THE MICROPOLITICS OF WORTHY HOMELESSNESS - INTERACTIVE MOMENTS IN CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS

In this article I examine four Congressional hearings to analyze the i nteractive moments in which Democratic and Republican congressional me mbers converge to affirm conservative, individualistic accounts of hom elessness, therein constructing the worthy homeless. While themselves often highly scripted, interactive moments nonetheless help us to loca te the symbolic in symbolic interaction. Nancy Fraser's work on the po litics of needs interpretation (1989) helps make sense of how oppositi onal needs claims (claims made that run counter to the extant policy) are delegitimized in the ceremonial affirmation of certain homeless in dividuals. I draw on the work of Fraser together with that of Harold G arfinkel (1956) and Erving Goffman (1967) to examine the micro-politic s of the hearing process. While Garfinkel concerns himself with ''stat us degradation ceremonies,'' I invert his concept, using Goffman's wor k on deference (1967), to reflect the explicit focus paid by congressi onal members to interactions I name ''status affirmation ceremonies,'' or ''ceremonial affirmations.'' These moments turn our attention to h ow the rupture from formal proceedings to less ritualized interaction involves the production of moral meaning, in particular the production of the worthy and unworthy poor.