eleven - “I feel rotten. I do, I feel rotten”: exploring the begging encounter

Summary

This chapter is based upon research which aimed to gain an understanding of people's reaction to, experiences of and attitudes towards being approached in the street for money by people begging. The research was motivated by what we saw as something of a lacuna in much of the academic literature on begging, which puts the focus mainly upon the activities, strategies and experiences of those who beg (Gmelch and Gmelch, 1974; Heilman, 1975; Shichor and Ellis, 1981; Meir-Dviri and Raz, 1995; Williams, 1995; Wardhaugh, 1996). Much of this literature provides rich ethnographic material and illuminating insights into the world of begging, but it rarely dealt with a number of questions and issues that we were keen to explore. We wanted to understand begging from the other side of the begging interaction – those who are approached for money in the street – rather than the experiences and strategies of those who beg. Given that the focus within much social scientific research is upon the powerless rather than those with more power within particular social interactions and contexts, this approach seemed to us to offer a different and novel perspective on the begging encounter.

We were interested in specific questions: how do people recognise and understand begging activity? how is begging distinguished from other forms of street-level activity? why is the begging encounter often a problematic and uncomfortable one given the generally very small amounts of money involved? what explanations do people construct for the existence of begging? We were also interested in practical considerations that are addressed during a begging encounter: when do people decide either to give or not to give money? on what basis is a decision reached as to how much money should be given? how frequently do people give? what is perceived of as ‘aggressive begging? In essence we want to shed some further light on the often problematic encounters across an “open palm” (Heilman, 1975; see also Chapter Eight in this volume).

“Edinburgh has got a bit of an attitude about it on the whole”

To explore these questions we decided to interview individuals who, on a regular and consistent basis, were likely to encounter, confront, or pass by people begging.