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Begging in Cali: Image, Reality and Policy

The beggar-donor relationship raises a wide range of social and moral issues, and the study of begging can provide an interesting perspective on social structure and the impact of social welfare policies. This article discusses these issues by analyzing the practice of begging in the city of Cali, Colombia, by reviewing the portrayals of begging in the local press, by presenting six case studies of individual beggars, and by discussing the roles and functioning of the various social welfare institutions which receive beggars. The numerical significance and level of organization of begging are usually exaggerated in the local press and other communications media, and the sensationalized popular image of begging is used to justify repressive policies towards beggars. Contrary to such images, begging is shown to be relatively small-scale and atomistic, and beggars are generally severely disadvantaged and usually have very low incomes. The institutional res ponse to beggars' problems is very inadequate, with a strong concentration on simply 'storing' people to keep them off the streets, rather than on any effective preventative or rehabilitative measures. The idea, prevalent among Cali's elites, that 'begging is a serious problem' is criticized. The problem is not begging, but rather the poverty, extreme inequality and inadequate social provision of which begging is merely one of many superficial manifestations.