Social Disorganization Theory Quiz

Social Disorganization Theory

• Concentrated disadvantage is a cluster of factors associated with crime, including poverty, single-parent households, welfare reliance, and racial minorities.
• Social capital refers to community engagement, such as participation in clubs, volunteering, and political activities.
• Collective efficacy is the perception of neighborhood residents' ability to work together to control crime.

Research on Social Structure and Crime Rates

• The migration of middle-class residents, businesses, and industries from cities to suburbs has contributed to social disorganization within urban centers.
• Research on social disorganization theory often relies on census data and economic variables, but it can be indirect and circular, using crime rates as an indicator of social disorganization.

Restatements and Research on Social Disorganization Theory

• Kornhauser (1978) proposed that disorganized neighborhoods experience higher crime rates due to their inability to maintain informal social control.
• Bursik (1988) linked social disorganization to weakened informal social control within communities.
• Sampson and Groves (1989) developed an empirical model of social disorganization.
• Veysey and Messner (1999) found that external factors sometimes had a greater impact on crime rates than indicators of social disorganization.

Cloward and Ohlin: Differential Opportunity and Delinquent Subcultures

• This theory examines how limited opportunities contribute to crime.
• Three delinquent subcultures emerge:
  • Criminal Subculture: Found in neighborhoods with adult criminal influences, where youth gangs commit crimes for financial gain.
  • Conflict Subculture: Found in disorganized neighborhoods lacking adult role models, where youth gangs engage in violence and aggression.
  • Retreatist Subculture: Composed of individuals who fail in both conventional society and criminal subcultures, turning to drugs or other forms of retreat.

Miller: Focal Concerns

• Lower-class youth are shaped by six focal concerns:
  • Trouble: Avoiding getting caught for wrongdoing.
  • Toughness: Demonstrating physical strength and fearlessness.
  • Smartness: Outsmarting and manipulating others.
  • Excitement: Seeking thrills and risky behavior.
  • Fatalism: Believing in fate and luck.
  • Autonomy: Independence from authority.

Agnew: General Strain Theory

• Strain refers to negative experiences that contribute to crime.
• Climate change can act as a strain, increasing crime through various mechanisms:
  • Increased Strain: Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, food and water shortages, and forced migration.
  • Reduced Social Control: Disruption of community norms and social bonds.
  • Reduced Social Support: Strain on social services and community resources.
  • Beliefs/Values Favorable to Crime: Acceptance of deviant behavior as a coping strategy.
  • Traits Conducive to Crime: Increased aggression and impulsivity.
  • Opportunities for Crime: Scarcity of resources creating opportunities for criminal acts.

Conflict Theory

• Conflict Theory of Criminal Behavior: Lawmaking, lawbreaking, and law enforcement are seen as power struggles between groups with competing interests.
• Political Crimes: Law violations motivated by political goals or to influence the system.

Empirical Validity of Conflict Theory

• Direct empirical testing of conflict theory is limited.
• While some general observations are supported, further research is needed to assess the validity and scope of the theory.

Policy Implications of Conflict Theory

• The theory suggests that conflict is inherent in society, but also a source of its problems.
• While identifying conflict and inequalities, the theory often provides limited practical guidance beyond calling for reducing conflict.

Evaluation of Conflict Theory

• Limited Scope: Only explains a narrow range of crimes, primarily political and economic offenses.

Ban the Box Law

• Model 2 is statistically significant in considering the Ban the Box law, which reduces repeat offending in Honolulu.
• Male and older defendants are more likely to be repeat offenders.
• Rape offenders have a lower probability of having a prior criminal conviction.
• The Ban the Box law decreased the odds of repeat offending by approximately 57%.
• The law likely affected black and non-black ex-offenders similarly.

Labeling Theory

• Labeling theory emphasizes the role of social labels in influencing future deviant behavior.
• It gained popularity in the 1960s and 1970s but faced criticism and lost favor.
• Revised versions of labeling theory have been proposed.
• It highlights the unintended consequences of social control, but ignores primary deviance and undervalues the influence of other factors on behavior.

Social Disorganization Theory

• Examines crime from a macro perspective, focusing on patterns within communities.
• It posits that crime arises from breakdowns in social control and organization within a group.
• The theory suggests that forces beyond individual delinquents, such as the structure of the city, contribute to crime.

Early Statistical Studies of Crime

• Crime statistics collection began in the early 19th century, particularly in France.
• Adolphe Quetelet used statistics to challenge the notion of free will in committing crimes.
• He observed patterns in crime data, refuting the idea that crime was random.
• Guerry published statistical maps with layers of data, including educational levels, illegitimate births, and charitable giving.
• Quetelet and Guerry's work provided evidence for criminological theory, moving away from the idea that crime was solely due to poverty and lack of education.

