Disaster Through Dirty Windshields Law, Order and Toronto's Squeegee Kids

Over the past decade, anti-panhandling bylaws have been adopted in several Canadian cities including Vancouver, Winnipeg, & Montreal. This article examines the rhetorical processes used to construct "squeegee kids" -- homeless youths who clean car windshields for money -- as a social problem requiring a law & order resolution in Toronto. Using materials gathered from newspapers, magazines, government documents, & official reports, it is argued that the implementation of The Safe Streets Act depended on anti-squeegee claimants' use of disaster rhetoric & the rhetorical disassociation of squeegee kids from the larger homeless population. These processes are further discussed in relation to emerging trends in neoliberal forms of governance. 75 References. Adapted from the source document.

Publication Date: 
2003
Pages: 
281
Volume: 
28
Issue: 
3
Journal Name: 
Canadian Journal of Sociology/Cahiers canadiens de sociologie
Location: 
Toronto, ON, Canada