Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Social Structure I Durkheim The “Chicago School” Social Disorganization Emile Durkheim (late 1858-1917) • French Scientist • Suicide • Humans nature: selfish and insatiable – Effective Societies able to “cap” desires • Socialization & Social Ties – Special concern with “Industrial Prosperity” • Coined the Term “Anomie”: – Institutionalized norms lose ability to control human behavior and human needs Durkhiem’s Legacy Rapidly Changing Society “Industrial Prosperity” Anomie (Norms are Weakened) The Anomie/Strain Tradition (Thursday) Human Nature as Insatiable; must therefore cap or control Social Ties Important The Social Disorganization and “Informal Control” Tradition (Today) Meanwhile, back in America • “Social Pathologists” (1900-1930) – Cities as “bad” and “corrupting” – Immigrants as amoral and inferior • Chicago School (1930s) – University of Chicago (Sociologists) – Tie to Durkheim: City/Societal Growth • Worry over lack of integration (and control) Park & Burgess (1925) How does a city growth and develop? • Concentric Zones in Chicago Industrial zone Zone in transition Residential zones Shaw and McKay • Juvenile Delinquency in Urban Areas 1942. – Mapped addresses of delinquents (court records) – Zone in transition stable and high delinquency rates over many years – Implications of these findings: 1. Stable, despite multiple waves of immigrants!! 2. Only certain areas of the city Something about this area causes delinquency Social Disorganization • What were the characteristics of the zone in transition that may cause high delinquency rates? – – – – Population Heterogeneity Population Turnover Physical Decay Poverty/Inequality • Why might these ecological characteristics lead to high crime rates? Explaining high crime in the zone of transition 1. Social Control • Little community “cohesion,” therefore, weak community institutions and lack of control 2. Cultural Transmission of Values • Once crime rooted in a neighborhood, delinquent values are passed trough generations of delinquents Social Disorganization 1960-1980 • Fell out of favor in sociology in 1950s – Individual theories gained popularity • Criticisms of Social Disorganization – “Official Data” – Are these neighborhoods really “disorganized?” – Cannot measure “intervening variables” – “Chicago Specific” (not all cities grow in rings) Modern S.D. Theory • Interest rekindled in the 1980s – Continues today with “ecological studies” – reborn as a pure social control theory (left behind “transmission of values) • Addressing criticism – “Concentric rings” not necessary, it is simply a neighborhood level theory – Ecological characteristics do affect a neighborhoods level of informal control Sampson and Groves (1989) Using British Crime Survey Data (BCS) ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS •Population turnover •Poverty / inequality •Divorce rates •Single parents SOCIAL CONTROL •Street supervision •Friendship networks •Participation in organizations Sampson (1997) • Replicated results in Chicago – Areas with “concentrated disadvantage,” (poverty, race, age composition, family disruption) lack “collective efficacy” • Willingness to exercise control (tell kids to quiet down) • Willingness to trust or help each other – Lack of collective efficacy increases crime rates Review of Social Disorganization • Macro (Neighborhood) level theory – Explains why certain neighborhoods have high crime rates Ecological Social Crime Characteristics Control Rates • NOT an individual level theory • Avoid “Ecological Fallacy” Policy Implications? • Build neighborhood “collective efficacy” – How do you do this? • Address ecological characteristics that ruin collective efficacy – Family disruption, concentrated poverty, residential mobility Other “ecological” ideas • William J. Wilson (Concentrated Poverty) – The “Underclass” or “Truly Disadvantaged” – Crime out of economic need, frustration… – Cultural Isolation no contact with “mainstream” individuals/institutions • Little respect for “life,” hypermaterialism… • Robert Bursik – Political capital; inadequate access to public services