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Abstract

Using data from participant observations, shelter documents, and intake interviews, this article examines the social construction of service-worthy clients at an emergency shelter for the homeless. The concepts of narrative editing and client work are applied to underscore how staff-client interactions lead to organizationally useful accounts of homelessness. Analysis of the data reveals four narrative editing styles: collaborative, directive, confrontational, and dismissive. These findings empirically demonstrate variations in how service worthiness is achieved, or denied. It is argued that the homeless profile is not unilaterally and uniformly dictated by institutional agents. Rather, under the organizational auspices of the shelter, clients and staff are jointly involved in constructing the local relevance of homelessness.

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Constructing the Service-worthy Homeless Through Narrative Editing

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