CRIM 104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Auguste Comte, Urban Renewal, Crime Survey For England And Wales
“OCIAL DI“ORGANI)ATION PART II
SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY
· Sometimes referred to as environmental criminology, ecological
criminology, or social ecology
· Examines relationship between people and their environment
· Foudatio fo Couit “tucture and Crime: Testing Social
Disogaizatio Theo, ad Eooi Depiatio ad
Neighohood Cie Rates
CRIME IS PATTERNED
• Social disorganization theorists and researchers ae iteested i the spatial
distribution of crime
• Notion that distribution of crime is ot ado… it is patteed
• Social problems like unemployment, poverty and run-down housing are highly
correlated with crime
SOCIALLY DISORGANIZED AREAS
· Cie is ot the ol soial pole in crime ridden areas
· Usually have unemployment, mental illness, drug addiction, alcoholism
THE GOOD PART OF TOWN
· Usually characterized by low rates of crime
· Absence of social problems found in socially disorganized
INFLUENCE OF THE CHICAGO SCHOOL
· City of Chicago grew from 4,000 residents in 1833 to 2, 000, 000
residents in 1910, principally through immigration
· Led to rapid social changes associated with urbanization,
immigration, and industrialization
· The Chiago “hool was first sociology department in the United
States (1892)
· Ofte alled The Eologial “hool because various of its core
members compared growth of Chicago to the natural ecological
process
· Viewed city of Chicago as a social ecology, where humans
competed for scarce and desirable space
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CONCENTRIC ZONE MODEL
· Concentric zone model
· Park and Burgess were urban sociologists
· Said that cities expanded outwards
· Started with central business district
PARK & BURGE““’ CONCENTRIC ZONE“
SHAW AND MCKAY
· Shaw and McKay
· Demonstrated that zones in transition
“HAW & MCKAY’“ “OCIAL DI“ORGANIZATION “TUDY
CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIALLY DISORGANIZED AREAS
· Population density (overcrowding, urbanization)
· Poverty(newly arrived immigrants, migrants from farms and or
Southern United States, unemployment or marginally employed)
· Run-down housing, abandoned buildings and factories
· Ethnic and cultural heterogeneity (diversity of languages, religions, and values
and norms
· High rates of transience/residential mobility
THE CONSEQUENCES OF SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION
· Overcrowding, poverty, transience, all contribute to breakdown of
informal social controls (family, school, religion)
· Ineffective socialization and supervision of children (due to dysfunctional
families, no neighborhood stability
· Residents unable to solve their own problems/achieve community goals
Socially disorganized neighborhoods institutional breakdown and erosion of
informal social controls development of youth peer groups and increased peer
activity cultural transmission of delinquent and criminal values and traditions
from older to younger delinquent and criminal behavior
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RE-EMERGENCE OF THE CHICAGO SCHOOL TRADITION
· Chicago School tradition of studying relationships between crime and ecology
re-eeged i the ’s
· Sampson, R. (1986) Cie i Cities; The Effects of Formal and Informal Social
Cotol. i the Couities of Cie
· Taylor, R. (1986) Eioetal Desig, Cie Peetio. I Couities
and Crime
· Sampson & Groves (1989) Couit “tutue ad Cie: Testing Social
Disogaizatio Theo. Aeia Joual “oiolog
· Bursik & Grasmick (1993) Neighohood and Crime: The Dimensions of
Effetie Couit Cotol
COMMUNITY STRUCTURE AND CRIME
· Title of 1989 work “apso ad Goes, e test of “ha ad MKa’s
original social disorganization theory
· Peious ao-level research in crime and delinquency has relied primarily
on census data that rarely provide measures for the variable hypothesized to
mediate the relationship between community structure and crime
· Ethnographic research limited in scope and applicability because it focuses on
a single community or only a few neighborhoods (limited variability)
Strengths:
- added three mediating variable
- used the British crime census survey (1983 and 1984) same result forty years later
- later and in a much different time period makes it a strong theory
THE PROBLEM WITH OFFICIAL CRIME RATES
· Many previous studies beset with problem of relying on official crime rates
(e.g. Shaw and McKay)
· Coeed aout the etet to hih offiial deliue ates reflect
ecological biases on official reaction to delinquent behavior (p. 108)
· Loe-economic-status communities may have higher delinquency rates…
because police concentration is greater there compared with higher status
aeas
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Document Summary
Sometimes referred to as environmental criminology, ecological criminology, or social ecology. Examines relationship between people and their environment. Fou(cid:374)datio(cid:374) fo(cid:396) (cid:862)co(cid:373)(cid:373)u(cid:374)it(cid:455) t(cid:396)ucture and crime: testing social. C(cid:396)i(cid:373)e is (cid:374)ot the o(cid:374)l(cid:455) so(cid:272)ial (cid:862)p(cid:396)o(cid:271)le(cid:373)(cid:863) in crime ridden areas. Usually have unemployment, mental illness, drug addiction, alcoholism. Usually characterized by low rates of crime. Absence of social problems found in socially disorganized. City of chicago grew from 4,000 residents in 1833 to 2, 000, 000 residents in 1910, principally through immigration. Led to rapid social changes associated with urbanization, immigration, and industrialization. (cid:862)the chi(cid:272)ago (cid:272)hool(cid:863) was first sociology department in the united. Ofte(cid:374) (cid:272)alled (cid:862)the e(cid:272)ologi(cid:272)al (cid:272)hool(cid:863) because various of its core members compared growth of chicago to the natural ecological process. Viewed city of chicago as a social ecology, where humans competed for scarce and desirable space. Poverty(newly arrived immigrants, migrants from farms and or. Ethnic and cultural heterogeneity (diversity of languages, religions, and values and norms.