Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This article examines the shape of care and value through an ethnographic study of an intensive, temporary housing intervention for people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco, California, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on a new anthropological theory of value, the results highlight the slipperiness between surveillance and care, and how value may be produced or diminished in specific, embodied ways through respite, space, privacy, and dignity. This article troubles the concept of the social "safety net," suggesting instead that high-quality and even costly initial public investments for the poor generate public value.
Source: Medical Anthropology Quarterly
DOI: 10.1111/maq.70033
Author: Naomi C. Schoenfeld
Institution: University of California, San Francisco
Language: English
Subfield: General Health Professions
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,400
Funder: Social Science Research Council
OpenAlex ID: W4416127290