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Social Organization of Deviance: Street
Gangs
• Social Disorganization Theory
• Chicago School of Sociology (early 1900s)
• Emphasizes Ecological Elements in the
Urban Environment
• Immigrant Questions:
– Allow immigrants into US or not?
– Genetic differences in immigrants versus
“native born” Americans ?
– Scapegoating social problems (see Ch. 16)
Sociology Organization of Deviance:
Street Gangs
• Model of the ecological process (Park and
Burgess)
– Concentric Zone Model of urban development
• Zone of Transition
• http://www.crimetheory.com/Soc1/Chic1.htm
• http://www.csiss.org/classics/content/26
– Metro Reef Pattern
Sociology Organization of Deviance:
Street Gangs
• Mapping incidents of Delinquency
(55,000 over 30 years)
• Shaw & McKay observe spatial patterns in
places where delinquency is clustered
• Spatial pattern of crime is stable
Sociology Organization of Deviance:
Street Gangs
• Ecological features of Zone of Transition:
– Crime rate
– Economic depression
– Physical deterioration (housing)
– Single parent households
– High % of renters (vs. owners)
– Heterogeneity (a.k.a ethnic diversity)
– Spatial Mobility
Sociology Organization of
Deviance: Street Gangs
• Ethnic Succession
– Poor are powerless to resist “invasion” of those prone to
illegal behavior
– Poor can not resist those who are culturally different
• New immigrant waves
• Gentrification
• Cultural Transmission
– Criminogenic social disorganization takes root
– “Traditions of Crime” are developed & passed on
(Subcultural Theories – Sutherland, W. Miller, etc.)
– Structures of Criminal Opportunity: Access to Illegitimate
Means focused on street (Drug & Property) crime and
violent crime
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Sociology Organization of Deviance:
Street Gangs
(Sub)Culture Conflict (Miller 1958)
Working class values: “Focal Concerns”
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Trouble
Toughness
Smartness
Excitement
Fate
Autonomy
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Have other values developed since the 1950s?
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What values are evident in the film “A Heart Broken in Half”?
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What values are evident in the reading by Jody Miller on Gender, Victimization &
Gangs (Ch. 30)?
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How is masculinity and gender related to gang membership and member values?