Abstract
Media reports suggest that the public is becoming impatient with the homeless—that so-called “compassion fatigue” has gripped the nation. This characterization of public sentiment could have important policy consequences—restrictive measures can be justified by growing public impatience, and progressive housing policies seem infeasible within a hostile climate of opinion. But evidence to support the compassion fatigue notion is anecdotal. We examine the issue by tracking the results of public opinion polls and by reporting detailed evidence from a nationwide random-digit dial telephone survey (N=1,507) concerning knowledge attitudes and beliefs about homeless people. To be sure, the public sees homelessness as an undesirable social problem and wants something done about it. However, although the homeless are clearly stigmatized, there is little evidence to suggest that the public has lost compassion and is unwilling to support policies to help homeless people.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
ABC News Nightline. (1990, December 19). More homeless and hungry face colder hearts. New York: WABC.
American Heritage Dictionary. (1985). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 300.
Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1980).Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Blasi, G. (1994) And we are not seen: Ideological and political barriers to understanding homelessness.American Behavioral Scientist, 37, 563–586.
Burt, M. (1992).Over the edge: The growth of homelessness in the 1980's. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Crowne, D. P., & Marlowe, D. (1960). A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 24, 349–354.
Carley, J. M. (1991). Altruism and prosocial research: Reflections and prospects. In M. S. Clark (Ed.),Prosocial behavior (pp. 312–327). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Groves, R. M. (1989).Survey errors and survey costs. New York: Wiley.
Grusec, J. E. (1991). The socialization of altruism. In M. S. Clark (Ed.).Prosocial behavior (pp. 312–327). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Jones, E. E., Farina, A., Hastorf, A. H., Markus, H., Miller, D. T., & Scott, R. A. (1984).Social stigma: The psychology of marked relationships. New York: W. H. Freeman.
Kish, L. (1965).Survey sampling. New York: Wiley.
Lee, B., Hinze-Jones, S., & Lewis, D. (1990). Public beliefs about the causes of homelessness.Social Forces, 69, 253–265.
Lee, B., Link, B., & Toro, P. (1991). Images of the homeless: Public views and media messages.Housing Policy Debate, 2, 649–682.
Link, B., Susser, E., Stueve, A., Phelan, J., Moore, R., & Struening, E. (1994). “Lifetime and Five-Year Prevalence of Homelessness in the United States,”American Journal of Public Health, 84, 1907–1912.
Many cities in crackdown on homeless. (1994, December 14).New York Times, p. 8.
Merton, R. K. (1968). The self-fulfilling prophecy. InSocial theory and social structure (pp. 475–490). New York: Free Press.
Rossi, P. (1989).Down and out in America: The origins of homelessness. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Schuman, H., & Johnson, M. P. (1976). Attitudes and behavior.Annual Review of Sociology, 2, 161–207.
Shah, B. V., Barnwell, B. G., Hunt, P. N., & LaVange, L. M. (1992).SUDAAN User's Manual (Release 6.0). Research Triangle Park, NC: Research Triangle Institute.
Shift in feelings on the homeless: Empathy turns to frustration (1991, September 2).New York Times, p. 1.
Shinn, M. (1992). Homelessness. What is a psychologist to do.American Journal of Community Psychology, 20, 1–24.
Shrugging off the homeless: The nation's toughest urbanites lose patience with the homeless. (1990, April 17).Time, 135, 14–16.
Toro, P., & McDonnell, D. M. (1992). Beliefs, attitudes and knowledge about homelessness: A survey of the general public.American Journal of Community Psychology, 20, 53–80.
Waksberg, J. (1978). Sampling methods for random digit dialing.Journal of the American Statistical Association, 73, 40–66.
Wuthnow, R. (1991).Acts of compassion: Caring for others and helping ourselves. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This research was supported by National Institute of Mental Health grant MH46101. We especially thank Barret Lee and Paul Toro for sharing their research instruments and their ideas with us. We also thank Micky Breshnahan and Jennifer Jones for their assistance in preparing the manuscript and the Center for Survey Research for their extensive work in conducting the telephone interviews. We thank Arthur Whaley for comments on previous drafts of this manuscript.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Link, B.G., Schwartz, S., Moore, R. et al. Public knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about homeless people: Evidence for compassion fatigue?. Am J Commun Psychol 23, 533–555 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02506967
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02506967