SOCI 4432 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Social Disorganization Theory, Anomie
Document Summary
Functionalist: macro level theory that says that society is made up of interdependent institutions (family, education, economy, religion, law, etc. ) and that society has reached a consensus about what behaviors are accepted. Functionalist theory supports the status quo (change= dysfunction) and says that everything that exists is necessary (including poverty and crime). Social structure- patterned social interactions that hold society together, helps us organize out social lives, and guide out individual behavior (agency vs structure debate). Social ecology: community/ environment influences and impacts us. Focus on community disorder (poverty), community fear (no control, no support, and no clearly definable problem), community change (distrust on institutions), poverty concentration (everyone that could leave did), and collective efficacy (segregation by class instead of race). Social disorganization: the breakdown of institutions (struggling economy/ unemployment, failing schools, break down of family structure, etc. ) leads to social disorganization. The same neighborhoods were hot spots for crimes regardless of their ethnic/ racial composition.
