Shaw and McKay

Juvenile Delinquency in Urban Areas 1942. Mapped addresses of delinquents (court

records) Zone in transition stable and high delinquency

rates over many years Implications of these findings:

1. Stable, despite multiple waves of immigrants!!

2. Only certain areas of the city Something about

this area causes delinquency

Social Disorganization

What were the characteristics of the zone in transition that may cause high delinquency rates? Population Heterogeneity Population Turnover Physical Decay Poverty/Inequality

Why might these ecological characteristics lead to high crime rates?

Explaining high crime in the zone of transition

1. Social Control Little community “cohesion,” therefore, weak community

institutions and lack of control

2. Cultural Transmission of Values Once crime rooted in a neighborhood, delinquent values

are passed trough generations of delinquents

Example

Social Disorganization 1960-1980

Fell out of favor in sociology in 1950s Individual theories gained popularity

Criticisms of Social Disorganization “Official Data” Are these neighborhoods really “disorganized?” Cannot measure “intervening variables” “Chicago Specific” (not all cities grow in rings)

Modern S.D. Theory

Interest rekindled in the 1980s Continues today with “ecological studies” reborn as a pure social control theory (left behind

“transmission of values) Addressing criticism

“Concentric rings” not necessary, it is simply a neighborhood level theory

Ecological characteristics do affect a neighborhoods level of informal control

Sampson and Groves (1989)

ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS

•Population turnover•Poverty / inequality•Divorce rates •Single parents

SOCIAL CONTROL•Street supervision•Friendship networks •Participation in organizations

Using British Crime Survey Data (BCS)

Sampson (1997)

Replicated results in Chicago Areas with “concentrated disadvantage,” (poverty,

race, age composition, family disruption) lack “collective efficacy” Willingness to exercise control (tell kids to quiet down) Willingness to trust or help each other

Lack of collective efficacy increases crime rates

Modern Social Disorganization Theory

Review of Social Disorganization Macro (Neighborhood) level theory

Explains why certain neighborhoods have high crime rates

Theory of “Places,” and not “People” Not all people who live there are “crime prone,” in

fact most are law-abiding

Related “ecological” ideas

William J. Wilson (Concentrated Poverty) The “Underclass” or “Truly Disadvantaged” Cultural Isolation no contact with “mainstream”

individuals/institutions Little respect for “life,” hypermaterialism, violence as

“normative”

S.D. as an explanation for high rates of African American offending “Non-Southern” blacks

High proportion of the current members of the “Zone in Transition.”

Why not move like ZIT residents (immigrants) Housing Segregation Loss of Manufacturing Jobs

Related “ecological” ideas II

Stark’s “Deviant Places” Criminal “Hot Spots”

▪ Targets▪ Ecological factors

▪ Social cohesion

▪ Informal social controls

Social Ecology Policy Implications (1 of 5)

▪ Chicago Area Projects (CAP)▪ Mobilize local informal social organization and

social control—creating “community committees”

▪ Overcome influence of delinquent peers and criminal adults

▪ Assign detached local adults to neighborhood gangs

▪ Recreational programs designed to provide youth with associations with conventional peers and adults

▪ Improve sanitation, traffic control, and physical decay

▪ Produced mixed results

Social Ecology Policy Implications (2 of 5)

▪ Neighborhood watch programs ▪ Only successfully implemented in

neighborhoods that are cohesive

▪ Moving to Opportunity program▪ Moving everyone out of poverty-stricken

neighborhoods not realistic

▪ Urban-renewal projects▪ Cabrini Green and other high rise “projects”

New “mixed” ownership (section 8, partial subsidy, private ownership)

Social Ecology Policy Implications (3 of 5)

▪ Implications for criminal justice system▪ Community policing

▪ Active role working with neighborhood residents to identify and solve community problems

▪ Reduces fear of crime

▪ Little evidence of reduction in criminal behavior

▪ Mass Incarceration▪ High levels of incarceration within a neighborhood might

contribute to social disorganization

Social Ecology Policy Implications (4 of 5)

