Questioning Representations of Homelessness in the Australian Print Media

Abstract

Social workers have an important role in questioning how social problems such as homelessness are represented in public discourse. Using Carol Bacchi's policy analysis framework, this paper analyses representations of homelessness and service provision in the Australian print media, by examining assumptions underlying these representations, gaps and silences; the effects of these representations; and how these can be defended and disrupted. The study found that print media representations of people can reinforce deep-seated community values that maintain unequal gender and power relations, which has implications for social worker advocacy.

像无家可归之类社会问题在公共话语中应该如何表达，社会工作者对于这类问题的提出举足轻重。本文运用卡罗尔•巴齐的政策分析框架，考察了无家可归及其服务提供话题在澳大利亚印刷媒体上被表达的情况，对表达、空白、沉默背后的前提，以及这些表达可以如何被辩护、被打断的情况进行了分析。作者发现，印刷媒体上对民众的表达会加强根深蒂固的性别不平等以及权力关系的社群价值，这都是社会工作者需要了解的。

Keywords:

• Problem Representation
• Homelessness
• Print Media
• Social Work
• Social Policy