Community And Social Disorganization Theory

This week reading discuss social disorganization and collective efficacy. Higgins (2010) stated that the social disorganization theory where a person live is important in deciding if their is weakness to commit crime. In both text, it stated that social disorganization theory came from the Chicago School's social ecology movement. The theory stated that many factors such as "geography, population movement, and physical environment" and the combination of these factors can cause criminal behavior (Higgins, 2010, p. 30). In explain social disorganization theory, it is broken into zones. The concentric zones explain crime because these are the zones where individuals worked and lived. By having this view it can tell that crime is probably

The author concludes based on the results of the analyses that the evidence shows that “the evidence crime-reduction strategies that focus primarily on deterring the individual through ‘get-tough’ initiatives will struggle due to the social structural influences that communities’ experience” (Hayes-Smith, 2009). The cautions and limitations that the author raised about interpreting the study is that people can falsify self reports. It also is not a direct measure of social disorganization theory, because it only uses exogenous variables of the theory.

In this research study, we will be examining The Social Disorganization Theory derived from The Chicago School of criminology. The purpose of this study is to better understand the social and ecological characteristics of those whom reside within this community and the environmental influences that may have contributed to the increased crime rate; which has significantly lead to mass incarceration within the urban community. This research will examine how many environmental characteristics impact the community and the particular disadvantages which lead to the increase in crimes? We will also assess the different legislative factors that theoretically contribute to the growing rate in poverty, which ultimately leads to an increase in the incarceration rates? Lastly, we will further explain the correlation between poverty and crime, and how it contributes to greater disparities within the community. These questions will be answered by focusing on impoverished communities consisting of primarily African Americans and Latinos.

Frank Schmalleger explains the theory of social disorganization as one that depicts both social change as well as conflict, and lack of any agreement as the origin of its cause for both criminal behavior as well as nonconformity to society and closed associated with the ecological school of criminology (Schmalleger, 2012, p. 152). The philosophy behind the organization and structure of a society and how that contributes to criminal behavior within society is by stressing poverty, economic conditions, lack of education, lack of skills, are not sought-after in the work place, and divergent cultural values. Criminal behavior is the result of the person’s assignment of location within the structure of society.

Social disorganization theory was established by Shaw and Mckay (1942) in their famous work “Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas”. The main argument of the social disorganization theory is that, the place where people live will influence the individual’s behavior, and this may lead them to crimes. More precisely, certain characteristics of the neighborhood/community will strengthen or weaken the informal social control within the community, and this has mediating effect on crimes.

Social disorganization is a macro-level theory which focuses on the ecological differences of crime and how structural and cultural factors shape the involvement of crime. A person’s residential location is a factor that has the ability to shape the likelihood of involvement in illegal activities. The social disorganization theory looks at how socioeconomic status and the environment affects individuals and motivates them to become a part of a gang. Shaw and McKay link area delinquency to three attributes of the social disorganization theory; economic deprivation, residential instability and race and

But the highest crime rates were taking place inside the city of Chicago. What they also noticed is that the building structures were significantly different in the higher crime rated areas than the lower crime rated areas. Because the city was going through a change, crime was more prominent to happen in their neighborhoods. So, because of the change, it caused the areas to be socially disorganized. Juvenile delinquency crime in the neighborhood of Chicago caused plenty of disrupting and anger amongst the community.

Everyone in criminology is striving to find the extent and the cause of criminal behavior. One of the major theories of causation is the social structure theory of crime. In this theory they believe that crime is primarily caused by being in a disadvantaged economic class. In this paper I want to take the position of explaining the social structure theory and some of its subparts. I will be focusing on two main subparts: the anomie and strain theory and the social disorganization theory. But, first let me start off by talking about the association between social structure theory and crime itself.

The paper will address the reasons why youth join gangs. Social disorganization theory is relevant as to the topic of why youth join gangs because it looks at the learning techniques and of youth joining gangs. In this paper, I argue that youth join gangs because of low socio-economic status, parental influences and neighborhood influences. Social disorganization theory is able to explain low socio-economic status and neighbourhood influences as reasons for youth gang involvement, but it is unable to account for why parental influences lead youth to join gangs.

Following Osgood and Chambers, In 2006 Joanne C. Jacob did an article named, Male and Female Youth Crime in Canadian Communities: Assessing the Applicability of Social Disorganization Theory which focuses on the relationships between community characteristics and the delinquent activities of both male and female youth. In this study, there was no research questions or hypotheses being posed. Jacob considered factors such as residential instability, ethnic heterogeneity, urbanization, socioeconomic status, and supervision as independent variables (2006). Jacob considered arrest rates as the dependent variable. This cross-sectional study examined written records of 417 municipalities of no more than 25,000 residents (Joanne Jacob,2006). Joanne Jacob found that family attachment, family control, school commitment, strain, differential association, and social disorganization are significantly

Social disorganization theory explains the ecological difference in levels of crime, simply based on cultural and structural factors that influence the social order in a given community. Social disorganization is triggered by poverty, social stability, ethnic heterogeneity, and a few key elements. Although Clifford Shaw and Henry D. McKay (1942), were known for social disorganization theory, in 1947 Edwin Sutherland introduced the notion of a ecological differences in crime that is the result of differential social organization. Despite similar arguments on social organization, Shaw and Mckay argued that the cultural integration explained the ecological variation in crime rates as a result of the negative impact on the community. Also elaborating on structural socioeconomic factors shaping informal control like poverty, heterogeneity, and residential mobility. Later Robert Sampson and Byron Groves (1989), refined the work of Shaw and Mckay by highlighting on the importance of social ties and new measures of social disorganization.

Unlike most theories of crime that focus on the individual, the social disorganization theory focuses on inability of community members to achieve shared values or to solve jointly experienced problems (Bursik, 1988). Using Mexico City for the study has many benefits, including what alternative explanations for the causes and dynamics of criminality. Institutional anomie basically says that crime in the United States is driven by pressures to succeed and profit monetarily. Mexico City is a prime example of using this theory because looking from a socioeconomic stand point it is not very stable. There are many factors that need to be considered while performing this study and the results will inform criminal justice practice and policy by revising

Social Disorganization theory is the most prominent in the film. Shaw and McKay used this theory to describe areas within a society that would be more susceptible to crime. The area that was deemed more likely for criminal activity to occur was the “zone in transition” (Lilly, 2012, p. 40). This zone consisted of “rows of deteriorating tenements” and was considered the “least desirable living area” (Lilly, 2012, p. 39).

The main assumption of Social Disorganization Theory is the ability to explain why crime committed by lower class communities is more prominent than neighborhoods from communities in better economic areas. This theory is the relationship of the destabilization of urban communities and neighborhoods through Shaw and McKay’s study (Quoted in Siegal, 2010) that used the analysis of Ernest Burgess’s Concentric Zones Model. This model generates ideas that the closer to “zone 2”, individuals in a community have more stress factors

Social Disorganization theory connects crime rates to neighborhood ecological characteristics. Based on the research and according to Osgood and Chambers, social disorganization theory specifies three important variables; residential instability, ethnic Heterogeneity, female-headed households. These three variables are considered to be the most criminogenic.