Citation

Cohen CI, Sokolovsky J. Soc. Netw. 1981; 3(2): 93-105.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1981, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0378-8733(81)90008-3

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Despite more than one hundred and fifty empirical studies completed on the subject of skid row, no issue remains so completely muddled than that of the sociability of skid row men. Utilizing network analysis techniques developed in previous work with inner-city populations, the authors interviewed 48 elderly residents of the Bowery. The data dispelled the notion that skid rowers are completely isolated, incapable of intimacy and complex social formation, and unable to enlist the support of their compeers in response to deteriorating health. Nonetheless, as contrasted with other urban populations, they had markedly constricted social worlds. A reinterpretation of the literature is proffered based on these findings.