▪ Weed-and-seed strategy

▪ Federal initiative ▪ Target chronic violent offenders for

incapacitation

▪ Bring human services to the area

▪ Promote economic and physical revitalization

▪ Produced mixed findings

Social Ecology Policy Implications (5 of 5)

Review of Social D / Ecological Explanations Theory of Places—Macro Level

Neighborhood (Social D) Hot spots

Social D Ecological Factors Intervening Factors (collective efficacy) Explanation of high crime rates among African

Americans

Anomie or “Strain” Theories

Merton

Agnew

Messner and Rosenfeld

Durkhiem’s Legacy

Rapidly Changing Society

“Industrial Prosperity”

Anomie (Norms are Weakened)

Human Nature asInsatiable; must

therefore cap or control

Social Ties Important

The Anomie/Strain Tradition The Social Disorganization and “Informal Control”

Robert K. Merton

Social Structure and Anomie (1938) From Durkheim: Institutionalized norms are

weakened in societies that place an intense value on economic success

Applied this to the United States The “American Dream”

Conflict: Means and Goals

Cultural Goal in U.S.? This goal is universal (The American Dream)

Institutionalized Means? Due to the social structure in the U.S., the

means are unequally distributed Segment of society with no way to attain goal

Strain Theory (Micro Level)

MODES OF CULTURAL INSTITUTIONALIZED ADAPTATION GOALS MEANS

1. Conformity + +

2. Innovation + -

3. Ritualism - +

4. Retreatism - -

5. Rebellion +/- +/-

MODES OF CULTURAL INSTITUTIONALIZED ADAPTATION GOALS MEANS

1. Conformity + +

2. Innovation + -

3. Ritualism - +

4. Retreatism - -

5. Rebellion +/- +/-

Criticisms of Merton’s Strain Theory Is crime a “lower class” phenomena? Cannot explain “expressive” crimes Weak empirical support Why do people “adapt” differently?

Agnew: General Strain Theory Overhaul of Merton’s Strain Theory Three sources of strain

1. Failure to achieve valued goals

2. Removal of valued stimuli

3. Can’t escape noxious stimuli

Agnew (GST)

StrainNegative Affective States Anger, fear, frustration, depression

In lieu of “Coping Mechanisms,” anger and frustration can produce delinquency

StrainNeg EmotionalDelinquency

Agnew (GST)

Tests of GST are more favorable Is this theory a theory of “Strain” (in a

sociological sense) or a theory of “STRESS?” (in a psychological sense)

CRIME AND THE AMERICAN DREAM

Messner and Rosenfeld

The Legacy of Merton

In “Social Structure and Anomie”: “Modes of Adaptation” (micro) Discussion of why U.S. might be crime prone

(macro) than other countries

Messner and Rosefeld, in the 1980s, revisited the macro part of the theory

Elements of the “American Dream”

Achievement Individualism Universalism The “fetishism” of money These elements encourage “Anomic

conditions”

THE AMERICAN DREAM PRODUCES ANOMIE MERTON: Pursuit of financial success is

“limited only by considerations of technical expediency.”

Lombardi: Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.

Institutions in Society

Social institutions as the building blocks of society. The Economy The Polity The Family Education

Key Issue for M & R

These institutions sometimes have conflicting goals and values.

All societies can therefore be characterized by their distinctive arrangements of institutions

The U.S.? Economy Dominates: we are a “MARKET SOCIETY”

Indicators of Economic Dominance

Devaluation of non-economic institutional functions and roles

Accommodation to economic requirements by other social institutions

Penetration of economic norms into other social domains

Implications of Economic Dominance Weak institutional controls

Family and School are handicapped in efforts to promote allegiance to social rules

Single parent families Poorly funded schools “Weak institutions invite challenge”

Culture, Social Structure, and Crime Rates

CULTURE

The American Dream

ANOMIE

SOCIAL STRUCTURE

Economic Dominance

Weak Institutional Controls

HIGH CRIME RATES