New book: Transitions Through Homelessness

Transitions Through Homelessness
Lives on the Edge

Carol McNaughton



‘Transitions Through Homelessness successfully weaves longitudinal data on the experiences of
homeless people, with a robust theoretical interpretation applying concepts of edgework in
late modernity and the risk society. Both stimulating and highly readable, this book will surely
become a core reference for scholars for some time.' - Dr Isobel Anderson, University of
Stirling
Who are 'the homeless'? How is homelessness really experienced in contemporary society? And
how do these people then attempt to make a transition back- to find a 'home' once more?

These are some of the questions considered in this study, which follows a group of people making
a transition out of homelessness for a year in their lives. The experiences of each individual are set
within autobiographical accounts of their lives before, during, and in some cases, after being a
'homeless person'. This opens the door to what may be to many readers a hidden world of trauma,
poverty, and marginality in the UK.
CONTENTS:
Introduction
In the Absence of Home: Understanding Homelessness
Emotional and Material Landscapes of Life
Becoming a Homeless Person
Homelessness, Social Welfare and 'Targeted Populations'
Homelessness, Identity and Social Networks
Conclusion: Lives on the Edge?

CAROL MCNAUGHTON is currently an ESRC Research Fellow at the Centre for Housing Policy,
University of York, UK. She has extensive experience of researching transgression, transitions and
the institutional role of social policy.