CRIM 104 Lecture 3: Social Roots of Crime PDF

CRIM 104 Lecture 3 The Social Roots of Crime: The Chicago School and Differential Association Theory - Positivist Theories of Crime - Located the source of crime within the individual - Either the soul (demonology), body (biology), genes (biology), or mind (psychology) - "So...

CRIM 104 Lecture 3 The Social Roots of Crime: The Chicago School and Differential Association Theory - Positivist Theories of Crime - Located the source of crime within the individual - Either the soul (demonology), body (biology), genes (biology), or mind (psychology) - "Sociological Positivism" focuses solely on social factors that influence criminal behaviour - According to the Chicago School, this might be social environment or groups of people (differential association/ social learning) - Social Context of the Chicago School - Population of Chicago grew dramatically during the 1800s - In less than 60 years, number of residents went from 4,100 to 1,000,000 - Immigration (search for "American dream"), farm displacement, and the end of slavery (wanting to move out of the south) all contributed to rapid urban growth - Farm Displacement: farmers forced off their land due to external pressures (colonization, development, environmental changes) - Rapid growth + poor living conditions thought to contribute to crime - The Progressive Movement - Emerged in the early 1900s - Rejected Social Darwinism's notion that "the poor" were biologically inferior - People are the product of their circumstance - Believed that **social reform** was the answer to reducing crime - Making sure that the support systems needed are in place for residents to turn to - Cops & Gangsters - Rise in organized crime - Saw perfect opportunity during Prohibition Era and rapid population growth to take over/ gain power - Probation Era: when alcohol was criminalized - Led to general state of social disorder - Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) - French sociologist - A founder of sociology - Consensus theorist - Feels what keeps society together is mutually agreeing on what is right/ wrong - Wrote *Suicide* in 1897 - Believed suicide was cause of social factors, not just psychological - Found social cohesion = biggest factor to NOT take life - Suicide rates lower in Catholic Church (more community), than Protestant Church - Symbolic Interactionism - George Herbert Mead, Charles Horton Cooley, & Herbert Blumer - Argues we behave the way people want us to behave/ their expectations of us + the way the situation expects us to behave - We define ourselves through the eyes of others - The Chicago School - Sociology department at University of Chicago - One of the founders, Robert Park, a sociologist, concluded that the city was patterned - Isn't just randomly set up - Different areas have unique/ distinct environments - Ernest Burgess, another founding member developed **concentric ring theory** - Mapped out Park's conclusion - The "Ecological School" - Chicago School saw city as a natural human environment - Need to actually get out, walk the streets, and interact - Emphasized study of humans in their natural social environment - i.e., the city - Emphasized importance of "life histories" or "ethnographies" - Thought city was arranged in ecological zones + patterned by social/ economic interactions - Burgess' Concentric Zone Theory - Urban development is patterned socially - Stated that cities grow in concentric rings - Loop- central business district (close to transportation network) - New immigrants/ poverty/ newly freed slaves live near this - Residential zones on outside---away from crowding noise/ pollution - Clean streets/ nice lawn/ private properties - Zones in Transition (Z.I.T.) - Run-down tenements - Pushed by expansion of business district - Such as: ecological process of competition - Landowners in Z.I.T. expect their buildings to be torn down eventually, and therefore fail to maintain them - Cheap rent - Appeal for newcomers - Residents constantly moving due to buildings constantly being torn down - Traditional/ residential areas deteriorate + rents are low - Mostly immigrants and migrant workers living there - Those who can, move to suburbs - \*\*Each concentric zone has different land use, different value, & different residential/ culture patterns\*\* - Shaw & McKay's Concentric Rings - Conducted further investigation of Burgess' concentric zone theory - Zones: - Central Business District - Transitional Zone - Deteriorated housing - Factories - Abandoned buildings - Working-Class Zone - Single family tenements - Residential Zone - Single family homes - Commuter Zone - Confirmed delinquency rates highest in transition zones - Inversely related to affluent areas OR those farthest from central business district - Social Disorganization - Nature of the neighbourhood, not nature of the individual, that causes crime - Social Disorganization - **Residential Density** - Too many people packed together - **Residential Mobility** - People coming/ going too often; no sense of community - **Cultural and Ethnic Heterogeneity** - Lots of different cultures/ ethnicities in one place - **Broken Families** - Single parents, lots of stress on families - **Poverty** - Creates social disorganization; not able to put food on table/ roof over heads, etc. - Found that overall stability was lacking in these areas; not a problem with the people, but with environment/ situation - Shaw & McKay---Control Theory - S & M began to focus on weakening social controls that led to delinquency - Families strained + broken apart by poverty - Schools/ churches strained by migration + rapid urban growth - Children not receiving usual supervision from parents, teachers, concerned neighbours, and social organizations - Differential Association - Introduced by Sutherland - Both structural + social-psychological process theory - Explained why people were drawn into crimes (i.e. **differential association**) - Rejected notion that crime is caused by "criminal type" or "psychopathology" - Said it was social context that contributes to criminal behaviour - Also explained why crimes occurred in certain areas like slums + transitional zones... notion of **differential social organization** - Criminal behaviour is learned through social interactions with intimate groups - Learnings include: - Techniques to commit crime - Rationalizations + motives to commit crime - E.g., loyalty rests with gang/ protecting their people, than with CJS - When one's definitions favourable to the violation of law exceed those unfavourable to the violation of law = criminal behaviour will occur - Learning crime is similar to learning other behaviour - E.g. riding a bike, driving a car - Pick up "tricks of the trade" from people around you - Other Contributions - Wrote *The Professional Thief*---life history of a thief - Wrote *White Collar Crime*---first one to coin the term - Argued that crime was also rampant in business, politics, and the professions - Said that "white collar" criminals also learned through differential association - The Chicken and the Egg Dilemma (Act 1) - Do delinquents choose delinquent peers because they are already delinquent, or do they learn to be delinquent by associating with delinquent peers? - Contributions of the Chicago School - Successfully challenged the notion of "individual pathology" - Gave rise to: - **Social disorganization theory** - **Social control theory** - **Differential association theory** - **Social learning theory** - **Labelling theory** - Criticisms of the Chicago School - Never stated where the criminal culture was originally transmitted from - Did not really consider role of social class in creating slums + transition zones - Distribution of wealth, etc. - Did not explain some types of crime where criminals not exposed to criminal values - Middle Class Values - Middle-upper class people usually the ones doing research on lower-class communities - Always have a lens - Question ability to explain a reality they are not/ never have been a part of