At a time when social assistance in Romania is deeply affected by the dramatic situation of residential care for the elderly in "horror asylums", the students from the Social Assistance Department of UVT did not forget the mission of the profession for which they are preparing in Timișoara , that of understanding and protecting marginalized and oppressed people, repeating a social experiment in the center of Arad.
In this regard, during the week of July 17-23, 2023, seven students accompanied by a teacher traveled to Arad, where they disguised themselves as beggars. The action aimed to analyze in the field, using sociological tools, the perception of the Arad community towards beggars, the deviant behaviors of this disadvantaged social category, but also the investigation of some situations of street aggression.
It should be noted that the participants in this social experiment were trained through protective measures in the field, role-playing games and the development of conflictual communication skills.
Through this method it was aimed to obtain information about the phenomenon of begging, updated through studies obtained directly and not only from "the back of the laptop", and the results obtained are processed statistically and will be the subject of a research report associated with relevant information from the specialized literature .
We add below a very short extract of some field testimonies: ,,At first it was very difficult for me to see the world from below (from the bottom up, that is, literally). It's humiliating, degrading, self-destructive (self-esteem can be seriously affected) when you only see feet, ankles, shoes and the more or less dirty pavement, dog tracks, various smells. I had the impression that I didn't exist for the rest of the people, I became an object that merges and disappears in the concrete of the cobblestones. I had a feeling of dehumanization, and the community's attitude was one of rejection, contempt, indifference, but there were also many passers-by who offered me compassion with willingness to help... " - university lecturer. Dr. Elisabeta Zelinka.
The project was initiated by the Department of Social Assistance from the Faculty of Sociology and Psychology at the University of West Timișoara, with the consistent support of the City Hall of Arad through the Local Police and the Directorate of Social Assistance.
INFO: project coordinator, university professor Dr. Cosmin Goian, email: cosmin.goian@e-uvt.ro.
