oldman References Name index Subject index

The Statutory Homelessness System in England: A Fair and Effective Rights-Based Model?

The statutory homelessness system, first established by the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977, is an important but frequently criticised element of the British welfare state. Drawing upon a survey of 2053 ‘statutorily homeless’ families in England, this paper applies a utility-maximising conceptual framework to demonstrate that (a) the statutory homelessness system is on the whole ‘fair’ with respect to the housing needs that it addresses, and (b) ‘effective’, in that it can bring about significant net gains in the welfare of those households its assists. These encouraging findings are relevant not only to current concerns about the future direction of homelessness policy in England, but also to policy debates in many countries across the developed world where there are calls to develop a ‘rights-based’ approach to addressing homelessness.

A Difficult Mix

This paper explores attempts to enhance social capital, reduce negative area effects and improve life chances in deprived neighbourhoods by promoting social diversity. The paper draws on the results of two recent studies. The first study examined resident perceptions of new, high-density, mixed-tenure housing that was designed to provide socially diverse and cohesive communities. The second study examined the housing allocations policies of UK social landlords, focusing on their attempts to balance their role in housing high-need homeless households with their role in the sustainment of neighbourhood social diversity. After reviewing the results of each study, the paper concludes that the management of perceived, and actual, risks to social cohesion from some poorer households is a central concern in the promotion of socially diverse neighbourhoods.

On-Line with the Friends of Bill W: Social Support and the Net

The Internet is now being used as a mechanism for the delivery of social support on a global scale, chiefly through the formation of self-help groups. Most of the research that has been undertaken on these groups has focussed on Usenet and the use of newsgroups for social support. This paper examines the use of an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) ‘room’, by a self-help group composed of problem drinkers. The group had an international membership and advocated the use of social support, rather than intervention by professional services, to help its membership overcome problem drinking. The paper considers the roles that these new forms of Internet mediated self-help and social support might play in changing the relationships of those who participate in them towards traditional health and social care services. The paper also critically examines the extent to which such fora might function as virtual ‘communities’ of care.

‘Until Disabled People Get Consulted …’: The Role of Occupational Therapy in Meeting Housing Needs

This article reports oh a study of the housing needs of people with disabilities (aged 16 to 65) in Shropshire. The study included interviews with disabled people and with frontline and managerial staff in several agencies, a survey of disabled people, and the analysis of quantitative data. The findings highlight the high level of need for adaptations and more appropriate housing for disabled people; the importance of greater user involvement in the way needs are identified and services provided; the need for reform of the Disabled Facilities Grant system; and the need for an integrated inter-agency approach to meeting disabled peoples housing needs.

WORKLESS PEOPLE AND SURVEILLANT MASHUPS Social policy and data sharing in the UK

This paper examines the use of ICT driven surveillant assemblages in UK welfare policy by drawing on the results of empirical research conducted for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The focus is on one aspect of the growing role of surveillance in social policy: data aggregation on populations characterized by sustained worklessness. The implementation and implications of this form of surveillance are examined. The paper explores surveillance systems that were extant in 2005/06 and those that were being designed. The paper argues that there is an ongoing need for critical evaluation of the underlying logic of data mashing on marginalized populations.