social disorganization theory

review videos on sakai and make flashcards bc it will on test

university of chicago

this uni’s department of sociology paved the way for the modern birth of criminology (criminology is an “offshoot” of sociology) in the early 1900s. It was a combination of social ecology & disorganization + strain & cultural deviance theories

rapid socioecological change

in the 1900s, what was of concern and drove the department and study “criminology” due to an increase in industrialization (agrarian to industrial shift), and increase in urbanization (concentration of working class in slums), and an increase in immigration (ethnic groups leads to the potential of an increase in discrimination and thus conflict)

social ecology

this is what UChicago’s criminology and sociological studies have argued that crime is a product of an area’s ____________ (i.e. economic disadvantage, community cohesion, and social stability); social-political environment of an area influences us and we influence the city

concentric zones theory

explains that urban development is socially patterned (i.e. NOT random). This tends to grow around commercial, political, and cultural areas. Further argues that rapid expansion + high immigration are highly problematic (macro level theory) where the focus on neighborhood-/community level + social conditions foster social problems

Park and Burgess

lead academics of concentric zones theory in 1925

conceptual components (5 zones) of CZT

1. central business district (loop)

2. zone in transition (recent immigration groups; slum housing, industrial factories, and abandoned buildings)

3. working class zones (multi-family tenements)

4. residential zone (single family homes (i.e., yards, and garages)

5. commuter zone (wealthy suburbs)

Zone in Transition

the most problematic one

Housing

• Slums/ ghetto (i.e., old, poor condition, & no maintenance)

• Unpleasant living conditions

• Active & abandoned industrial factories adjacent

• Recent immigrant groups

  • ↑Poor

  • ↑Language & cultural issues

  • ↑discrimination &  ↑fear

social disorganization theory

lead academics: Shaw & McKay

students that built off of the theories in CZT

started plugging in pins on a map of where delinquency occurred

crime is not random, so there were concentrations

find that delinquent zones are stable in a geographic area over time (it didn’t matter who was living there (i.e. irish, italian, european jew immigrants etc).

shaw and mckay

lead academics of social disorganization theory in 1942

argues for “mapping delinquency “ (i.e., incidents & residences): where high delinquency

the city book

book that points to the idea that the way city develops are not random, socially patterened.

characteristics of areas with high social disorganization

1. high residential instability/mobility

Barrier to community integration & development of social ties

↓Weakened social leads to:

↓informal social control leads to:

↑delinquency

2. immigrant populations/heterogeneity

   ↑Community isolation (i.e., immigrant & ethnic enclaves) ↓Community communication, solidarity, & cohesion which prevents establishment of community “consensus”

3. lower Socioeconomic status/poverty

lack of resources (i.e.,  ↓economic, social, & poliƟcal capital) necessary for effective community organization

socially patterned

the concentric zones theory explains that urban development is________

white flight

occurred as a result of the “GI Bill” (1944) (loans for education as a thank you for your service and reduced interest mortgage loans) and inexpensive mortgage loans + school desegregation

what happened was a relocation of the manufacturing industry + an increase in expressways and new schools

problematic aspects of the GI Bill: banks control mortgage loans (and they are private entities) so there was a great deal of discrimination + as more people move outwards to build their homes and live there, so do opportunities (jobs start to move)

concentrated minority communities

increase in public housing for the poor + redlining the working middle-class

the departure of industry + lack of public transportation to reach the fleeing opportunities, and low tax revenues led to an increase in concentrated disadvantage/underclass creation

with this growing social inequality → resulted in an increase in violent crime

redlining

operated by using color-coded maps to designate neighborhoods considered "high-risk" for mortgage loans based on their racial composition, essentially denying loans to predominantly minority communities, primarily by marking them in red, while granting easier access to loans in predominantly white areas, effectively perpetuating racial segregation in housing markets; this practice was primarily used by banks and government agencies to determine loan eligibility based on where someone lived, not their individual creditworthiness

collective efficacy

lead academics: spamson et al 1997 + Sampson 2006

ability for all of us to control the behavior in our environments

• perceived ability of residents to activate informal social control

• has conceptual components: social cohesion, mutual support, and shared expectations

intervening conceptual components of collective efficacy

1. social cohesion among neighbors (how well do you know your neighbors?) and

2. mutual support - willingness to intervene on behalf of common good (you would intervene if something was happening in your community → i.e. yelling at a teenager trying to break into a car) -

3. shared expectations for social control (i.e. noise,

structural components of collective efficacy

1. concentrated disadvantage

   residential segregation and social isolation

2. social disorganization

   poverty, instability, and heterogeneity (how he measures this: percentage of a family that is at or below the poverty line, on welfare, female-headed households)

Project on Human development in Chicago neighborhoods (PHDCN)

what robert sampson is leading in and is funded by the doj/nij, macarthur, HUD< HHS< DOE< and others

social cohesion, mutual support, and shared expectations

components of collective efficacy

socially patterned (NOT random)

concentric zones theory argues that urban development is __________

social conditions

what does CZT say fosters social problems?

Central Business District, Zone in Transition, Working Class Zone, Residential Zone, Commuter Zone

what are the Conceptual Components (5 Zones) in CZT

↑Delinquency concentrated in certain areas or “zones” + zones stay stable over time

whar are the main arguments of social disorganization theory?

high Residential instability/ mobility, high Immigrant populations/ heterogeneity, low SES/ poverty

Characteristics of areas with ↑social disorganization according to SDT

Breakdown of social control institutions

How does ↑social disorganization ↑delinquency?

early 1900s

Emergence of social ecology theories

mid-1950s

Decline of social ecology theories due to

1. Reliance on “cultural mechanisms” & unclear operational mechanism

2. Rise of micro‐level theories

   1. Differential association (Sutherland, 1947) – (Akers, 1973)

   2. Control

Relocation of manufacturing, led to more Public housing for the poor, redlining, led to concentrated disadvantage, and thus an increase in social inequality

what are some of the policy consequences during post WWII?

Social cohesion, mutual support, shared expectations

what are the conceptul components of collective efficacy??

Sampson and Sampson

collective efficacy lead academics are ???

collective efficacy

Perceived ability of residents to activate informal social control

Concentrated disadvantage and Social disorganization

 What effects collective efficacy?

Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods

founded by Robert Sampson

William Julius Wilson and Anderson

Subcultural academics in social disorg theory?