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Introduction
The study of homelessness usually proceeds either from a socio-economic or ethnographic perspective. In the first case, homelessness is understood as being the result of reforms in welfare and taxation, changes in urban planning and housing policy, unemployment, and of trends such as gentrification (see [40] Palen and London, 1984; [9] Dear and Wolch, 1987; [29] Kusmer, 2002). On its part, the ethnographic approach focuses on the everyday routines of the homeless and especially on how these excluded persons form social networks and manage to survive on the street (see [31] Liebow, 1993; [50] Wagner, 1993; [10] Desjarlais, 1999; [21] Gowan, 1997).
There is much to be said concerning the socio-economic and ethnographic understanding of homelessness in that each one of them shows an important aspect of this abysmal human experience. Nevertheless, to focus exclusively upon these dimensions of the problem is to tell only part of the story. In order to have a much better understanding of the forces that shape homelessness, we must incorporate into our approach an analysis of the everyday practices of some institutions, which in my point of view contribute to produce and shape this social problem. Hence, the present study looks at the inner dynamics of three institutional systems: morality, family, and prisons, aiming to uncover the ways in which they tend to play a significant role in the construction of homelessness.
I further contend that introducing a comparative perspective into the study will enable me to validate the institutional approach I am advocating; indeed, the included comparisons are aimed at showing that different institutional contexts are likely to produce different patterns of homelessness. Thus, my strategy of including references to the problems faced by the homeless as they make themselves present in two national settings: the USA and Japan. Yet, one comparative issue can be set right at the onset of the present paper: I refer to the differences it is possible to identify in the definitions of homelessness across countries. In the USA, for instance, the most commonly cited definition of a homeless person comes from Section 11302 of the 1987 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. The Act defines a homeless person as an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence, or a person...