Anomie (Strain Theories)

• Defined as a state of normlessness or norm confusion in a society.
• Classic Anomie/Strain theories include Merton's Social Structure and Anomie, Cohen's Status Deprivation and the Delinquent Subculture, Cloward and Ohlin's Differential Opportunity and Delinquent Subcultures, and Miller's Focal Concerns of Lower-Class Culture.

Merton's Theory of Social Structure and Anomie

• Examines individuals in American society who fail to achieve the American Dream.
• It proposes five behavioral responses: Conformist, Innovator, Rebel, Retreatist, and Ritualist.

Merton's Five Behaviors

• Conformist: Accepts societal goals and means.
• Innovator: Accepts societal goals but uses illegitimate means to achieve them.
• Ritualist: Gives up striving for success and focuses on adherence to norms.
• Retreatist: Escapes societal norms and gives up on both goals and means.
• Rebel: Rejects both societal goals and means and seeks to replace them with a new system.

Cohen: Status Deprivation and the Delinquent Subculture

• Focuses on juveniles who struggle to meet middle-class standards.
• It highlights pressure on individuals to join criminal or delinquent associations.

Agnew's Types of Strain

• Subjective: Strain identified by the individual.
• Objective: Strain universally recognized.
• Vicarious: Strain observed in others.
• Anticipated: Strain expected to occur.

Programs Based on Anomie and Subcultural Theories

• Policy implications often advocate for social change to address the root causes of crime.
• Programs include the Boston Mid-City Project and Mobilization for Youth.

Policy Implications of Contemporary Anomie/Strain Theories

• Mesner and Rosenfeld emphasize strengthening non-economic institutions.
• They suggest implementing pro-family economic policies, loosening ties between academic performance and economic success, limiting crime control costs, and promoting broader social and civic participation.
• Agnew's prevention programs focus on reducing adversity for youth, providing social skills training, and increasing social support.

Environmental Justice

• The concept of environmental justice emerged in 1982.
• The Warren County, North Carolina, toxic waste landfill incident sparked the environmental justice movement.
• It involves addressing environmental issues related to various forms of violence and injustice experienced by marginalized groups.
• It questions global and national governance and law systems as they fail to protect Indigenous peoples and all life.

Indigenous Environmental Justice (IEJ)

• A distinct form of environmental justice grounded in Indigenous philosophies, ontologies, and epistemologies.
• It highlights the need for justice and equity in environmental issues affecting Indigenous communities.
• IEJ necessitates the recognition of Indigenous perspectives and knowledge in addressing environmental challenges.

Labeling Theory

• Labeling theory proposes that labeling someone as deviant can lead to increased deviance.
• The label acts as an independent variable, influencing behavior.
• Primary deviance occurs before labeling, often unorganized and infrequent.
• Secondary deviance occurs after labeling, becoming more organized and driven by the label.
• Research does not definitively support a class-crime relationship.
• There is limited empirical evidence to support labeling theory.

Juvenile Diversion Programs

• Diversion programs aim to divert individuals from the formal justice system, particularly youth.
• Deinstitutionalization removes juveniles from detention centers.
• Decriminalization removes status offenders from the juvenile justice system.
• Radical non-intervention suggests tolerating minor offenses to avoid labeling.
• Net-widening can occur when programs expand to include offenders who would have been released.
• Pre-trial intervention programs offer alternatives to trial for first-time offenders.

Climate Change and Crime

• Climate change can increase strain, reduce control and social support, and contribute to beliefs and values favorable to crime.
• This can lead to higher levels of individual, group, corporate, and state crime.
• Climate-related strains include rising temperatures, extreme weather events, food and water shortages, forced migration, and social conflict.
• The group with the most power makes the laws and controls society.
• Less powerful groups may violate the law to adhere to their group norms.

Social Control and Law

• Social control is a system of rules governing behavior, enforced through socialization.
• Socialization can be informal, through family and peers, or formal, through law enforcement.
• Law is a form of formal social control, backed by the state.

Theories of Law and Criminal Justice

• Consensus theory suggests laws reflect general societal agreement on right and wrong.
• Functionalist theory views law as a way to resolve disputes and serve society's interests.
• Conflict theory emphasizes how law serves the powerful and maintains social inequality.
• Simmel viewed conflict as a fundamental social process.
• Vold's work in criminology advocated for a conflict theory perspective.
• Conflict theorists shifted focus to the explanation of criminal law.