SOC 487 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Ethnic Enclave, Informal Social Control, Homicide

• School: University of Miami
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 487
• Professor: Nielsen

Document Summary

Questions from readings: velez, in reading 5 in the peterson et al. book, argues that racial invariance is relevant for latinos. Racial invariance is the idea that criminological processes are the same for all neighborhoods regardless of racial composition. In other words, factors that affect crime, such as employment opportunities, concentrated disadvantage, and informal social control, should apply equally regardless of whether the neighborhood is predominantly white, latino, or black. The lower rates of killing in latino communities corresponds with lower levels of structural disadvantage. In chicago, there are more than twice as many black neighborhoods than latino neighborhoods that are in extreme levels of poverty. This is explained by male joblessness and female-headed families, and a dearth of professional/managerial role models. A structural factor that provides protection against crime is the presence of immigrants, who have lower rates of criminal involvement than noncriminals. Communities with high shares of immigrants have lower levels of violence.