shaw and mckay juvenile delinquency in urban areas 1942. mapped addresses of delinquents (court...
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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
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
▪ 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
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)
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”